From the day the Supreme Court delivered its judgment on February 7, it was the mining giants and not the smaller players dominated the scene of iron ore extraction in the State. The number of mining leases operational between February 7 to March 15 varied between one to 17, with total production of two million tons.
Total 37 mining leases were in operation for the current financial year 2017-18 and were involved in production of 10.58 million tons of ore till March 15 evening, post which the mining activities came to halt as directed by the Apex Court.
Sesa Resources, Vedanta Ltd, Chowgule & Comp, VM Salgaoncar & Bro, Sociedade Timblo, Kunda Gharse, Cosme Minescape Mines Pvt Ltd, dominated the extraction activities during the last one month before ban. In fact, Kunda Gharse, which was operational for the maximum days, was the only lease holder, who was involved in production of ore even on March 15, while the rest had stopped on March 14 itself. On the last day, the total production was 0.005 million tons.
On the day of Supreme Court judgment, total 16 leases were in operation, who together produced 0.05 million tons of ore. The number of operational leases declined to 13 on February 8 but production was slightly at higher side 0.07 million tons.
The highest production during the period was recorded on February 9, wherein 15 leases were involved in producing 0.12 million tons of ore. On the other hand, the lowest production was on March 15. Before that, the lowest production was reported on February 21. Ten leases produced only 0.01 million tons of ore.
