Odisha orders probe into underreporting of high-grade iron ores, forms panel

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Tuesday said it has ordered a probe into instances of underreporting of high-grade iron ores and has formed a committee led by director mines G Rajesh to probe the matter.
Union coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi in a January 18 letter to Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi highlighted how Odisha has mentioned that underreporting of grades was particularly by some lease holders of auctioned mines.
"A representative of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) is part of the panel led by the director (mines) to inquire into the matter," one official said, adding that the Centre has also been informed about the
Jodhi wrote that the Centre had noticed miners were reporting unusual rise in production and export of low-grade ores. The minister said all mine-bearing states have been asked to probe into the matter. He said a further detailed report on the issue will be sought from Odisha.
Addressing a news conference here, Aparajita said the reporting of high-grade ore as low-grade is part of a massive scam, since this would mean the mining companies are not paying export duty and contributing less to the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund and to the National Mineral Exploration Trust.
Since the state government has conceded the irregularities, it should tell people the steps taken to prevent it," she said. While high-grade ore (having above 58% iron content) attracts export duty of 30% of its freight on board value, ore having less than 58% iron content attracts no export duty.
Director of mines Rajesh said state level enforcement squads (SLES) have been formed to check wrongdoings by miners. Actions have already been taken against some mine lease holders who were found underreporting, he said. Sources said the underreporting of high-grade ores have started particularly after mines were auctioned in 2021.
In 2019-2020, during the pre-auction period in mines where proportion of low-grade ore in a mine used to be substantially lower. However, after auction the new miners working on same mines started showing disproportionately higher volume of low-grade ore in 2021-2022.
Odisha's share of low-grade iron ore export was 23.4% of country's export. However, it increased to 67.3% in 2021-2022. Odisha accounts for 33.61% of country's iron ore.