It is reported that Jharkhand, during a meeting between Mr Madhu Koda chief minister of Jharkhand and senior officials of Arcelor Mittal, has sought some time to find a solution to the pivotal issue of iron ore supply.

Mr Koda told The Indian Express that I met senior Mittal Steel officials yesterday and pledged all support to their investment plan in the state. The company has agreed to our earlier request of considering areas other than Chiria mines for their iron ore requirement.

Mr Koda said that during his talks with Arcelor Mittal, the company reiterated it was still serious about investing in the state. He said Though the issue of iron ore reserves was discussed, we did not go into specifics because we still do not know what their requirement is. However the Ankua mines may be back on offer and could be part of subsequent talks.

Arcelor Mittal had signed an MoU with Jharkhand government for setting up a 12 million tonne steel plant with an investment of INR 40,000 crore on promise of iron ore reserves of 600 million tonnes for the next 30 years from Chiria mines. But as Chiria mines belong to Steel Authority of India Limited, Jharkhand government offered them alternative deposits at Ankura, which was rejected by Arcelor Mittal on grounds that reserves are insufficient and because mechanized mining is not possible.

According to government estimates, Ankua mines cover an area of 3.10 square kilometers and have an iron ore reserve of 412 million tonnes.

Mr TS Reddy union minister of state for mines while addressing at the concluding function marking the silver jubilee of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd said that The Centre is likely to finalize the new mining policy in another 3 months and efforts were being made to have a consensus on this.

He said that the states having iron ore should give first priority to industries being set up there but the centre could intervene if the states sat over applications for iron ore mines for two years as ore is a national wealth.

Mr Reddy turning to RINL's demand for captive iron ore mines said he would try his best and hoped that the steel plant would get its own mines.

SNS reported that the final phase of panchayat elections, considered critical to the fate various proposed steel plant in Orissa facing stiff resistance turned violent at some place necessitating a re-re-poll and arrest of a presiding officer. As per reports, polling in the highly sensitive areas in the proposed POSCO project area was riddled with clashes, booth capturing and violence, while in Kalinga Nagar, it was strikingly peaceful.

The difference between Kalainga Nagar where TATA Steel has planned steel plant and Jagatsinghpur district, where POSCO has planned steel plant was largely because of the fact that in Kalinga Nagar the Visthapan Birodhi Janmanch leading the tribal agitation had decided to participate in the elections whereas in Jagatsinghpur area where agitation is led by POSCO Pratirodah Sangam Samiti although fielding candidates resorted to violence.

More than 15,000 people of about 15 villages of three panchayats Dhinkia, Gada Kujanga and Nuagaon have been opposing the project, fearing displacement. They allege that the project will not only displace them but also ruin their betel leaf farming if they vacate their land for the plant.

Dr Raman Singh chief minister of Chhattisgarh has criticized state run National Mineral Development Corporation for excavating Bailadila iron ore reserves for export purposes.

Dr Singh while addressing the state assembly while responding to a question about awarding of a license to Essar Steel said that NMDC is annually excavating iron ore worth INR 40 billion from Bailadila. Export of this rare natural resource must be stopped as it comes under the category of a national crime.

Dr Singh added NMDC had committed itself to setting up a plant at Nagarnar near Jagdalpur in Bastar district but the project is yet to take off.

Bailadila hilly region has huge and the world's best quality iron ore stocks that has been divided into 14 deposits and NMDC has been excavating mines in 3 bigger deposits. It is presently producing about 15.75 million tonnes of iron ore from its Bailadila sector's fully mechanized mines. NMDC has planned to set up a Romelt technology-based steel plant with 1.5 million tonnes per annum capacity.

Indias bicycle industry has sought reduction of import duty in the forthcoming budget on various grades of steel to nil and that steel producers should be barred from fixing domestic prices on the basis of import parity basis to keep Indian bicycle sector competitive and alive.

Mr Satish Dhanda president of Indian Bicycle Manufacturer Association said "We have sought from the union finance minister in the coming budget to reduce the import duty on steel such as scrap and primary steel, which ranges between 5% and 12.5 % to 0%.

Mr Dhanda added that It has become necessary for the government to support the industry by way of reducing duty on raw material as well as refunding taxes on export on the basis of actual expenditure in a bid to compete at domestic and global level."

