Panaji: With an environmental clearance (EC) granted to V M Salgacor & Bro Pvt Ltd, the company will start handling iron ore dumps lying outside mining lease areas on private land at Surla. Salgaocar is the second mining company to get EC to handle iron ore dumps.State govt granted permission to three mining companies to handle iron ore dumps outside mining leases at four different locations.
The directorate of mines and geology (DMG) granted final approval to Chowgule and Company Pvt Ltd to handle 3 lakh tonnes of low-grade iron ore lying outside the mining leases at Shirgao at a premium of 22%. This is the first time since mining activities came to a halt in Sep 2012 that any mining company was allowed to handle the dumps.The Dump Handling Policy, 2023, paved the way to deal with the 700 million tonnes of low-grade iron ore lying inside and outside mining leases across the state, and to export 25 million tonnes per annum.State govt empanelled four agencies to conduct a dump profile study of the low-grade iron ore in Goa on a pilot basis. Sai Universal Mining Services, Global Environmental and Mining Services, Minerals Lab Services Pvt Ltd, and Sinha Mining Consultancy will conduct quantity and quality assessments of the ore.Nineteen mining companies, in their applications to govt, said they want to handle around 55 million tonnes of low-grade iron ore in the state. Chief minister Pramod Sawant said that with the low-grade iron ore stock of Goa, mining activities can run for the next five years without any problem.The ore lies in the talukas of Bicholim, Sanguem, Dharbandora, and Sattari. A senior official said that state govt filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that mining companies must get green nods to handle dumps.Recently, DMG postponed an auction of 10 iron ore dumps scheduled to be held last month. DMG said that the new date for the auction of dumps will be notified shortly.The director of mines and geology, Narayan Gad, said that the auction was postponed as the detailed project reports submitted by the mining companies were still under scrutiny by TERI.Govt put up 22 million tonnes of low-grade iron ore through an e-auction.
