Operations may resume by July end

Central Empowered Committee approves R&R plan of RBSSN, plans of 8-10 companies likely to be cleared this month

Iron ore mining is likely to restart in Karnataka by the end of July or early August. The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court has approved the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) plan of one of the mining companies. Approval for 17 others in the categories ‘A’ and ‘B’ is awaited.

“The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi), which is helping the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) in preparing the R&R plans, has submitted details of 18 mining firms. Of this, ICFRE had approved four firms and forwarded it to the CEC, which in turn has approved the plan of RBSSN. The company has two mining leases,” said D V Pichamuthu, chairman, Fimi south.

He said Fimi expects approval for another 8-10 mines in category A and B mines by June end. However, the resumption of actual mining may take more time as the mining plans and pollution control board licences of many have expired and must be secured afresh.

“In most leases, the mining benches and dumps are not in proper shape. Since the monsoon has started, it is not safe to begin mining immediately. The leaseholders will have to put the benches and dumps in order and repair the roads,” he said.

Basant Poddar, managing director, Mineral Enterprises Ltd (MEL) and vice-chairman, Fimi, south, said, “Our mining plan expires in two months. Hence, we have to apply for a fresh plan before we restart mining. It might take six months to a year for the Karnataka mining sector to normalise and achieve production of 25-30 million tonnes (mt).”

MEL at present has 3.5 mt of low-grade iron ore, with 52 grade Fe content.

The stockpile reserved for electronic auctions in the state has also depleted considerably. About 22 mt of 25 mt ore has been auctioned and sold. The remaining 3 mt ore is of very low quality.

Meanwhile, the state government has urged the Supreme Court to rework the cap on iron ore mining and fix the ceiling at 40 mt per annum against the 30 mt recommended by the CEC.

“We have filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court explaining the requirement of iron ore by the existing and upcoming steel projects in the state, and requesting to increase the cap on the extraction of ore to 40 mt per annum. We hope to get some relief,” said state chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda.

After completing the survey of 166 mining leases in the state last year, following the direction of the Supreme Court, the CEC had recommended restricting the iron ore extraction to just 30 mt annually. Of this, 25 mt can be extracted in Bellary district and 5 mt in Chitradurga and Tumkur districts together.

Presently, Karnataka has an installed annual capacity of 14.36 mt of steel, which requires about 25 mt of iron ore per annum. The state government has signed memoranda of understanding with new steel companies for a combined capacity of 35.2 mt, which require about 60 mt of iron ore per annum.