Mr Dhanda said the bicycle steel tube which is available in China at INR 22,500 per metric tonne could be procured at INR 36,000 per metric tonne in India. Similarly CR and rounds in China are cheaper by INR 14,000 and INR 8,000 per tonne as against in India.

India's bicycle production, which stood at 12 million in 2003-04, is likely to plummet to less than 10 million in 2006-07 because of rising input cost. The export of bicycles, which were at INR 950 crore in 2003-04, is also expected to come down to INR 700 crore in 2006-07.

FE has reported that Ispat Industries Limited has started the work on its INR 350 crore captive power plant of 110 MW capacity at its Dolvi in Maharashtra to be commissioned by September next year.

The report cites a senior company official as saying that We are still a little high on our material costs even though our processing costs are competitive and the power plant is another step in the companys move to reduce its material costs. The power plant is expected to bring in savings to the tune of INR 150 crore from the year 2009-2010.

IIL had earlier set up an oxygen plant with a capacity of 1,260 tonnes per day, a sinter plant of 2 million tonnes capacity and an electric arc furnace to bring about substantial savings in material costs.

US based Hayes Lemmerz International Inc has announced that its Indian subsidiary Kalyani Lemmerz Limited has completed the expansion of its commercial vehicle steel wheel facility 800,000 per annum and expects to add an additional 200,000 units of capacity in future months bringing the total annual capacity of the facility to 1,000,000 units.

Hayes Lemmerz also announced that Kalyani Lemmerz will build a new plant to produce passenger car steel wheels and is expected to begin production October 2008. The new manufacturing facility will support 200,000 steel wheels per year with the ability to increase production capacity to 400,000 units in future years.

Mr Fred Bentley COO and president of Hayes Lemmerz' Global Wheel Group said that "The expansion, both in commercial and passenger car steel wheels, strengthens our presence in the fast-growing India market and also enables us to support our customers around the globe."

Hayes Lemmerz International Inc is a leading global supplier of automotive and commercial highway wheels, brakes and power train components. The Company has 30 facilities and approximately 8,500 employees worldwide. Hayes Lemmerz owns 85% of the equity in Kalyani Lemmerz Limited and the remaining 15% is held by companies in the Kalyani Group.

Indian Railways have generated INR 34083.49 crore of revenue earnings from freight traffic during April 2006 to January 2007 up by 16.6% YoY as compared to INR 29231.71 crore during the corresponding period last year. Indian Railways carried 593.67 million tonnes of freight traffic during the period up by 9.37% YoY as A compared to 542.81 million tonnes carried during the corresponding period last year.

The earnings from freight traffic during the month of January 2007 was INR 3842.14 crore up by 14.2% YoY as compared to INR 3364.38 crore during January 2006 as it carried 65.74 million tonnes of freight traffic in January 2007 up by 6.51% YoY as compared to 61.72 million tonnes in January 2006.

The item wise volume and earnings during January 2007 are as under

Volume in million tonnes
Earnings in crore

Shri Ramrupai Balaji Steels Ltd has announced that as a part of the it's expansion plans, the rolling mill of 180,000 tonnes per annum capacity will be commissioned on February 23rd 2007 at Banskopa village in Durgapur.

Godawari Power & Ispat Ltd has announced that its 10 MW waste heat recovery boiler based captive power project has been registered as CDM Project for entitlement of carbon credits under Kyoto Protocol by CDM Executive Board of Germany.

As per the project design document the Company shall he entitled to 50620 CERs per annum for the crediting period commencing from January 1st 2006 to December 31st 2015.

The worlds largest steel company Arcelor Mittal Steel Company has announced results for the October to December 2006 quarter and 2006. Its full year crude steel production and shipments are 118 million tonnes and 110.5 million tonnes respectively in 2006.

Arcelor Mittals earnings are as under

Shipments in million tonnes
All other numbers in USD

Mr LN Mittal president and CEO of Arcelor Mittal said that I am pleased to report a strong performance in 2006 for Arcelor Mittal with strong cash flow from operations and EBITDA in line with guidance. This strong set of pro forma numbers clearly demonstrates the benefits of the merger between Arcelor and Mittal Steel. On a pro forma basis, Arcelor Mittal has now reported consistent EBITDA of approximately USD 15 billion for 3 years illustrating how our diversified geographic and product profile is helping deliver sustainable results. The integration of Mittal Steel with all of its recent acquisitions is progressing well, and we are on track to deliver anticipated synergies. Simultaneously we are continuing to execute our strategy and further build on our market leading position, as seen by our recent acquisitions and expansion plans both in steel and mining.

