MMi Daily Iron Ore Report (June 26)

Tata Steel plans to add around 5 million tonnes/year of steelmaking capacity at its Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) facility in Kalinganagar, Odisha with an investment of around INR 40,000 cr, CEO and MD TV Narendran speaking at the IFQM Symposium 2026. The expansion will focus on long products and is aimed at strengthening the company’s long steel business. Tata Steel acquired NINL in July 2022 for around INR 12,100 cr when the plant had a capacity of 1 million tonnes/year. The company completed the Phase II expansion at its Kalinganagar plant last year, taking its overall steelmaking capacity in India to 26.1 million tonnes/year.

India’s Bureau of Mines has invited applications to establish a mineral exchange covering iron ore, chromite, bauxite, limestone and manganese.

Rio Tinto has commissioned a pilot carbon capture unit at Shougang Group's Jingtang steel base in China, capturing CO2 directly from blast furnace gas. It can treat up to 3,000 cubic metres of blast furnace gas per hour, targeting up to 10,000 tonnes of CO2 a year in the trial phase. The start-up marks a milestone under a 2022 MoU to develop low-carbon technologies across ironmaking and steelmaking. Blast furnaces are primary steelmaking's biggest emissions source, so point-source capture is a transitional option while DRI and green hydrogen scale up. The trial will produce data on solvent performance, energy use and gas pre-treatment, helping assess commercial CCUS retrofits across China's steel sector. Miners facing Scope 3 pressure see direct trials with steelmakers as key to protecting long-term high-grade iron ore demand.