Goa offers to cap iron ore output at 45 mtpa

NEW DELHI: The Goa government on Tuesday argued that it had taken several drastic steps to clean up its act on illegal mining, including setting up a tough regulatory mechanism, and offered to cap annual ore production to 45 mt in a bid to persuade the Supreme Court to lift a crippling ban on mining and export of ore from the state. This could be revised southwards later, senior counsel Arvind P Datar said, once the state mines director came up with a figure consistent with an environmentally sustainable figure.

He urged a bench, comprising Justices AK Patnaik, SS Nijjar and FMI Kalifullah, hearing a batch of petitions on the rampant illegal mining in the state which prompted the court to ban all mining and ore exports from the state, to urgently lift the ban.

One-fifth of the state revenues come from exports of the low grade ore which is exported and cannot be used locally, he said, quoting from a state affidavit which claimed that stopping of mining activity had a cascading effect on the economy and had affected all the persons directly or indirectly dependent upon mining.

He enumerated several steps taken by the state government after the Shah Commission report was made public on Sept 7, 2012, to address the problem of illegal mining. The state immediately suspended all mining, reviewed all mining and transport licences, he contended. He also sought to draw the court’s attention to the new draft mining policy of the state. The rules of ore trading would also be tightened to place them on par with that of the Odisha rules which are more stringent, he said.