Announcing its mineral-linkage policy, the Odisha government has entrusted the Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), a state government-owned company, to act as a nodal agency to ensure long-term raw material linkages to steel and ferro-alloy industries coming up in the state.
State chief secretary GC Pati said the government has put in place a policy to supply raw material to local industries and the OMC would supply it to such units. ???
As per the new policy, 50% of iron ore production would be reserved for long term linkage with MoU steel plants. In case of chrome ore, 70% of production will be earmarked for long-term linkage. ?
The quantity for a unit would be determined by a committee comprising representatives of the director of mines, OMC, industries department and IPICOL.
The price of the ore would be based on fair market price discovered through national e-auctions conducted by OMC.
A similar mechanism will be devised by the OMC for other minerals like bauxite and limestone, depending upon the requirement of mineral-based industries in the state. About 31 of 49 MoU steel projects in various stages of production have been
crying for raw material linkage. Similarly, over a dozen ferro alloy plants in the state have not been able to start full-capacity production because of non-availability of chrome ore. ??
“With long-term linkage in place, mineral-based industries will get a boost, thereby providing more employment and enhanced revenue,” Pati said.