Mr LN Mittal added that Looking forward the market is stable and we are anticipating performance for the first quarter 2007 to be in-line with fourth quarter 2006 levels.

International Iron and Steel Institute have released the production figures for direct reduced iron for the month of January 2007. The global production of DRI has increased by 9.2% YoY with India accounting for 30.8% of the global share and leading the growth with 20.5% YoY.

Texas based Commercial Metals Company announced that its Swiss subsidiary Commercial Metals International AG has submitted a bid to acquire Valjaonica Cijevi Sisak from the Croatian Privatization Fund. The bid is subject to execution of a definitive purchase contract.

CMC's bid includes the assumption of debt due to or guaranteed by the Croatian government in the aggregate amount of approximately HRK180 million (USD 32.2 million) as well as the assumption of existing trade payables and a minimum purchase price for all Sisak shares of HRK 37 million (USD 6.6 million) with potential additional payments of HRK 44million (USD 7.9 million). In addition to continuing the existing operations at the mill, CMC contemplates future expansions including capital expenditures and working capital increase of at least HRK 347 million (USD 62.1million). The existing level of the employee work force, less normal retirements or other natural attrition, will be retained for a minimum of two years.

Sisak has currently approximately 70,000 metric tons melting capacity and about 300,000 metric tons of tubular manufacturing capacity in its existing product line which include seamless, welded and cold processed pipe.

Mr Hanns Zoellner president of CMC's marketing and distribution segment stated that "We are very excited about the prospects for Sisak and look forward to promptly commencing discussions with the Fund to conclude a purchase contract. With the experience and success we have enjoyed following the acquisition of a majority interest in CMC Zawiercie and we are confident we can achieve the same results in Croatia. CMC offers a unique combination of electric arc furnace operating expertise and significantly enhanced marketing capability for the mill. Our strategy is to expand production capability in the key markets of Central and Eastern Europe. This acquisition would definitely fit with CMC's strategic objectives."

CMC's marketing group annually markets close to 500,000 metric tons of tubular products globally and has previously sold pipe products produced by Sisak.

Anglo American PLC's net profit for 2006 increased by 76% YoY as it posted USD 6.2 billion as compared to USD 3.52 billion for 2005. Group revenue also rose by 12% to USD 38.6 billion in 2006 from USD 29.4 billion in 2005. Its underlying earnings, which excludes special items, was USD 5.5 billion in 2006 up by 46% from USD 3.74 billion in 2005.

The operating profit from various business segments is as under
Segment Change

Mr Tony Trahar CEO of Anglo said "Our strong performance was due to increased production across the majority of our businesses and higher prices, in particular for base metals, platinum and iron ore. The strong global growth during the year as well as constrained supply in many metals and minerals meant that commodity prices remained strong, though cost pressures continued to be a major area of focus."

Anglo is looking to dispose of its gold, paper and steel assets and increase its commitment to base metals. During 2006, Anglo reduced its stake in AngloGold Ashanti Ltd to 42%, began its exit from paper unit Mondi, restructured its Kumba operations, backed out of Highveld Steel and restructured its tarmac operations.

Looking ahead, Anglo said that the company was well placed to take advantage of European markets which are improving and emerging markets, in particular China and India, which are "growing strongly.

The Specialty Steel Industry of North America has released the latest available statistical data on imports US consumption and import penetration covering January to November 2006. Imports of total specialty steel comprising stainless steel, alloy tool steel and electrical steel in January thru November 2006 were 924,270 tons, a 14% increase compared to the same 2005 period; U.S. consumption was 2,863,018 tons, a 13% increase; import penetration remained at 32%.

Alloy tool steel
YTD November imports were 93,243 tons, a 17% decrease over YTD November 2005, US consumption and import penetration were not calculable.

Electrical steel
YTD November imports were 70,650 tons, an 8% decrease over YTD November 2005; U.S. consumption was 401,361 tons, a 7% increase; eleven month import penetration was 18%, a three percentage point decrease.

