PANAJI | Feb 08, 2017: There is good news for mining companies who have crossed their permissible iron ore extraction limit, as the state government has decided to allow them to use the quota of inactive lease holders to continue extracting ore to touch the 20 million capping.

Chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar told TOI he has cleared the file to redistribute iron ore quota, which is not utilized by some mining companies.

Those mining companies which have touched the permissible iron ore limit can now approach the directorate of mines and geology (DMG) to request for more iron ore quota of those mines which are allotted the extraction limit but are non-functional.

The state government has empowered the director of mines to take a final decision on the request made by a particular company.

DMG, recently, held a meeting with representatives of various mining companies to discuss redistribution of ore extraction limit.

A senior officer of the mines department said that this decision will help the state government reach the 20 million capping. “Once the 20 million capping is reached then the state government can approach the apex court to increase the iron ore extraction limit,” he said.

The government wanted to increase the mining capping so that the state receives higher revenue from mining exports to repay its loans and to carry out more developmental works.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)