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“The assessment of dumps in Bellary district has been completed and it is estimated that about six mt of dumps could be auctioned. The CEC recently visited various mines in Bellary district and took on record the dumps available for auction. However, the grading of dumps is still to be completed and once that is done, the ore could be put on auction,” sources close to the development told Business Standard.
The move to auction iron ore dumps follows the exhaustion of iron ore stockpile and the steel mills in and around Karnataka are facing acute shortage of iron ore. The monitoring committee has till now auctioned 37 mt of iron ore. Presently, NMDC is producing about 700,000 tonnes per month.
The steel manufacturers in and around Karnataka, such as JSW Steel, Kalyani Steel, BMM Ispat and pellet makers like MSPL are currently facing severe shortage of iron ore for their mills. The industry requires about 30-35 mt of iron ore per annum for its current installed capacities.
The monitoring committee is conducting assessment of the iron ore at dumps in various mines where the mine owners had not declared their dumps earlier when they were carrying out mining. The mining rules stipulate the miners to give a declaration while conducting mining as to what type of ore they had dumped.
However, not many mine owners had declared their dumps except Mineral Enterprises Limited (MEL), which had preserved its dumps scientifically, the sources said. While the quality of ore available in the dumps is still not known, the industry estimates it to contain ore with iron (Fe) content ranging between 45 per cent and 50 per cent. “This is considered low grade ore and is not suitable for steel making directly. The steel mills will have to beneficiate this ore before using it as raw material,” sources said.
Presently, JSW Steel, BMM Ispat and MSPL have installed technology to beneficiate low grade iron ore. JSW Steel will be the largest beneficiary as it has set up a large-capacity benefication plant, the sources added.
Meanwhile, seven Category A mines have resumed mining operations in the state and have put out close to one mt of fresh ore. These are: SMIORE (two leases), Tiffin Barytes, B Kumar Gouda, R Praveen Chandra, Nadeem Minerals and VESCO. MEL, which was the first mining company to resume mining operations, worked only for a month and has shut down again following the expiry of its mining lease.
The Monitoring Committee has decided to put on auction the fresh stock of iron ore on February 22, 2013. The mining leases are free to fix their own base price based on the cost of mining by individual leaseholders, the sources said.
