India: Odisha to investigate ‘illegal mining’ of old dumps

Complaints that Odisha’s new miners of auctioned mines may have been exploiting old dumps have prompted the state government to order an inspection of such instances of “illegal mining”.

Director of Mines, G Rajesh, recently wrote to his colleagues in Joda and Koira to investigate the working of dumps in auctioned mines, and “take stringent action” against anyone found to be flouting norms.

Mines that had been auctioned were transferred to the new lessee with the understanding that minerals in the huge dumps left behind by the previous lessee, and which have “not been accounted for in the books of account”, belong to the state.

With this understanding the Goa government, for example, has retained its right to remove iron ore from dumps in the 4 new mines it is putting up for auction. But while Goa is claiming this right for up to a year from the date of the LOI granted to the highest bidder, Odisha believes the old dumps belong to it in perpetuity.

“If any lessee wants to move the dump, or eventually use it for backfilling it will have to do it with permission from the state,” clarified an official.

The Director’s directive makes no mention of any individual miner; industry sources though say mining inspectors had dropped in on Vedanta ESL’s Nadiddih mine that had been lying idle for a long while leading its pits to be filled up with water.

ESL may not be the only one falling foul of the state’s position on dumps, however , “ some of the new lessees of the auctioned leases have resorted to dump mining unauthorisedly, which amounts to illegal mining and attracts the penal clauses prescribed under Section 21 of MMDR Act 2015,” states a letter by the Directorate.