Stainless steel
Imports of total stainless steel comprising the foregoing product lines in January to November 2006 were 760,377 tons up by 23% YoY. US consumption was 2,390,592 tons up by 15%, import penetration was 32% up by 2%.

1 Stainless steel sheet & strip: YTD November imports were 479,059 tons up by 38% increase over YTD November 2005; US consumption was 1,710,302 tons up by 15% increase; 11 month import penetration was 28% up by 5%.

2. Stainless steel plate: YTD November imports were 99,717 tons up by 30% over YTD November 2005; US consumption was 324,321 tons up by 40% increase; 11 month import penetration was 31% down by 2%.

3. Stainless steel bar: YTD November imports were 109,159 tons down by 5% decrease over YTD November 2005; US consumption was 213,510 tons down by 3% decrease; 11 month import penetration was 51% down by 1%.

4. Stainless steel rod: YTD November imports were 28,062 tons down by 28% over YTD November 2005; US consumption was 64,124 tons up by 1% increase, 11 month import penetration was 44% down by 17%.

5. Stainless steel wire: YTD November imports were 44,380 tons up by 10% over YTD November 2005; US consumption was 78,335 tons up by 11% 11 month import penetration remained at 57%.

SSINA is a Washington DC based trade association representing virtually all continental specialty metals producers. Specialty metals are high technology, high value stainless and other specialty alloy products.

South Korean media reported that Mr Lee Ku-taek CEO of POSCO is ready to take on another term and carry out his grand vision for the company and is waiting for final approval of his reappointment as CEO from its shareholders on Friday. Mr Lee is the only candidate nominated for the CEO post by an executive committee and it is safe to say that he has secured the top seat for the next three years until March 2010.

His reappointment would make Mr Lee the second longest serving CEO of POSCO after POSCOs honorary chairman and founder Mr Park Tae-joon, who served from 1981 to 1992.

Mr Lee joined POSCO in 1969 and climbed up the corporate ladder through various departments including exports, production and engineering.

Mr Lee, in a board of directors meeting early this month, had said that his ultimate goal was to make POSCO the biggest steel maker in Asia with an annual production capacity of 50 million tonnes by 2010.

Xinhua has reported that China is expected to see a correction in GDP growth this year with the growth rate predicted at 9%, a bit slower than the past four years.

Mr Liu Shijin deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council said that Driven by the real estate and automotive industries, the Chinese economy will continue to grow at an annual average rate of 7% to 8% in the coming 10 years. Over the past four years, the economy kept growing by more than10% annually. The high growth usually finishes in a cycle of five years.

Mr Liu said that at the beginning of the 20th century, the United States maintained a fast economic growth, with the automotive, construction and steel industries as major driving forces and China is now facing a similar situation.

Based on the experience in developed nations of real estate and automotive industries strong growth momentum for 20 years and 20 to 30 years respectively, Mr Liu predicted that China's current fast economic growth, mainly shored up by the two sectors, would continue for another 10 years or so.

The United Steelworkers have threatened to block sale of the Sparrows Point steel mill near Baltimore unless the union is satisfied that the federally ordered divestment is in its workers' best interest. The union plans to challenge the US Justice Department's order requiring Mittal Steel to sell the mill to settle antitrust issues raised during merger with Arcelor SA.

Mr Gary Hubbard spokesman of USW said "We have in our current labor agreement very strong successor language that requires any purchaser to accept terms of the labor agreement, and it gives us approval of that sale process. So, we'll be a player in it no matter what." Mr Hubbard said that the union, which represents about 2,100 of the 2,400 workers at the mill, wants to know more about the crafting of the consent decree requiring Mittal Steel to sell Sparrows Point instead of a mill in Weirton mill that had a buyer lined up.

Mr Charles Bradford of Bradford Research-Soleil Securities Corp in New York, said he doubts the steelworkers could block a sale of Sparrows Point short of shutting down the plant. He said "The Justice Department is not going to let the union run the show and determine what plant is bought or sold."

Ms Gina Talamona spokeswoman of Justice Department said that there is no appeal process available to the steelworkers or Mittal, and that if Mittal Steel doesn't sell Sparrows Point itself, it will be sold by an appointed trustee. The consent decree gives Mittal until May 21st 2007 to complete a sale of Sparrows Point, although the deadline could be extended by up to 60 days.

