Jamshedpur, 4 Jul, 2014
District Mining Office (DMO) Chaibasa has recently issued a closure notice to merchant mines running under 2nd or 3rd subsequent deemed renewal, according to a source, who has received the notice stated to SteelMint.
The recent Supreme Court verdict, which put under scanner mining activities of Odisha companies running without a formal state nod to their lease renewal applications, has impacted the mining operations in Jharkhand as well. Sources mentioned that notice has only been issued to merchant miners and not the captive miners like Tata Steel.
On 16 May, 2014 the Supreme Court directed, as an interim measure that 26 leases operating on 2nd and subsequent renewals without Odisha government’s nod, would not be allowed to operate, which included major miners like Tata Steel & SAIL. Later, the state government allowed captive miners to resume operations.
The order further said that under provisions of Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 renewal applications will be disposed of by Odisha within 6 months from the date of order.
Mines likely to be impacted
Some of the mines, which have heard to be impacted with this order, are Singhbhum Minerals & Co (SMCo), NKPK, PK Jain, Mishri Lal Jain, Devkabhai Velji, Rameshwar Jute Mills (RJM). However, there is no official confirmation from the mining department.
The impact will be roughly 2-3 MnT on annual basis according to sources. The main mining belt at West Singhbhum has 42 leases of Iron ore mining. Out of which, 17 are captive mine leases used by SAIL, Tata Steel and among others for steel production, while as many as 25 trader lessees mine ore to sell in the open market.
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