Batting for Posco's patented iron making Finex technology, the Steel Ministry today hinted that

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the proposed joint venture between SAIL and the South Korean major Posco may be signed within a month.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on 'Finex Technical Application', organised jointly by FICCI and Posco, Steel Secretary P K Mishra said the two parties were moving in the right direction, though some vexed issues are yet to be sorted out.

"By the end of the current month or by the middle of February, we will able to answer your question," Mishra said when asked to give a time frame for the much-delayed MoU to be signed.

SAIL and Posco propose to set up a Rs 13,000-crore, three million tonne per annum steel plant through a joint venture at Bokaro in Jharkhand using Finex technology.

"Really, we are very near. But, it's a sensitive issue and some issues are yet to be sorted out," Mishra added.

Shareholding has been one of the stumbling blocks for the joint venture to shape up. While Posco has been insisting to have the majority stake in the venture with 51 per cent stake, SAIL was in favour of equal stakes by both the firms.

Meanwhile, speaking at the seminar, Mishra said given the current needs of the industry, which calls for reduced land requirement for per unit steel making and innovative use of iron ore fines, Finex could be a technology worth embracing.

"Finex, as I understand, eliminates the first step in the steel making process of sintering and coking and allows for direct use of low-cost ore fines and non-coking coal, thus bringing down overall plant installation and operational costs," he said.

Another advantage of Finex is the reduction of pollution, producing significantly less sulphur and nitrogen oxides than current blast furnaces.

"It combines the advantage of being less land insensitive than the traditional blast furnace process and at the same time, offering economies in capital as well as operating cost by using iron ore fines directly and non-coking coal for hot metal production," Mishra said.

Posco and Siemens VAI took around 15 years to develop the Finex technology and a 1.5 million tonne per annum Finex plant is at present operational at Posco's Pohang Works since 2007. The South Korean major is setting up another two mtpa plant using the Finex technology.

However, the technology has since been remained confined to South Korea alone and if the SAIL-Posco JV fructifies, it will be the first outside Korea to use the technology for making steel.

Posco's proposed plants in Odisha and Karnataka would also use the same technology.