RHI Magnesita seeks policy measures for refractory raw material supply security

By OEM Update Editorial July 16, 2024 3:22 pm IST

RHI Magnesita requested policy measures to restrict the environmentally harmful landfilling of used refractories and to promote recycling at the India-Austria Business Meet during PM Modi’s visit to Vienna.

RHI Magnesita, the Global leader in the manufacturing and supply of refractory products, systems, and solutions, has appealed to the Government of India for strategic policy initiatives to diversify the sourcing of critical refractory grade minerals to ensure raw material supply security for the sustainable growth of the country. This was pressed upon by Gustavo Franco, Chief Customer Officer of the company, during the India-Austria Business Meet held recently as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Austrian capital, Vienna. The company has also requested policy measures to restrict the environmentally harmful landfilling of used refractories and to promote recycling, which in turn ensures the availability of secondary raw materials for the industry and contributes towards building a circular economy.

Parmod Sagar, Managing Director and CEO of RHI Magnesita India Ltd. said, “Refractory products and solutions are critical for the production of steel, cement, glass, aluminium, energy and all such products that require high-temperature manufacturing processes. India, purely for geological reasons, lacks domestic sources for critical raw materials like refractory grade Magnesite and Alumina. With very high import dependency, it is imperative to have a diversified sourcing network for supply security to ensure long-term sustainability of the Make in India drive.”  

India is already a pioneer in recycling in the refractories sector due to its low reserves of raw materials. However, there is still enormous potential, as thousands of tonnes of used but valuable refractory material are thrown into landfills. Landfilling is not only extremely damaging to the environment, but it also results in the enormous waste of precious raw materials. The company has asked for preventive policy measures on landfilling. This would protect the environment, level up the reuse of important raw materials and push recycling. The entire industry – including the steel industry in India would improve its CO2 footprint while ensuring further raw-material security through circular economy solutions.

RHI Magnesita India has committed approximately 400 mEur (Rs 3600 Cr) of phased investment by FY 2026 to build and modernise its production capacity in India. Out of this, it has spent about 300 mEur in the last 2 years in India for building local capacity. It now has more than 500,000 tons of local refractory production capacity in India.