Sesa hopes to start mining in Oct

PTI, NEW DELHI | 26 July 2012 12:33 IST

Sesa Goa is hopeful of resuming mining in Karnataka by October as a Supreme Court appointed panel has agreed to the company's R&R plan in the state, a top official said today.

"All the approvals have to be taken, including Supreme Court approval, for our mine because we are in Category 'B'. So, I think in couple of months it should start. By October, we can expect mining to begin," Sesa Goa's Managing Director P K Mukherjee told PTI.

He further said that Sesa Goa can produce upto 2.29 million tonnes (MT) from its mine in Chitradurga district during the current financial year, if allowed by the apex court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

"That (producing 2.29 MT in the current fiscal) should not be any problem, if we are permitted because when the mining was stopped (in the state), we were running a capacity of 6 MT," Mukherjee said.

The company's mine in Chitradurga district in Karnataka could produce 6 MT of iron ore in a year before a blanket mining ban was put across the state by Supreme Court in August 2011 due to enviromental degradation of the areas.

Earlier this month, the CEC had given its concurrence to Sesa Goa's Reclamation and Rehabilitation (R&R plan) for its Chitradurga mine.

Approval and implementation of R&R plan was the foremost condition put by the Supreme Court, when it had allowed part-resumption of mining in Karnataka in April.

However, the CEC has scaled down Sesa Goa's production capacity to 2.29 MT per year from 6 MT following an apex court order of limiting production to 25 MT in Bellary and 5 MT together in Tumkur and Chitradurga districts.

The Vedanta group firm now requires Supreme Court approval to resume mining as its mine falls in Category-B as per the CEC categorisation of mines in Karnataka.

Besides, the company would also require a fresh environmental clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) as it has been fixed as one of the mandatory conditions by the apex court.

According to Mukherjee, implementation of the R&R plan would require about Rs 8-10 crore investment for the company.

Closure of operations in Karnataka due to a mining ban imposed by the Supreme Court last year has led to a decline of 27% in iron ore miner's production in 2011-12.

Besides, the company is conducting various surveys and mineralogy mapping of its iron ore reserves in Liberia (in West Africa) and is planning to finalise the capital expenditure plan by December end, he said.  

He added there are plans to invest about Rs 400-450 crore in Liberian deposits during the current fiscal, though the full capex will be decided later by December-end.

Maintaining that the first shipment from the project will happen by March 2014, Mukherjee said investments in Liberia will be spread over 2-3 years once the capex is decided.


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