KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - The government of the west Indian coastal province of Goa on Thursday lifted a ban on iron-ore mining in the region.
The local government issued an order lifting the ban as the first step towards resumption of mining operations; however, a matching order was required from the federal Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The order stated: "The government of Goa hereby revokes the order dated September 10, 2012 with immediate effect", noting that the Supreme Court had upheld the government’s suspension of mining operations and directed that the ban should continue until such time as the provincial government decided to grant fresh leases.
The ban had been imposed following investigations and reports of the Shah Commission appointed by the Indian government to probe illegal mining across India.
The Supreme Court had lifted the order in April 2014 but the mining ban remained in place as the local government had not completed finalisation of the new mining policy, which would govern the fresh granting of mining leases, a local official said.
The new order stated that the Goa government was now ready with a new mining policy and decisions would be taken on renewal and applications for fresh mining leases as per provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, No 67 of 1957.
At the time of the imposition of ban in 2012, Goa had 90 operational mines of the total 337 mining leases in the province and exported 42-million tonnes of ore in 2011/12. The province accounted for 5.3% of India’s total 28.5-billion tonnes of iron-ore reserves as per the National Mineral Inventory.