Tuesday, 25 Jan 2011
India's top iron ore producing state Orissa said that it has allowed six mines to restart, three days after they were ordered to shut down in a crackdown on illegal mining.
The six were among 23 mines closed down on Friday pending submission of paperwork, adding to a total of more than 300 mines in Orissa shuttered since July 2009 as India tightens mining regulations.
Mr UC Jena Orissa's deputy director for mines told Reuters that production lost at the six mines was about 174,000 tonnes since Friday. All of the 23 mines have lost about 450,000 tonnes in output since being shut down on Friday, he added, amounting to a fraction of Orissa's annual output of about 75 million tonnes.
The shutdown last week was a procedural step and not related to a ban on iron ore exports the state wants to propose to boost local supplies.
Orissa is the third largest exporter of the steelmaking raw material in the country, the world's No. 3 supplier. India sells about half of its annual output of more than 200 million tonnes to top iron ore importer and steel producer China.
Tight supply of iron ore from India, largely due to a ban on exports from its Karnataka since July, had helped push spot prices to near record highs.
Mr Jena said that "I hope some more operators will submit their valid documents. If they submit we will issue permissions adding that the documents being sought include forest clearances and mining leases.”
(Sourced from Reuters)
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