Bhubaneswar | Jan 05, 2015: The Union government has approved a proposal of Odisha government to increase iron ore output of two miners by 16.56 million tonne (mt) a year, within the 58 million tonne a year fixed target set by the state. The miners who are going to be benefited by the decisions are Rungta (two mines) and Serajuddin (one mining lease). Rungtas now have environment clearance (EC) to extract 6 mt additional iron ore per year from existing clearance for upto 3.5 mt, while Serajuddin can now extract 15.15 mt iron ore a year, against 4.5 mt approved capacity.
The Centre’s nod to hike the mineral extraction plan is expected to double the existing monthly iron ore output target of the state to 12 mt. However, government officials are not sure whether the target can be achieved or not.
“For the month of December, the target was set at 6.9 mt while actual production was 2.6 mt. We are not sure if the output target can really be achieved for the current fiscal,” said a senior government official looking after mineral production process.
Iron ore output in Odisha received a heavy jolt in May last year, when the Supreme Court asked to shut down 26 mines operating without valid mining leases. Though the state government has allowed to operate eight mines on special provisions and has eased restrictions to sell old stocks, the total output including captive and non-captive mines was estimated around 43 mt, much lower than 58 mt target set for only merchant miners.
The upgraded EC adds 16 mt to 42.36 mt existing approvals in favour of non-captive mines. Still, traders and experts have opined that the non-captive target can not be achieved.
“Even if they have received the EC, it will take at least three weeks to enhance the output after fulfiling other formalities and arranging machinery and manpower for extractions. The actual output could go up by 1 to 1.5 mt per month after the approval,” said a city-based mining consultant. Mining output enhancement applications were sent to Centre in November last year, after the state government planned to raise output in order to compensate the losses arose by SC order in May. Application of four other private miners to raise output by 15 mt is still pending with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF).
(Source: http://www.business-standard.com/)