Sheshagiri Rao, Group Chief Financial Officer of JSW Group informed that the company could attain 80 percent capacity utilisation at its facility once the category B mines resumes operation.

When mining of iron ore was banned in Karnataka since July 2011, the company's 10 million tonne per annum (mn tpa) steel plant at its flagship factory at Vijayanagar was running at abysmally low capacities.

The company has been able to take the capacity utilisation to up to 80 percent of late, with the start of category A mines through a Supreme Court order.

The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) had categorised the mines in Karnataka in categories of A, B and C based on the extent of irregularities, with A category mines having least irregularities.

The mining companies of category B mines will slowly raise production after they receive a formal approval to restart the mines, which is expected on April 18.

JSW has put on hold its 2 mn tpa expansion project at the Vijayanagar unit owing to anticipation of low iron ore availability in the future.

In order to meet the iron ore deficit, JSW plans to import close to 5 mn t of the raw material in 2013-14.