Mr Aditya Mittal CFO of Arcelor Mittal expressed dismay about the Justice Department order but said the company must comply. He said 'We are disappointed that we have to dispose of Sparrows Point instead' of Weirton. We sympathize with everybody at Maryland because we feel the same disappointment and the same anguish. The thing is the consent decree is quite black and white and requires the sale of the entire facility.

Mr Mark Glyptis president of Independent Steelworkers Union said he is only mildly surprised that the United States Justice Department did not force Mittal to sell its Weirton plan. He's personally disappointed, but will now focus on telling the employees to keep their chin up. Mr Glyptis added that Weirton has shown tenacity through adversity before, and believes the current ordeal will have a positive outcome.

European Union regulators have slapped EUR 992 million on 5 elevator makers ThyssenKrupp AG, Kone Corp, Schindler Holding AG, Otis Elevator Co and subsidiaries of Japan's Mitsubishi Elevator Europe BV for operating cartels for the installation and maintenance of lifts and escalators in Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The European Commission said the cartel had worked to rig bids for procurement contracts fix prices and share markets between at least 1995 and 2004. Mr Neelie Kroes Commissioner of EU said that the costs of buildings and hospitals were artificially bloated by these cartels.

ThyssenKrupp was given the largest fine of just over EUR 479 million because the company was labeled a repeat offender by EU regulators. Otis was fined EUR 225 million Schindler EUR 144 million Kone EUR 142 million and Mitsubishi's Dutch subsidiary was fined EUR 1.8 million.

Mr Jonathan Todd a spokesman of EU said the fines were largest ever for price fixing in the European Union and EU Competition. This fine tops a EUR 750 million fine imposed last month against 10 companies for running a cartel to fix prices for heavy equipment used by power utilities reflecting stepped up action by Kroes against price fixing.

The US International Trade Commission determined that revoking the existing antidumping duty order on pure magnesium from China would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time.

As a result of the Commission's affirmative determination and the Department of Commerce's recent affirmative finding, the existing order on imports of this product from China will remain in place.

This action comes under the 5 year sunset review process required by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, which instituted on October 2nd 2006. On January 5th 2007, the US ITC voted to conduct an expedited review.

Scientists at Carnegie Institute's Geophysical Laboratory have discovered a new type of phase transition in vanadium. Under extremely high pressures, pure vanadium crystals change their shape but do not take up less space as a result, unlike most other elements that undergo phase transitions.

The most familiar phase transitions are those between gas, liquid, and solid forms. In general, increasing pressure and decreasing temperature will cause a substance to take up less space and eventually form a solid. But as a result of their atoms packing in closer together at extremely high pressures, some solids undergo further changes in their physical properties and can even change shape, which usually results in a change in volume. But in this respect, vanadium is unique.

Pure vanadium crystals in cubic form were thought to be able to resist pressures over several million bars. Recent theoretical calculations, however, suggested that pressure could cause unusual electronic interactions in vanadium that would destroy the cubic crystals. Instead, vanadium avoids this collapse by changing to a rhombohedron.

Mr Yang Ding lead researcher said "We had no idea that we would discover a completely new type of phase transition. Although this type of transition was first observed in vanadium, it suggests that we should reexamine many other elements we thought were very stable.

Vanadium is extremely important in the industrial world, where its main use is as a steel additive. Steel that contains vanadium is exceptionally strong and resistant to metal fatigue making it ideal for critical applications.

AK Steel Corp is planning to move its headquarters and about 300 corporate jobs from Middletown to 136,000 square foot new headquarters, currently under construction at Centre Pointe in Union Centre in West Chester, in the third quarter. However about 525 managerial and support personnel associated with the Middletown steel plant, a research and development center and other functions will remain in Middletown.

Mr James Wainscott chairman, president & CEO of AK Steel in a news release said that the new corporate headquarters will give AK Steel state of the art technology, including advanced computing and communications capabilities necessary to improve competitiveness. He said "It will also facilitate more convenient face to face interaction with customers, suppliers and other important constituent."

