NMDC surrendered Arki limestone mine as project became unviable: Faggan Kulaste

State-owned NMDC surrendered the lease for Arki limestone mine in Himachal Pradesh as the project faced various challenges including logistics, Parliament was informed on Monday. NMDC had obtained a lease to mine limestone deposits at Arki in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh on April 23, 1991, Minister of State (MoS) for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said in a reply to Rajya Sabha.

"(However) due to several issues including logistics, the project became unviable.

The Arki limestone mining lease has been surrendered by NMDC Ltd on 12.8.2021," he told the Upper House.

The request to surrender the mines was accepted by the state government on December 8, 2021, the minister said.

NMDC, under the Ministry of Steel, is into exploration of a wide range of minerals like iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, lime stone, dolomite and gypsum.