August 26,
The recent ban on the export of Iron ore by Karnataka government is affecting Tumkur and Chitradurga districts where only low-grade Iron ore is available.
The ban has severely affected the livelihoods of people depending on the mining industry and around 10,000 persons are rendered to be jobless since the ban was imposed.
Low-grade Iron ore accounts for 50 per cent of the total exports from Karnataka at 15 million tonnes per annum and a majority of this comes from mines in Chitradurga and Tumkur. Presently, 25 companies operate mines on over 1,000 hectares of revenue land in these districts.
“It’s not only a loss for us, but also for the country as it gains foreign exchange apart from royalty revenue to the state government. Over Rs 6,000 crore investments is needed to set up 1 tonne per annum steel mill and also import high-grade coke to use the low-grade Iron ore. So far, there is no proper technology available in the country to make use of low-grade Iron ore,” said Basant Poddar, managing director, Mineral Enterprises Limited.
The only market for low-grade ore is China. “However, India is only a swing supplier filling the gap but if we lose this market, Australia and Brazil will fill as they have ample surplus capacity and India will lose this market forever,” he added.
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