AM/NS inked a mine development and production agreement (MDPA) with the district of Sundargarh on Friday. With environmental clearances and the MDPA, AM/NS is only a grant away from starting work on the 99.59 mn t greenfield iron ore deposit, its second in the country.
The 139.165 ha Ghoraburhani Sagasahi Iron Ore (Sagasahi) was among the first blocks to be auctioned in Odisha in 2016. The soon to be bankrupt Essar Steel — which the ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel JV later acquired — committed it would share 44.35 percent of its revenue (based on average IBM prices) to bag the deposit.
Ramakrishna Chinnamsetty who heads mining and business development at AM/NS told SteelMint it should take about 4-5 years for the mine to touch its peak annual production of 6 mn t pa. Unlike its peers, the company has been firm in its pursuit of statutory, and particularly green, clearances. An environment clearance of 6 mn t pa and a final forest clearance for diversion of 120.838 ha (and 5.563 ha for a safety zone) in the Koira range of the Bonai Forest Division of Sundargarh District has been granted. The state’s Forest Department has identified non- forest land in Bansapal Tehsil of Keonjhar for compensatory afforestation.
With Sagasahi, Odisha had also auctioned the 92 mn t Kalmong West iron ore deposit, bagged by Bhushan Steel (BSL) for 100.05 per cent, and the 77.25 mn t Netrabandha Pahar iron ore block that Bhushan Power and Steel (BPSL) quoted a 87.15 per cent for. Tata Steel which now owns BSL had sought a transfer of the Letter of Intent granted for Kalmong, on its request Odisha had sought a clarification from the Centre on whether mining rights could be transferred to the new owner. Meanwhile AM/NS had pursued its clearances and should now benefit from the Centre’s proposed clarification a “mine” and “owner” in the Act to mean that “a mine continues to be a mine till it is no longer feasible to produce minerals from that mine and may have different owners from time to time.”
A petition filed in the high court has also been set aside with an order favourable to the steelmaker. This paves the way for a lease deed to be executed – which company officials hope to sign in a week or so – and for work on the mine to begin in 30- 45 days from the date of the grant.
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