Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Tata Steel is one of the largest steel producing companies globally, with manufacturing plants and mining operations in 26 countries. Tata Steel’s Manganese Group of Mines located in Joda West, Odisha are seeking to expand the volume of production to meet growing demand for this important mineral.

Considering the ongoing expansion of manganese mines, Tata Steel require the development of a mechanised ore sorting process to replace the current manual practices and procedures.

The mechanised process will be critical to ensuring production volumes, product quality and sustainability outcomes for Tata Steel’s continued expansion.

The implementation of a mechanised ore sorting facility for Tata Steel’s manganese operations will first require development of a demonstration scale system and on-site testing.

Tata Steel is seeking suitable partners who can develop this process and achieve the project goals of:

1. Classification and sorting of manganese ore into different grades
2. Improvement in processing productivity
3. Substitution of manual intervention by mechanised systems

The minimum requirements for the successful partner company are:

1. A full-scale test to be demonstrated on-site
2. Technical expertise and knowledge provided to evaluate and improve performance
3. Know-how of the manganese product and processing operations.

Submission Period

Suppliers are invited to submit their short-form solution to the challenge by 12 August 2023 for evaluation by Austmine and Tata Steel. 

A shortlisting process takes place and successful companies are invited to participate in phase 2. 

Phase 2

Shortlisted suppliers will be invited to a technical briefing, where each supplier will be able to gain more information about the challenge from Tata Steel. This allows suppliers to refine their proposed solution prior to pitching to Tata Steel. 

Following the technical briefing, suppliers will pitch their solution directly to Tata Steel online via Zoom breakout rooms. This provides the opportunity to ‘sell’ the solution, gain feedback from operational teams and field questions about the solution. 

Phase 3

Following the Pitch Session, a final shortlisting of suppliers takes place. The remaining suppliers are invited to submit a formal technical and economic proposal to solving the challenge.

Winner Announced

Tata Steel will select the best fit solution/s for the challenge and the supplier will work directly with Tata Steel to trial the technology on-site and implement the solution. 

EOI Submission Deadline - 12 August 2023

Technical Briefing - 25 September 2023

Pitch Sessions - 29 September 2023

Final Proposal Deadline - 9 October 2023

Note that the above is an estimate and timelines can change.

Austmine is hosting this supply opportunity within the Australia-India Mining Innovation and Global Mining Challenge India Programs, supported by the Australia-India Council of DFAT and the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science & Resources.

Find more information about these programs here.