ROURKELA | Apr 13, 2015: Amid prolonged closure of a majority of mines, revenue collection from the Koida mining circle in Sundargarh district again fell short of target for the 2014-15 fiscal.

Sources said the royalty revenue for 2014-15 in Koida stood at Rs 760 crore including advance revenue of Rs 50 crore.

The actual revenue collection of Rs 710 crore for 2014-15 fiscal is also short by Rs 10 crore (Rs 720 crore) of the 2013-14 fiscal.

To boost mining revenue, State Government paved the way for opening 11 private mines in Koida that were facing closure from May 2014, pending second and subsequent renewals. As of now, only 17 of about 70 mines in Koida are operating. Decision on 42 other mines that are facing closure for technical reasons, would be taken later.

In May last year, as many as 13 mines in Koida were shut down on the direction of Supreme Court for running on deemed extension pending second and subsequent renewals. The State Government had allowed provisional restoration of production at two iron ore mines of SAIL and OMC, while rest 11 private mines were completely closed.

(Amendment) Act, the State-level Task Force on Mining recently decided to extend the mining lease period of these 13 mines. Accordingly, licence validity of captive and non-captive mines will be extended till 2030 and 2020 respectively.

Koida-based Deputy Director of Mines (DDM) Mihir Senapati exuded confidence that reopening of the 11 closed mines would balance the revenue position.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Government’s decision to put a cap on production and dispatch of minerals the iron and steel industry in the district has advised it to adopt a realistic approach and avoid creating ‘artificial shortage’.

Last year, the cap for Koida mining circle was 13 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

Former president of Odisha Sponge Iron Manufacturers’ Association (OSIMA) Gouri Shankar Agarwal said if the cap is allowed to continue at 13 MTPA in case of Koida, the private sector iron and steel industries would face shortage of ore as the expanded Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) with 4.5 MTPA steel production capacity would alone corner about nine MTPA of Koida’s iron ores.

The private sector iron and steel industries in the district continue to be in dire straits amid continuing shortage of iron ores.

(Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/)