Under the agreement, Tata is acquiring all of the shares in Brahmani River Pellets, which has a 4 million metric ton pellet plant and a 4.7 million metric ton beneficiation plant. The two facilities are connected by a 220 kilometer underground slurry pipeline. 

“The location of the BRPL assets makes this very strategic to Tata Steel, especially to our Kalinganagar operations and has significant operating synergies to make our Kalinganagar plant even more competitive for the future,” said Tata Steel executive director Koushik Chatterjee in a statement. 

“The iron ore from our captive mine in the Joda and Khondbond region will get transferred … through the slurry pipeline and reduce freight costs significantly … which will enhance the operating efficiency and reduce costs of blast furnace operations in Kalinganagar. To build a similar facility would have taken significant time and costs, and, therefore, this acquisition is very timely as we are looking to ramp up the capacity of the Phase 1 at Kalinganagar,” Chatterjee said.