Tata Steel Sets Up an Innovation Centre for Mining and Mineral Research at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad

Strategic focus will be to create breakthrough technological solutions and research infrastructure in niche areas of national and international importance, 

Part of the Company’s larger endeavor to build stronger industry-academia partnership for creating strategic advantages

Tata Steel has established a Centre for Innovation in Mining and Mineral Beneficiation at the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. The Company aims to strengthen its long-term competitiveness through excellence in developing technological solutions in natural and urban mining and beneficiation for value from low grade and difficult ores. The Centre will enable growth of relevant research infrastructure, attract talent, and help strengthen industry-academia collaborative eco-system in areas of strategic national importance. Creation of this Centre is aligned to Tata Steel’s focus on building closer ties with centres of academic excellence and set up technology clusters in identified, strategic areas.

Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, Technology and New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: “Collaboration between industry and academia is key to catalysing innovation and aiding sustainable business growth. IIT (ISM) Dhanbad provides a strong academic and research platform with excellent talent pool in one of the areas of Tata Steel’s strategic, long- and short-term business interests - mining and mineral beneficiation. With the creation of this Centre for Innovation with Rs 22cr from Tata Steel, we look forward to jointly develop and scale up technologies relevant for local mines and ores. Work at this centre will cover technology development for natural and urban mining. The Centre will also work on beneficiation and value addition of low-grade ores. Tata Steel is committed to pioneer disruptive development through active engagement with academic institutions.”

Prof. Rajiv Shekhar Director Indian Institute of Technology (ISM) said: We are delighted to establish this Centre of Excellence (CoE) with Tata Steel Limited in the form of “Tata Steel Innovation Centre on Mining and Mineral Research (ICMMR) at IIT(ISM) Dhanbad” to strengthen Industry-Institute collaborations and solve real-life problems of mutual interest. IIT(ISM) Dhanbad, a world-renowned Institute in the fields of Mining, Mineral & Earth Sciences, is extremely pleased to work with Tata Steel Limited on this path-breaking initiative. Academia and industry need to forge such symbiotic partnerships that bring benefits to both. Such collaborative efforts will be instrumental in advancing research and innovation in technology development, besides creating a skilled workforce. Through this joint collaboration, we look forward to leveraging the latest technological advancements to groom our researchers and work towards the development of sustainable, innovative processes for a green and safe future.”

Technology-enabled leadership is expected to have a significant impact on India's share of global trade in the emerging knowledge economy. Given the complexities of technical issues in indigenous raw materials, it is critical that industry and academia collaborate to achieve technology leadership, research excellence, and breakthrough technological solutions of national significance.

IIT (ISM) Dhanbad is a prestigious institute of eminence and capability, that will contribute technological thought leadership and further strengthen Tata Steel's Research & Development prowess. The Innovation Center is strategically located to leverage the advantages of other nearby research institutes, regulatory bodies, and, more importantly, a trained and skilled workforce. The Center would be one of its kind in the state of Jharkhand and will target attracting youth towards Research and Development. The center will further aim to achieve research excellence by attracting renowned experts and forming strategic partnerships with OEMs to provide complete solutions.

With a century plus experience in sourcing raw material through scientific research & development and sustainable mining, Tata Steel’s long-term strategy has been designed to develop existing raw material resources and achieve raw material security across its global operations. The concerted research and development efforts of Tata Steel and IIT (ISM) in the mining and minerals domain will strengthen India's position to better utilize local resources and strengthen the skills of miners in the country.

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world's most geographically diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $ 32.83 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2022.

A Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM organisation, Tata Steel Limited, together with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000. Tata Steel has been a part of the DJSI Emerging Markets Index since 2012 and has been consistently ranked amongst top 10 steel companies in the DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment since 2016. Besides being a member of ResponsibleSteelTM, worldsteel’s Climate Action Programme and World Economic Forum’s Global Parity Alliance, Tata Steel has won several awards and recognitions including the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse recognition for its Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar and IJmuiden Plants, and Prime Minister’s Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17. The Company, ranked as India’s most valuable Metals & Mining brand by Brand Finance, featured amongst CII Top 25 innovative Indian Companies in 2021 and top 10 sustainable organisations of India Hurun Research Institute in the 2021 Capri Global Capital Hurun India Impact 50, received Steel Sustainability Champion recognition from worldsteel for five years in a row, ‘Most Ethical Company’ award 2021 from Ethisphere Institute, RIMS India ERM Award of Distinction 2021, Masters of Risk - Metals & Mining Sector recognition at The India Risk Management Awards for the sixth consecutive year, and Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting FY20 from ICAI, among several others.

To know more, visit www.tatasteel.com and www.wealsomaketomorrow.com.


Disclaimer

Statements in this press release describing the Company’s performance may be “forward looking statements” within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company’s operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/ supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/ or other incidental factors.

Use of Drones & UAVs Will Change The Working of Indian Mining Sector

Moving with the changing times is how one keeps ahead, and India's Ministry of Mines seems to have got this one correctly. The ministry has decided to give a major push to using of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in order to increase India’s mining sector efficiency.

Whether it is area inspection, preparation and monitoring of mining plans, production and dispatch, or even checking and curbing illegal mining, drones can prove to be effective in every mining process.

Piyush Goyal, Union minister of mines, who is also incharge of power, RE and coal ministries, recently posted a tweet about utilisation of drone technology by Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) in geological mapping to help determine its potential in regional exploration of greenfield land.

The minister has reportedly asked mining companies in the country to make use of all the modern and latest technologies that would help the future of mining in India.

In addition to asking the country's state governments and public sector mining units into focusing on exploring the usage and deployment of drone technology in their respective organisations, the ministry has also ordered MECL, its exploration company, to purchase one or two drones soon and start using them in order to set an example for others to follow their lead.

At a recently held event, Balvinder Kumar, union mines secretary, asked Tata Steel to showcase the usage of the drones technology at its Noamundi Iron Mine (NIM), which is the first mine in the country to have successfully introduced drone in mine monitoring.

Bengaluru- based firm Skylark Drones, which specializes in drone application in various industries conducted the event. In addition to the union mines secretary, the event also saw the presence of some officials from Tata Steel and India Bureau of Mines.

“We have initiated mining surveillance system using space technology along with a mobile app. This will help in stopping illegal mining, monitoring mining plan, production, dispatch and royalty payment. We requested Tata Steel to demonstrate it in Noamundi iron mine,” said the secretary at the Skylark Drones organised event.

While mining sector has started thinking about drone-related possibilities in the field, power sector has already been extensively making use of drones and helicopters to execute transmission projects in extremely difficult terrains and much ahead of time.

Since assuming office, Minister Goyal has laid a lot of focus on using the latest technology in order to increase the efficiency of the Indian mining sector and lift it to an international level.

Balvinder Kumar recently gave a statement to DefenceAcviationPost that he had asked all Public Service Units (PSUs) including National Aluminium Company, Hindustan Copper Limited, National Mineral Development Corporation, Steel Authority of India Limited, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited, Bharat Gold Mines Limited and MOIL to start making use of drones to significantly cut down on the time taken to complete a project.

A number of academic institutions of the country like the IITs are also contributing towards helping the mining ministry and PSUs in adopting the drones technology and how they can be designed as per the requirements of a mining organisation.

While Indian mining industry has started taking baby steps towards making use of drones in mining sector, globally, the usage of drones in mining is quite popular. For example, Rio Tinto, a global mining major, has been using drones to survey its mining pits for quite sometime now.

[Image: miningmagazine.com]