PANJIM: The State Cabinet on Friday approved the new Dump Handling Policy 2023, for regulating iron ore dump handling in the State.
The Dump Handling Policy allows handling of low grade iron ore lying inside and outside mining leases generated between November 23, 2007 and September 11, 2022.
The Directorate of Mines and Geology had identified more than 300 such locations across the State. Under the policy, priority will be accorded to dumps that pollute the surrounding ecosystems, in forest areas and in other ecological sensitive non-lease areas.
Before finalising the policy, the Government had started the process to conduct a drone LIDAR survey of the mining dumps for volumetric estimation.
The Supreme Court in December last year had allowed the Goa government to carry out mine dumping activities with regards to low-grade iron ore dumps lying across the State by strictly adhering to the expert committee recommendations.
As per the Directorate of Mines and Geology estimate, around 20 million tonnes of iron ore was lying in the form of dumps and can be extracted for over a period of five years.
In December 2021, the State government had granted approval to a new policy for handling mining dumps outside and inside leases through e-auctioning.
