OMDC hopes to get MoEF nod for Kolha Rodia mines soon

Orissa Mineral Development company (OMDC) today said it hopes to receive environmental clearance for its largest and most prolific Kolha Rodia mine "very soon" and reopen it within the next two months.

"Indications are there that the mine having an annual capacity of 30 lakh tonne of iron ore and 2.4 lakh tonne of manganese ore would get clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) by September very soon,"a highly-placed company official told PTI.

The official said the hopes stemmed from the fact that the MoEF was very "satisfied" with the company presentation before its Environment Expert Committee on June 21. The mine was closed since 2006.

The reopening of the mine would help the firm to start its operations once again as all of its six iron and manganese ores located at Keonjhar in Orissa are inoperative due to their closure on account of non-availability of environment and forest clearances.

The official also hoped that the Dalki mines of the firm would also come in production by December this year as it may also get the environmental clearance by August/ September.

"Most of the formalities for forest clearance have been completed for the remaining four mines - Thakurani, Belkundi, Bagiaburu and Bhadrasahi. These may get first stage forest clearance in a couple of months and after that they may get environment clearance," he said.

These four, he said, are likely to be operational by the end of next year.

State-owned Rashtriya Ispat, which holds majority stakes in the Bird Group of Companies, would buy iron and manganese ore from OMDC. OMDC is one of the three firms among the Bird Group of Companies.