Panaji: The state cabinet on Thursday allocated additional iron ore of 1 lakh tonne to Sesa Resources Ltd for export by paying Rs 15.4 crore at Codli.Panaji: The Bombay high court, while dismissing Goa Foundation’s PIL challenging a provision of the Goa Mining Dump Policy, held that mining dumps are generated due to mining activities carried out under approved mining plans. “Therefore, it must be presumed that the lease holder has already paid royalty with regard to the iron ore, if any, contained in the dumps,” the high court stated.“Under such circumstances, the plea of disposing of the dumps, through a fresh process of auction, in our considered opinion, does not hold to reason. Rather, we are of the view that the mechanism prescribed under Clause 2(2) of the Policy of 2023 is not only fair and transparent but the same also adequately addresses the economic concerns of the state,” said the division bench of justices Suman Shyam and Amit Jamsandekar.The court further stated that “the question of conserving the natural resources in Goa, bearing in mind the issues of sustainable development and intergenerational equity, is a very serious issue having great public importance” and appreciated the efforts of Goa Foundation in highlighting such issues of public importance, which led to significant judgments and directions passed by the Supreme Court.Goa Foundation filed the PIL challenging Section 2.2 of the policy for regulating iron ore dump handling, arguing that the state cannot hand over large quantities of ore to former miners without securing the best price through a transparent auction process.The company purchased the dump through e-auction. When they were handling the ore, they found that it was excessive, and they informed the authorities. The mining company requested state govt to allocate the additional ore.Through the directorate of mines and geology, state govt has been conducting e-auction of extracted ore lying in Goa on an ‘as-is where-is’ basis, as directed by Supreme Court.A total of 31 e-auctions were conducted, wherein 13 lots of extracted iron ore were put up for auction at various locations in the state.One of the lots put up for e-auction was located at Codli, Dharbandora, wherein the total quantity was 1.2 lakh tonne, consisting of three stacks of 80,000 tonnes fines, 30,000 tonne lumps and 15,000 tonnes (ROM).The approximate grade of the lot was 45.4% iron, which was calculated as a weighted average of the grades of the three stacks. The base price for the lot was Rs 402 per tonne.Sesa Resources Ltd was the successful bidder for the lot, and the same was won for Rs 1,542 per tonne.
