Goa government likely to auction 40 more mining leases soon

PANAJI: The state government is likely to auction around 40 mining leases initially to meet the capping limit of 30 million tonne of iron ore extraction.
A senior officer said that in 2015, the macro EIA study related to the ceiling of annual excavation of iron ore from Goa by the expert committee constituted by the Supreme Court had recommended 30 million tonne extraction. In 2014, the Supreme Court had set an annual cap of 20 million tonne on ore extraction in the state.
“We will approach the Supreme Court to seek permission to increase the capping limit to 30 miilion tonne based on the expert committee report,” a senior officer said.
He said that the Supreme Court had quashed the second renewal of 88 mining leases. The officer said that the leases will be auctioned based on the capping limit.
Successful bidders have to approach the Union environment ministry, which will also decide the extraction limit for a particular mine.
“Once the extraction quantity is decided, the directorate of mines and geology will get clarity on leases to be auctioned to meet the capping limit,” a senior officer said.
Recently, the state government successfully completed the auction of four mining leases -- three in North and one in South Goa. All the mining leases have been retained by the Goa-based mining companies.
In the new year, the state government will auction another seven mining leases.
Few days ago, the SC had allowed the state government to take a decision on the low-grade iron ore dumps lying across the state.
The state mines department has said that around 20 million tonne of iron ore is lying in the form of dumps, and can be exported over the period of four to five years.
Advocate general Devidas Pangam said that the Supreme Court’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) recommended that the state government should be allowed to decide on dump handling.
In December 2021, ahead of the assembly elections, Pramod Sawant-led government had granted approval to the new policy for handling of mining dumps outside and inside the leases through auctioning by the state government, and also allowing lessees to handle the dumps to restart the mining activities.