PANJIM: Goa has the highest number of 184 iron ore mining leases expiring in March 2020, of which 124 leases can be taken up for ore extraction activities in future through e-auction, said the Central Government-appointed Dr K Rajeswara Rao Committee.
There are total five mining leases, which were operational between 2007 and 2012 and one lease working between 2015 and February 2018, that will stand expired on March 31, 2020.
Union Ministry of Mines had appointed Dr K Rajeswara Rao committee in December 2018 to look into the various issues related to seamless opertationalisation of the mining leases expiring under Section 8A(6) of the MMDR Act (amendment) 2015.
The Committee, in its report submitted to the Ministry, has identified around 334 mining leases which would expire on March 31, 2020. Of these, there are 184 non-working mines in Goa that would stand expired in 2020, followed by 50 in Karnataka, 31 in Odisha, 21 in Jharkhand, etc.
In Goa, of the total 184 non-working mines, there are 60 leases that fall in the protected areas of wildlife sanctuaries and national park, within the buffer zone and hence cannot be taken up for mining in future.
“Remaining 124 mining leases can be taken up for mining in future through e-auction,” the report stated.
Further, of these 124, there are 77 leases, which have never worked since they were granted lease by the government and there are another 47 leases which have worked for some time.
As per the committee, the e-auction process of these mines has to be initiated in September, this year, to ensure that by the time of expiry of the lease, they can be immediately put in operation.
The Supreme Court last year had quashed renewals of 88 mining leases in Goa and since then the iron ore extraction activities had come to a halt.
