Thirteen months after the ban was imposed following the direction of Supreme Court, the iron ore mining recommenced in one of the A category mines in Chitradurga district, about 225 km from here, on Friday.
The Bangalore-based Mineral Enterprises Limited (MEL), which operates an iron ore mine spread over 102 hectares in Bedarabomma-nahalli of Chitradurga taluk and district restarted mining operations on Friday, thereby giving hopes of regular supply of ore to the ore-starved steel industry. It is expected that the company would bring fresh ore to the market in the next 10 days.
“We are among the first 16 mining leases to get clearance from the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) after they accepted the Reclamation and Rehabilitation (R&R) plan submitted by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Educ-ation. However, we are the first to secure all kinds subsequent clearances from the Indian Bureau of Mines, state pollution control board, environment clearance and FC clearance,” Basant Poddar, managing director, MEL told Business Standard.
