A parliamentary panel has come down heavily on the government?s likely move to ease export restrictions on iron ore to generate revenues, and said that in the absence of checks, the raw material would exhaust by 2050.

In its latest report, the Standing committee on steel has said that the government should look at preserving the country?s iron ore resources for value-addition and not leave it for exploitation by traders.

Concerned about the revenue-expenditure mismatch and its adverse impact on the fiscal deficit, finance minister P Chidambaram recently indicated that the government could consider measures to reduce the export duty on iron ore, which currently stands at 30% for lumps and fines. He also indicated that the government would approach the Supreme court for lifting of the mining ban in Goa.

The committee, in its latest report, has said that the country?s entire iron ore resource would exhaust by 2050, leaving the Indian steel industry at the mercy of cartelised operations of global mining giants. Prior to the mining ban in Karnataka and Goa, India exported over 100 million tonne of iron ore, with China accounting for the bulk of the shipments. According to industry experts, iron ore exports have come down largely on account of Goa mining ban.

Prior to the ban, Goa used to export over 40 million tonne of iron ore as its low quality was not of much use for domestic steel producers. Goa accounts for about 70% of India’s iron ore exports. Before the ban came into effect, Sesa Goa used to be the largest iron ore mining firm in the private sector, producing about 14 million tonne from the state. At present, production in the state has come to a complete stop.

The total domestic availability of iron ore resources as estimated by the Indian Bureau of Mines is 28.526 billion tonne, of which only 8.115 billion tonne can be economically exploited. The Indian steel industry mainly uses haematite.

Of the 28.526 billion tonne, haematite resources are 17.88 billion tonne and magnetite resources are 10.64 billion tonne (about 37% of the total). Most of the magnetite resources are not available for mining due to the Supreme Court order prohibiting mining in the Western Ghats and similar environmentally sensitive zones.