According to the market sources, major iron ore miners in Odisha are likely to pay the penalty amount related to the Odisha illegal mining case by the deadline i.e. (31st Dec 2017) . If sources are to be believed, Tata Steel has already made the penalty payment.
Other major merchant miners like Rungta Mines, KJS Ahluwalia, Essel Mining, KN Ram and KMC are also expected to submit the amount by the laid time line. However, no comment was received on this from company officials.
Other small miners may not be in position to pay the penalty amount as told by SteelMint sources. While looking at current scenario, it seems that it may not hamper the supply of iron ore so aggressively as it was expected earlier. Though the lack of rake availability is still hampering iron ore movement to eastern parts of India.
Earlier, major merchant miners in Odisha have raised iron ore prices in last one month . Lump prices have increased by INR 800/MT and fines prices have moved up by INR 400/MT.
In a common cause notice issued to Odisha based merchant miners, miners were alleged of excess production beyond the granted EC (Environmental Clearance) limits. Owing to which, Supreme Court (SC) called for recovery of 100% compensation in lieu of the excess ore lifted. Another, specific issue involved in the case hearing was impact of Rule 37 of the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960.
According to the CEC report, miners illegally extracted 215.5 MnT of iron and manganese ore in Odisha between 2000-01 and 2010-11.The CEC in an exhaustive report on illegal mining in Odisha mentioned the penalty figure for miners at INR 17,576.16 crore ( INR 17,091.24 crore for iron ore and INR 484.92 crore for manganese ore).
The Odisha based miners had requested the court for penalty revision and extension of penalty date, both of which were declined. In a hearing conducted on 13th Dec’17, the Supreme Court directed the miners to pay the compensation amount as recommended by CEC, failing to which the mines operations would be ceased.
Odisha iron ore production-:
| S.No. | Mines Name | 2017(Till Oct) | 2016 |
| 1 | Tata Steel | 10.2 | 11.08 |
| 2 | SAIL | 5.7 | 6.71 |
| 3 | OMC | 3.1 | 4.62 |
| 4 | Essel Mining | 3.43 | 3.69 |
| 5 | TMPL (Tarani Minerals) | 1.67 | 0.12 |
| 6 | KN Ram | 1.67 | 2.65 |
| 7 | Mesco Steel | 2.78 | 2.72 |
| 8 | Serajuddin | 9.78 | 9.89 |
| 9 | Kaypee | 5.3 | 4.82 |
| 10 | KJS | 5.53 | 6.13 |
| 11 | KMC (Kalinga Mining Corp.) | 0.61 | 0.91 |
| 12 | Indrani Patnaik | 3.39 | 4.35 |
| 13 | Rungta Mines | 18.87 | 21.74 |
| 14 | Others | 8.47 | 13.44 |
| Total | 80.5 | 92.88 |
Fig in MnT
Provisional data
Source: Odisha govt, SteelMint Research
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