The city of Middletown estimates it will lose between USD 750,000 and USD 850,000 in income tax collection. Mr Bill Murphy economic development director of Middletown said "We were, quite honestly, caught off guard. We are very disappointed by their decision, however, we're going to move forward. They are still going to have a significant presence in our community."

Argentine steelmaker Acindar announced that its net profit in 2006 is up by 10% YoY to ARP 603.9 million (USD 195 million) from ARP 549.7 million in 2005.

The company in a statement said that revenue is up by more than 9% YoY to ARP 2.779 billion (USD 899 million), net profit was boosted by a gain of ARP 158 million (USD 51 million) from the sale of a steel tube business.

Acindar is Argentina's 3rd largest steelmaker and the market leader in rolled steel. It is controlled by a Brazilian company Belgo Mineira which is a unit of international steel giant Arcelor Mittal.

Pakistans The News reported that Pakistan Steel Millss BF No 1 was hit by a breakdown on Tuesday morning and its operations could be restored after efforts of 12 hours. The report mentions that BF II was under third category repair when the air and steam lines of the blast furnace I got chocked and as a result the temperature fell and the blast furnace stopped working.

Major General (Retired) Muhammad Javed chairman of PSM told The News that one of the two blast furnaces was shut for routine maintenance for five days when the other blast furnace had a problem on Tuesday morning at 9 PM. He said: It is being restored right now and the other, which was shut for routine maintenance, would start working by midnight.

Terming it as a routine matter, he said that both the blast furnaces are shut alternately every month for routine maintenance and it was not a major problem if both stopped working simultaneously for 12 hours and that losses incurred in these 12 hours would be recovered easily.

Anglo American PLC announced that it plans to repurchase a further USD 3 billion after it unveiled robust annual earnings, bolstered by strong metal prices and production.

The group also raised final dividends by 21% to 75 cents a share, lifting the total for the year by 20% to 108 cents.

It returned USD 7.5 billion to investors in 2006.

West Perth based Centralian Minerals Ltd has agreed to buy a 70%nterest in the Witbank coal project in South Africa for AUD 21.5 million. The payment will comprise AUD 7.7 million in cash, 250 million shares at a deemed issue price of five cents and 125 million options exercisable at 12 cents.

The project comprises a non JORC resource of 152 million tonnes of coal, of which 119 million tonnes could be extracted by open cut mining methods.

Centralian said that the acquisition would provide a platform for it to build a coal resource of one billion tonnes under its direct control.

AK Steel Holding Corp announced that it will increase the prices for its carbon steel products by USD 40 per tonnes which is effective for all new orders accepted for shipment on April 1st 2007 and later.

AK Steel said the price increase comes in response to increased demand for carbon steel products and higher steel making costs.

Metal insider has reported that Operations at the Galmoy zinc-lead mine in Ireland have been suspended after a fatal accident. They will be resumed after the mans funeral has taken place.

Galmoy Zinc-Lead Mine is an operating underground mine in Ireland. It mainly produces zinc and lead last year it produced 60,000 tonnes of zinc and 13,250 tonnes of lead in concentrates.

UK listed ZincOx Resources announced that it has completed pre feasibility studies on an integrated zinc and iron recycling project, which will include a new facility in Ohio and the modification of its River Zinc refinery near St Louis.

As per report the total capital costs for the project are estimated at USD 303 million, including USD 107 million for the new Ohio plant, which will take around 18 months to construct.

The Ohio project will treat 200,000 tonnes per year of electric arc furnace dust, a by product of the steel making process, to recover zinc and lead in an oxide concentrate and a direct reduced iron product.

HZO, containing around 48,000 tonnes per year of zinc, will be sent on for treatment at Big River Zinc. The same refinery will treat HZO from ZincOx proposed electric arc furnace dust plant in Turkey.

Pakistans The News reported that mining in Thar coalfield in Pakistan would start this year.

Mr Irfanullah Khan Marwat minister for mines and mineral of Sindh told The News that The ground water study of Thar coal is complete and two new blocks have been added that makes a total of six blocks for exploration of coal in Thar.

Pakistan government has decided to establish a company in collaboration with Sindh and federal government with an investment of USD 250 million to exploit Thar coal for power plants.

As per report, Sindh has sixth largest coal reserves in world with 190 billion tonnes of coal available for exploitation.