MoEF rejects clearance to NMDC's Bailadila mine

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has rejected clearance to one of the iron-ore mines of state-owned NMDC in Bailadila district, Chhattisgarh, a senior official of the company said.

"The file (for forest clearance of the mine) has been returned, may be due to misrepresentation or something like that," NMDC Director (Finance) S Thiagarajan said.

He added that the Chhattisgarh government has taken up the issue with the MoEF and a positive outcome is expected in three months.

"Now that the state government has taken up the issue, it will take three months to resolve the issue. We have also written to the Ministry," Thiagarajan said.

The Ministry in the second week of January rejected clearance for the Bailadila iron ore deposit,13 consisting 413.745 hectare, he said, adding that NMDC had applied for the forest clearance on October 15, 2008.

Thiagarajan, however, added that although the mine falls under forest area, clearance can be give with some conditions.

NMDC formed a joint venture -- NMDC-CMDC Ltd -- with Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) to develop the mine as a standalone project of 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity, NMDC had said in its FY2010-11 annual report.

The company, which conducted exploration at the mine site, found the quality of ore is good and without ministry's clearance the miner cannot go for other activities such as detailed drilling, he said.

"We have done exploration and found everything was fine. But if you want to have detailed drilling, you may have to cut some trees. Any plant with six inches diameter is called a tree. Once they give clearance, we will work on the remuneration of trees and other things," Thiagaraj explained.

Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh government has allotted another mine, Bailadila Deposit-4, to NMDC-CDMA for captive purpose for its upcoming 3-MTPA integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in the state.

According to a senior official of the company, the iron ore will be supplied to the plant at market price, not on transfer basis.