PANJIM | Apr 29, 2015: Of the 89 iron ore mining leases renewed by the State, only 61 leases are being allowed to extract ore up to 20 million tonnes, the cap fixed by the Supreme Court. The ad-hoc pro rata production is less than half of the original environment clearance (EC) limit of 43.30 million tonnes allowed by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF). Ironically, the Parsekar government is going through the motions to signal the resumption of mining when the almost completely export dependent mine owners/ exporters have realised that export duties have made selling ore internationally, impossible.
Sesa Sterlite, a Vedanta Group company, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, has been allowed production up to 5.54 million tonnes for nine mining leases of the 20 renewed leases.
The Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG), in a lease-wise capping list submitted to the local unit of Indian Bureau of Mines, Goa State Pollution Control Board and Forest Department, has requested for the necessary clearances under the Air and Water Acts, Forest Conservation Act 1980, Forest Act, Wildlife Protection Act on an urgent basis, so that mining operations in the State could resume immediately.
As per information available, Sesa Sterlite, whose original EC limit was for 12 million tonnes annually, is now allowed to extract 5.54 million tonnes of ore from its nine mining leases.
Another leading mining firm – Chowgule & Company – has been allowed extraction up to 1.83 million tonnes from its five leases, as against the ten renewed leases. The company’s earlier annual production was 2.5 million tonnes.
V M Salgaocar & Bro Pvt Ltd, will be allowed to extract 1.39 million tonnes from its three mining leases. Ten leases of Salgaocar were renewed. The company’s earlier production was almost 3.1 million tonnes.
Sociedade Timblo Irmaos, PTI, TPL and SFI – together have been allowed extraction up to 1.4 million tonnes from their eight renewed leases.
The controversial Damodar Mangalji mining company, one of the State’s oldest mining firms, has been given an extraction limit of 0.4 million tonnes for its four mining leases as against its previous production of 0.9 million tonnes.
(Source: http://www.goacom.com/)