Odisha caps 75 mn tonnes iron ore despatch for 2015-16

Move follows improved infrastructure in mining circles

Odisha has capped iron ore desptach from the Joda and Koira circles at 75 million tonnes for 2015-16 on the back of improved infrastructure in mining circles.

"Iron ore despatch for Joda circle is capped at 44.35 million tonnes (mt), while the limit for the Koira circle during 2015-16 is 30.65 mt," said a senior government official.

A notification in this regard would be brought out soon, the official added.

Joda and Koira are two of the most prolific ore producing sectors spread across the mineral-rich Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts in the state.

"We have already put a cap of despatch of minerals from the mines from 2013 onwards. We have finalised the report for 2015-16 and again we are insisting on capping", said Deepak Mohanty, director of mines, Odisha, here on Friday. He was speaking at the Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on Odisha Climate Change Action Plan (2015-2020).

He noted the state has introduced several environmental pollution control measures at the mines, where the air quality will be monitored on a regular basis.

The decision to cap the despatch was taken by a committee under the chairmanship of chief secretary after several rounds of meetings.

Government sources said the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) has allowed 100 mt of despatch from the mines in these areas.

As of now, only 46 out of 143 iron ore mines are operational in the state. Of the 46 operational mines, eight are captive mines while the rest 38 are merchant mines. The merchant mines have a combined production capacity of 106.07 mt a year.

Iron ore production in Odisha crashed to 47.35 mt in 2014-15 compared to 77.91 mt in 2013-14 as several key mines remained under shutdown due to the Supreme Court's order.