Talks between South Korean steelmaker POSCO and the Odisha, India-based company Mesco will resume in November, according to an online news report from Business Standard.

The talks, which could be held in either in South Korea or Seoul, revolve around the proposed transfer of Finex technology to the Mesco plant in Kalinganagar in the Jajpur district of Odisha.

The plan would be to dismantle POSCO’s Finex plant and re-install it at the Mesco Steel site on Odisha.

The two companies signed a memorandum of agreement in March and the intention is for POSCO to have a 26% equity share in the joint venture between the two steelmakers.

It is hoped that the Finex process will cut the cost of hot metal production at Mesco by Rs 2000 to Rs 2500 (US$30 to US$38) per tonne.

The Finex process was developed by POSCO and enables iron smelting without the need to use expensive coking coal. The fact that ‘normal coal’ is found in abundance in Odisha should reduce the cost of hot metal production.

Mesco operates two blast furnaces at Kalingangar and has an operational mine at Roida, 190km from the plant, which also has a 1.2Mt/yr pig iron facility.