Sesa Sterlite resumed iron ore mining at Chitradurg in Karnataka on Monday, eight months after the Supreme Court cleared mining operations for ?A? and ?B? category mines in the southern state. The court-appointed monitoring committee had restricted production of iron ore by the company at an annual 2.4 million tonne.
The company, formerly Sesa Goa, said that the monitoring committee has allowed them to resume mining operations in the state of Karnataka. ?Accordingly, the company has commenced its mining operations today (Monday), in accordance with stipulated conditions,? the company said in a statement. ?We have received all necessary approvals from the state government to resume operations at the Narrain mine in Chitradurg,? a company official said.
The company is also in the process of getting a ?change of name? clearance after which it will be able to sell the output. ?Since the company was renamed Sesa Sterlite after the ban was imposed, we will only be able to undertake sale of ore after the change in name of the company is approved,? the official added.
Out of 115 mines that are eligible to start iron-ore mining operations in Karnataka after the Supreme Court?s April verdict, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has given approvals to only 20 mines for operational in the state. Out of these 20 mines, which have commenced their operations so far, have produced around 8 million tonnes of ore in the past eight months. The state is currently producing 17 million tonnes of iron ore against the total demand of around 35 million tonnes.
NMDC is still the largest iron ore producer in the state. The company, which remain unaffected from mining ban in the state, produces close to 9 million tonne of ore from its two mines ? Kumaraswamy and Donimalai.
Before the ban, Karnataka used to produce around 45-50 million tonnes of iron-ore from 166 mines.
Shares of Sesa Sterlite reacted positively towards the development and was up by 4% in the morning trade before paring some gains to close up about a percent at R202.75 on the Bombay Stock Exchange.