State food and supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick today said the substandard iron-ore supplied in the Rs 139-crore scam in the state-owned Essential Commodities Supply Corporation in connection with which two of the state's top IAS officials have been arrested had been kept in godowns owned by the former Haldia strongman and CPI-M MP Lakshman Seth. From Seth's "storage facilities", the minister alleged, the sub-standard iron-ore was transported to Beijing from Haldia port.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today slammed the police and others for their failure to stop illegal mining in Haryana. The court asked the Home Secretary to step in to stop rampant exploitation of mineral wealth. The directions by Justice Ranjit Singh came on a bunch of related petitions filed against the State of Haryana by four accused, including Ayyub of Malahaka village under Tauru police station in Mewat district.

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), the flagship company of the Adani Group, on Thursday announced its decision to exit the real-estate business. The company felt that the move to divest its holding in the real-estate business, which is largely spread in the property markets of Ahmedabad and Mumbai will help it focus on its core business of coal mining, ports and power generation.

State questions the ‘bald and somewhat unsubstantiated’ threshold limit set by the court. Karnataka is contesting the recommendations of two panels that have submitted reports to the Supreme Court calling for annual iron ore production in the southern state to be capped at 30 million tonnes, on the ground that investments of . 1,40,000 crore or close to $30 billion in new steel plants would be in jeopardy.

Mineral resources are non-renewable. Every effort should be made to mine both high-and low-grade ores and utilise those precious resources fully, scientists and mineral experts who participated at a recently held three-day symposium here recommended. “At every mine site, the low-grade ores and minerals, which are many times more than the high-grade ones, have to be upgraded and the wastes should be utilised for backfilling the mined areas or other purposes,” they said.

Check posts would be set up on Odisha-Jharkhand border to stop illegal mining of iron ore, officials said here today after a meeting of the top officials of the two States.

“Illegal mining has been taking place on revenue and forest land in Manki-Munda command in the bordering areas of the two States. Check posts will be set up within a month,” the Jharkhand Home Secretary, Mr J.B. Tubid, said after the meeting.

“The check posts would be set up to curb illegal transportation of iron ore and identifying routes to carry minerals,” he said.

The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) favours re-opening of mines categorised as A and B in Karnataka.

“The Supreme Court has stopped all iron ore mines in Karnataka. We understand that the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has now finished the survey of all mines and classified them into A B and C categories. We are hopeful that at least the mines in A and B categories be allowed to open,” said Mr Basant Poddar, Chairman, Fimi-South.

The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) said Bellary district administration has misled ICFRE team on impact of mining in the district.

“The Bellary district administration held the mining industry responsible for lower agriculture productivity during 2003-2010,” said Mr D.V. Pichamuthu, Director, Fimi-South.

“However, the official figures show that during this entire period, the rainfall was below normal except for one year,” he explained.

The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) has suggested to the Government to take up feasibility study of underground mining in Karnataka's Western Ghats. In addition to 2.16 billion tonnes of haematite ore deposits in Karnataka, there is magnetite ore to the tune of 7.8 billion tonnes. “Fimi is ready to support feasibility study between northern boundary of Bababudan Giri hills in Kudremukh up to Goa,” Mr Basant Poddar, Chairman, Fimi-South. “Underground mining is successfully working beneath Johannesburg in South Africa and Stockholm in Sweden.

women working in mining or stone crushing units often give opium to their infants to keep them quiet while they are working.
JAIPUR: A report prepared by a few NGOs on child labour in Rajasthan has claimed that women working in mining or stone crushing units often give opium to their infants to keep them quiet while they are working.