Odisha government has asked 8 mines (out of 26), which had got express order in the month of May’14, after the Supreme Court’s verdict of suspending mines running under 2nd deemed renewal, to get all statutory clearances by 15 Nov, 2014 or face closure.
The leases include four mines operated by Tata Steel (Bamebari, Katamati, Joda West and Joda East), three mines of SAIL (Kalta, Bolani & Barsuan) and Kurmitar mines lease operated by Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).
According to sources, when the state government issued express order to captive mines in May’14, it was subject to condition that miners have to get statutory clearances within 6-month, which is expiring in November, 2014. No decision has been taken for the remaining 18 mines (all merchant except Tata) in the state High Level Committee meeting conducted in Bhubaneshwar on Tuesday.
“Earlier, we had given two extensions to the lease holders of these 8 mines and now they have been given the deadline till 15 Nov, 2014 to obtain all clearances and execute lease deeds with the government,” said Director (mines), Deepak Mohanty after a meeting of state level task force on mining.
“The task force did not deliberate on the matter of issuing express orders for those mines,” Mr. Mohanty added further.
The remaining 18 mines include the ones held by Tata Steel, KJS Ahluwalia, KN Ram, Kalinga Mining Corporation (KMC), Kaypee Enterprises, Mideast Integrated Steel, Aryan Mining & Trading Corporation (AMTC), Bonai Industrial Company, Feegrade & Company, OMM, state run Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and Rungta Mines.
Total Iron ore production loss from these 18 non-operational mines would be around 18-20 MnT on annual basis. Shortfall in domestic supply has forced Indian steelmakers to go for imports. Till now, 3 MnT has been imported during Apr-Sep’14 and about 2 MnT is expected in October, 2014.
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