Bolivia encashes another $18-m bank guarantee from JSPL for not meeting contractual terms. Naveen Jindal-controlled Jindal Steel & Power’s ambitious Bolivian project to mine 20 billion tonnes of iron ore is at risk after the Bolivian government encashed yet another $18-million bank guarantee from the Indian firm for not meeting contractual terms.

The Odisha government may impose a cap on iron ore production in the state, dealing a blow to the industry reeling under closures, loss of production and a nation-wide crackdown on illegal profiteering. A senior Odisha government official told ET on condition of anonymity that the state has begun work on restricting iron ore production to about 52 million tonnes annually. Odisha produced about 75 million tonnes in 2010-11, a third of the country’s annual output of about 218 million tonnes.

Bellary Thermal Plant may become operational in May second week

Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje has said the State will purchase 990 MW of power to meet the demand during summer. The State is finding it difficult to purchase more power because of lack of corridors to evacuate electricity.

NEW DELHI: The government has invoked special powers under the Electricity Act and directed the central and state regulators to implement a long-pending reform to allow industrial consumers to buy cheaper power from the open market.

A consortium of four state-owned Indian companies - SAIL, Nalco, Hindustan Copper and Mineral Exploration Corp - has been shortlisted to invest in new gold and copper deposits in Afghanistan. Two private players - Monnet Ispat & Energy and Jindal Steel & Power - have also made the cut, opening up the possibility of a public-private partnership for a strategic bid by the Indian metals majors.

The Indian companies are among the 25 chosen from 41 firms from the US, UK, Australia, Canada, UAE, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Twenty-one iron and steel plants, having capacity of 0.5 million tonnes a year and above, are up for an independent “green” rating. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a New Delhi-based NGO, has completed a survey of the country's top steel-sector players for the environmental ratings.

The results of the survey, conducted over around one year and nine months, and the rating details will be announced next month. The centre would also release a 200-page book on the environment status of the domestic steel sector on May 17.

India's environmental and tribal activists have scored another victory over companies looking to start mining and related projects in the mineral-rich and densely forested regions of the country.

Late Friday, a green tribunal has struck down an environmental clearance granted to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. to mine coal at Raigarh in the central state of Chhattisgarh, saying the tribal people living in the area weren't given a fair hearing before the government gave its go-ahead to the project.

Public hearing conducted by the concerned company prior to applying for environmental clearance is not a mere formality but a substantive requirement of law, held the National Green Tribunal.

Setting aside the green clearance accorded to a coal mining project of Jindal Steel and Power in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh, the Tribunal observed that the company had made a mockery of the public hearing. An examination of the video recording done by the pollution control board showed a restive audience breaking chairs and shouting slogans which was broken up by police force.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s environment panel on Friday recommended a CBI probe into alleged land transfer and other concessions by former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to a mining company which helped his relatives reap “windfall profits”. The central empowered committee indicted Yeddyurappa, his two sons and son-in-law for involvement in illegal land allotment to Jindal group-owned South West Mining Limited. Land transfer unlikely to be one-off case: CEC

New Delhi: Jindal Steel and Power Limited got a jolt on Friday with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) cancelling the environmental clearance to the 4 million tonne per annum Gare IV/6 coal mining project in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.
The NGT order did not even spare the Union environment ministry (MoEF) for its functioning in the case. The tribunal noted that the mandatory public hearing held to gain acceptance of the project from the affected people was a “farce”. “It was amockery of the public hearing and the procedure required to be followed,” it said.