Team Herald
PANJIM: With nearly three million tonnes of e-auctioned ore still lying at sites as owners have not lifted it, Directorate of Mines and Geology (DMG) has asked mining firms to deposit back the extraction cost of the cargo that has not been lifted, by July 21.
As per Supreme Court directives, DMG has to shell out Rs 250 per tonne extraction cost to the mining companies whose ore has been auctioned. The department has till date paid over Rs 100 crore to the firms for auction of eight million tonnes of ore.
“However, it has been found that not all auctioned material is lifted from various storage points. Hence, owners of such stacks who have collected extraction cost in advance for the balance quantity of ore not lifted so far by the dealers are hereby directed to forthwith deposit such part of extraction cost realized by them, but cargo of which is not lifted so far, on or before July 21,” director Prasanna Acharya has said in an order issued on Monday.
Those who fail to deposit the extraction amount would be liable to pay additional interest at 24 percent per annum, he said. “Also, those owners who have not collected the ore extraction cost, are directed to collect the same on or before July 21,” Acharya added.
Iron ore transportation is currently at a halt due to the monsoon. The fresh mining season will commence in October. In the last two years, the government has auctioned nearly eight million tonnes of ore of the total 15 million tonnes.
The mining industry exported 8.8 million tonnes of ore in the 2015-16 seasons. Of the total exports, 3.4 million tonnes were fresh ore, while the remaining 5.4 million tonnes were marked for e-auction.
