Bid to prevent captive mine owners from selling byproducts; make them add value to ore. The Centre has moved to clear any ambiguity that could be misused by captive mine owners to sell iron ore fines in the open market. The move comes after the Jharkhand High Court in February stayed the State from banning exports, but relaxed it later to allow a one-time domestic sale of iron ore fines from the captive mines of Usha Martin and Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

New Delhi The government is set to consider a proposal for a complete ban on private-public joint ventures (JVs) for developing mineral blocks allocated to state-run corporations and public sector undertakings under a special dispensation. The move would hit the plans of Adani Mining, Moser Baer, Vedanta, Monnet Ispat and the Jaypee Group, among others, in the minerals and metals business.

State-owned trading giant MMTC has inked pacts with Japanese and South Korean steel companies including Posco, to supply 2.8 million tonnes of iron ore annually for a period of three years.

"We have signed iron ore supply contracts with five Japanese firms and one South Korean company for a period of three years. The exports are expected to start from July this year,"

SC nod can lead to production of 6-7 mt from 49 category A, B mines

The shortage of iron ore in Karnataka is likely to ease by July, as regular mining is expected to resume in a couple of months from now. The Supreme Court-appointed authorities are preparing reclamation and rehabilitation (R&R) plans, stoking hopes of an end to the stalemate. Once the apex court approves the plans, mining can resume in 49 leases of 50-hectares and above falling under the A and B category mines in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur.

Bangalore Mining in Karnataka is back on its feet. The Supreme Court has allowed mining to resume in iron ore mines of more than 50 hectares after rehabilitation and reclamation plans (R&R) for these leases are approved by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

The court accepted the recommendatations of the CEC which refer to restarting mining in two groupings of mines referred to as A and B groups, a classification that the panel had made based on a survey of the extent of irregularities. The two groups together constitute some 100 mines.

In a move that the iron ore mining industry says is a throwback to inspector raj, the commerce and industry ministry has moved a Cabinet note proposing that exports of iron ore with over 55 per cent ferrous content be canalised through the state-owned trading company MMTC Ltd. MMTC will get around 1 per cent of the value of exports as commission. Of the total domestic output of 220 million tonnes of iron ore, Indian miners export 115 million tonnes on their own and doubt if MMTC has the capability to handle such huge quantities.

The government has hiked the ad valorem duty on iron ore exports to 30 per cent from 20 per cent. The decision would enrich a cash-strapped government by around Rs 8,500-9,000 crore. While the hike in export duty has understandably stunned the mining community, the move was in the offing for sometime now. Strong reservation by steel companies against unfettered iron ore exports found ready acceptance from former Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh, who wanted more restrictions on exports.

NEW DELHI, 2 OCT: Maharatna Coal India today said its profitability would be eroded by about Rs 2,000 crore per annum post-enactment of new mines legislation, which mandates coal miners to share 26 per cent of their profits with project-affected people.

“It (new mines bill) would hit the profitability of the company by about Rs 2,000 crore,” Coal India chairman Mr NC Jha said. Mr Jha, however, added that if the government wanted to maintain the profit of the state-run PSU, it would have to resort to hike in coal prices.

Ranchi, Sept. 30: A representative organisation of companies with mining interests has criticised Jharkhand’s decision to ask the Centre to ban export of iron ore by captive as well as non-captive lease holders, throwing up yet another challenge to the Arjun Munda government.

The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), with 350 member companies, said today the move was a face-saving measure of the state government that had recently allowed domestic sale of iron-ore fines by a couple of captive lease holders amid Opposition allegations of a “sellout”.

Exports of iron ore declined by about 22 per cent to 25.2 million tonnes in April-July due to the ban on its shipments from Karnataka, industry body FIMI today said.

Releasing the provisional data of exports, the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) said the country had exported 32.3 million tonnes of iron ore during April-July last year.

Exports in July fell by about 23 per cent to 3.6 million tonne, the second highest decline in a month this fiscal after 29 per cent decrease in April.