Steel makers urge Karnataka govt to expedite opening of mines

Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers' Association has submitted a memorandum to Karnataka chief secretary for early resumption of mines

Karnataka Iron and Steel Manufacturers’ Association (KISM), a body of steel and pellet makers from Karnataka, has urged the Karnataka government to expedite the process of opening up of Category A and B mines in the state to ensure regular supply of iron ore to the ore-starved industry.

A KISMA delegation led by Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director, JSW Steel met Karnataka chief secretary S V Ranganath and Union Steel secretary and submitted a representation seeking early resumption of mining and redressal of several other issues.

The delegation has urged the state government to facilitate allocation of captive mines, long-term linkages to the steel industry and expedite resumption of the mining operations at the earliest. It has also sought expedition of resumption operations of remaining Category A mines and opening of Category C mines.

The Supreme Court has permitted opening of Category A and A1 mines in April 2012. However, till date, only three mines have resumed operations with a permissible annual production of 1.4 million tonne.

“Opening of Category B mines is very vital for the steel industry in this region whereas road map for opening the Category B mines is absolutely unclear. Also it is necessary to expedite the process of renewal of expired leases,” KISMA said in its appeal to the government.

Though Supreme Court allowed NMDC to produce 1 million tonne per month, it could never achieve so much in any month so far. Instead, its production has further come down to around 450,000 tonne in October 2012 though its lumps e-auction prices almost doubled. With the current production from NMDC mines will not exceed 20 million tonne as against the industry requirements of 33 million tonne, KISMA said.

“In view of above when NMDC is not able to produce as permitted and stockpiles are exhausted and category ‘A’ mines have not yet resumed operations, the future of Iron and Steel industry in Karnataka region is very grim and bleak and more steel plants will close down in coming days if iron ore is not made available to meet its day to day requirement,” the appeal said.

Out of the total 13 mining leases cleared by CEC, only 11 leases can resume the mining operations. As on date, only three mining leases with the annual permissible quantity of 1.40 million metric tonne have resumed the mining operations. Out of category ‘A’ mines cleared by CEC, 7 mining leases are yet to start the mining operations having the annual permissible production of 3.16 million metric tonne.

All these leases are waiting for the approval of mining plan by IBM (which is under various stages of processing). Subsequent to approval of mining plan, the leaseholders will have to get the consent to operate from Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and submit the details of all the statutory clearances to Monitoring Committee for permission to resume the mining operations, KISMA said.