Inter-ministerial panel to submit ore linkage report by Apr 30

Ore reservation policy expected to ensure fair pricing

The inter-ministerial committee mandated to submit its report on long-term ore linkage for state based industries latest by April 30 expects the government policy on ore reservation to ensure supply of raw material at fair prices.

"The state government does not have direct control on ore pricing as it is shaped by market forces. But we expect that our policy making it mandatory for standalone miners to sell at least 50% of their excavated ore to state based end-use industries will make available raw materials at fair prices for the local units”, Prasanna Acharya, finance minister and chairman of the panel said after meeting of the committee.

Steel & mines minister Rajani Kant Singh said, “The committee is going to submit its report on long-term ore linkage on or before April 30.”

The ministerial committee had an interactions with the representatives of steel companies like Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), Visa Steel and Bhushan Steel.

The state steel & mines department through a resolution dated December 5 last year made it mandatory for mine lessees without end-use plants, to sell at least 50% of their extracted iron ore to state based consuming industries.

It may be noted that the committee's mandate is to suggest measures for making iron ore, manganese ore, bauxite and chrome ore available to to the mineral-based industries located in the state.

The mineral ores will be made available in a fair and equitable manner through the state mine PSU Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and other mining lessees.Besides, the committee will suggest modalities for making the ore available on a sustained basis to such industries through appropriate long-term ore linkage arrangements.

It will also suggest a framework for making the ore available to local industries through a transparent process.