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Goa approaches Supreme Court hoping to monetize iron ore dumps
Mining dumps, are mountains of topsoil and other rejects that have been dumped across various locations in Goa as miners dug deeper for higher grade ore in the open cast mining pits. Since these dumps do not fall in the category of ‘mines,’ the state is hopeful that they will be allowed to monetize them.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced on Monday that the state government has approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to start dump mining, as the state continues to grapple with the shutdown that has hit its economy.
“An application for dump mining has been filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. We are hopeful of positive outcome in reviving the industry,” Sawant said in a post on social media.
Mining dumps, are mountains of topsoil and other rejects that have been dumped across various locations in Goa as miners dug deeper for higher grade ore in the open cast mining pits. However, with the spike in the price of iron ore, mining dumps too have earned value and can be sold off to be mixed with higher grade ore in the international market.
Since these dumps do not fall in the category of ‘mines,’ the state is hopeful that they will be allowed to monetize them. However, since the legal position is yet unclear, the State has decided to approach the Supreme Court.
The Goa government has already filed a review petition in the top court in the hope that it will change its mind after it cancelled 88 mining lease renewals in February 2017 and directed that fresh leases be granted.
However, the State government had been reluctant to grant fresh leases, since the Act, as amended in 2015, now mandates an auction. The government is hoping that the Supreme Court will revoke the 2017 order.
The Supreme Court in its order had ruled that “the second renewal of the mining leases granted by the State of Goa was unduly hasty, without taking all relevant material into consideration and ignoring available relevant material and therefore not in the interests of mineral development”.
