India’s Supreme Court is continuing hearings on investigations into illegal mining in the southern state of Karnataka, with the court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) expected to submit its findings on the issue by 15 April.
Late last month following visits to iron ore mines in the state’s Bellary-Hospet region, the CEC recommended that all mining operations in the area be curtailed in order to check illegal mining, as Steel Business Briefing previously reported.
Based on the committee’s initial investigative findings, operations at some 10-15 mines in the region have already been suspended. “The committee found that output at some of these mines exceeded the amounts permitted under their mining leases,” a local source notes. “Some other miners were reprimanded for encroaching into forest regions adjoining their mines.”
The illegal nature of these operations makes determining the volume of ore output impacted by the mine closures difficult. However, sources estimate that some of the mines affected were producing in excess of 1m tonnes/year of ore.
“A large part of the Bellary-Hospet region would be impacted by the CEC’s findings,” another local source tells SBB. “But the committee’s report will clearly spell out who the culprits are. At least, miners and traders operating legally will no longer be harassed needlessly because of the illicit activities of others,” he expects. The Karnataka government is expected to resume issuing iron ore export permits from 20 April following a Supreme Court directive to this effect early this month, as SBB has reported.
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