Odisha Govt orders reopening of 3 Iron Ore Mines

Bhubaneswar, May 2 (IANS): The Odisha government has ordered reopening of three more closed iron ore mines under the amended Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 2015, Steel and Mines minister Prafulla Mallick said on Saturday.

Mallick said the government has asked the three mines to sign a supplementary lease deed with the government within three months.

The government directive came after the recommendations of the inter-departmental committee on mines.

The inter-departmental committee headed by Development Commissioner U.N. Behera, which had met on April 25 to extend the lease validity of 11 iron ore and manganese mines, had recommended reopening of three mines belonging to R.P Sao, H.G Pandya and others and Orissa Manganese and Minerals Ltd.

Out of the 11 non-captive mines, the proposal for reopening eight mines was rejected as they did not have the required documents.

The three mines, whose proposals were cleared, would sign lease deeds with the government within three months for operation of the mines, said Mallick.

Earlier, the government had approved the recommendation of the panel for reopening 26 closed mines under the amended MMDR Act on April 16.

The mines were waiting for second and subsequent renewal. As per the provisions of the amended MMDR Act, the lease of mines having all statutory clearances can be extended to operate.

The non-captive mines can operate till 2020 while the captive mines can operate till 2030 before the mines go under the hammer.