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SC panel clears only 2 mines in Karnataka

Supreme Court-appointed committee to survey 42 iron ore mines in two districts of Karnataka has cleared only two mines for resumption of operations and will decide on a third in a few weeks.

The report quoted a forest official who participated in the survey operations as saying that “The joint survey team deliberated on the findings of the field survey and decided to clear only two mines for resumption of operation.”

The panel, which completed the assessment last week, has cleared a private mine each in Chitradurga and Tumkur districts. Among the 39 defaulting mines is Sesa Goa Ltd’s Narrain mine in Chitradurga, with production capacity of 6 million tonnes a year.

The survey was ordered by the apex court following a petition by Samaja Parivarthana Samudaya, a non-governmental organization, against illegal mining in Karnataka.

Chitradurga saw a peak production of 6.5 million tonne in 2008-09, and Tumkur 2.5 million tonne. Along with Bellary’s production of nearly 40 million tonne that year, the three districts accounted for nearly 25% of the India’s iron ore production.