Four More Iron Ore Mining Companies in Goa Get Consent for Ore Extraction

Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) on 28 Nov’16 granted four more mining companies with a consent to operate. The combined iron ore extraction limit of these four mines is 0.78 MnT.

The consent was granted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, is valid for a period of one year.

GSPCB, in a board meeting, allowed Salgaonkar Mining Industries (Tolem de Quela-Keli) to extract of 0.046 MnT, Salitho Ores (Purmar e Parvedat-Pale) to extract 0.277 MnT, Sova (Odamola) to extract 0.346 MnT, and Marzook and Cadar (Devachi Raim) to extract 0.115 MnT.

“Applications from mining companies were placed before the board’s technical advisory committee along with an inspection report of mines that were visited by board officials,” a GSPCB official said. Upon the committee’s approval, the applications were placed before the board, which granted the consent to operate, the official added.

Iron ore extraction limit in Goa touches 16 MnT – In Jul’15, GSPCB granted consent to operate 56 mining leases and extract 13.79 MnT of iron ore, subject to approval of mining plans by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). In Jan’16, four more mining companies with an ore extraction limit of 1.5 MnT were granted consent to operate. Six months later in Jul’16, two more mining companies with an extraction limit of 0.2 MnT were granted consent as well.

With four more iron ore mining companies receiving mining consent, state’s iron ore extraction limit has touched 16.27 MnT.

It is to be noted that he Supreme Court, had put a cap of 20 MnT pa on iron ore extraction in the state. However an expert committee had recommended to increase the cap to 37 MnT depending on the infrastructure available.

Goa’s iron ore production to increases further – According to the data of Indian Bureau of Mines, iron ore production in Goa which remained nil in FY15 moved up and was recorded at 1.78 MnT in FY16. With iron ore mining in the state gaining momentum, it is expected that state’s iron ore production will increase considerably in this fiscal.

~Sourced