623 PLs for mining leases pending in Goa

Thursday, 06 Oct 2011

PTI reported that State Mines and Geology department has conceded that there are 623 prospecting licences for mining leases pending with them while environmentalists are asserting for cap in the Iron Ore mining in Goa.

A cabinet note moved has mentioned that state has 595 deemed leases, of which 410 applications for renewal are being processed. The department has told the state cabinet that there are 623 prospecting licenses.

The Shah Commission appointed by the Central government and state legislative assembly's Public Accounts Committee is investigating into multi crore mining scam, which has been estimated somewhere around INR 1,200 crore to INR 10,000 crore.

The ministry of Environment and Forest has fixed a moratorium on new mining leases and renewal of old leases since last year onwards asking the state government to frame its mining policy. While environmentalists and state main opposition party, Bharatiya Janata Party are pressing for a cap on the iron ore to be tapped from Goa, the mining industry has said that 'any capping would be deterrent for their trade.'

Goa basically has low grade Iron Ore which has received huge demand in the international markets after China boom of 2005 when the neighboring country began building infrastructure for Beijing Olympics. The state which has mining as the biggest industry after the tourism trade, had received INR 1,000 crore in the form of royalty earned on exports. As per the figures furnished on Monday till date between March to September 2011 the state has earned INR 450 crore as a royalty.

Of the twelve talukas, seven talukas has active mines. As per the figures provided by the state government to Shah Commission and there are 90 mining leases and total 54 million tonnes of Ore has been exported from Goa.

(sourced from HindustanTimes)

CIL BCCL mine closure notice stayed

Sunday, 28 Aug 2011

The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday stayed the closure notice issued by the Jharkhand pollution control board to 22 coal mines under Bharat Coking Coal Ltd.

According to company sources, the stay order was issued based on a petition filed by BCCL a wholly owned subsidiary of CIL challenging the state panel’s decision.

The mines including both opencast and underground produce nearly 15 million tonne coal, mostly coking coal, annually. The closure, if implemented, should impact the steel sector, particularly the Union government controlled Steel Authority of India Ltd.

In an order issued earlier this month the pollution control board accused BCCL for running the mines without proper forest and environment clearance.

CIL sources, however said that the mines were developed by private operators (before nationalization in mid 1970’s) without much regard to environment and forest regulations in today’s context.

To regularize the issue, the coal major, in consultation with the Union ministry of environment and forests had sought requisite environmental clearance for the entire cluster of 22 mines. An official told Business Line that “While the clearance is due, the state pollution control board had issued a closure order.”

(sourced from BL)

HC issues notices to 48 iron ore mines in Goa

Sunday, 28 Aug 2011

PTI reported that the Goa bench of Bombay High Court has issued notices to holders of 48 mining leases in the state for exceeding the permissible limit of extraction.

Goa Foundation, an environmental NGO, has filed a Public Interest Litigation before the High Court on the issue, calling such extraction as a violation of state environmental laws.

The respondents to the PIL include some of the state’s biggest mining companies, including VS Dempo, Timblo Irmaos, VM Salgaoncar and Chowgule & Co. Besides, Court has also issued notices to Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Next hearing would be on September 19.

The state has 100 odd mining leases, which export 54 million tones of ore annually.

(Sourced from PTI)

HC orders status quo on closure of BCCL mines

Fri,Aug 26, 2011
Manohar LalManohar Lal, TNN

RANCHI: Giving an immediate relief to the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), the Jharkhand high court on Thursday ordered a status quo on the closure of as many as 14 operational mines as ordered by the state pollution control board till August 30.

BCCL had moved the high court challenging the order of state pollution control board issued last week. The coal mining giant has said in its petition that the order of the state pollution board was too harsh and it could affect the companies run on the coal mined from this area.

The hearing on the petition was taken up in the court of Justice Poonam Srivastava. The counsel for BCCL said though the mines are not closed as the copy of the order has not been received by the company, the order of pollution control board does not comply with the pollution law of the state.

Contesting the arguments, advocate-general Anil Kumar Sinha said the order was very much in accordance with the law and these mines were run without prior permission from the state government.

Sinha said the company despite several notices slapped by the state pollution control board was neither replying nor abiding by the norms laid by the pollution control board. After hearing the arguments, the court asked the state government to file a counter affidavit on the petition of BCCL.

The court also ordered maintaining a status quo on as many as 22 operational mines of the company and adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.

The state pollution control board has ordered closure of mines of the company for not following green norms last week.

The underground and open cast mines which were ordered for closure are Phularitarh, Muraidih, Shatabdi, Govindpur, Gajlitarh, Mudidih, Tetulmari, Senara, Bansjora, Gondudih Khas, Khushanda, Ena, Kujama, Ginagarha, Bahra South, Gopalichak, Murlidih, Dahibari and Bahra North.

BCCL, a Coal India Ltd subsidiary, has as many as 69 coal mines in the state and made major technological changes to enhance production, which according to the state pollution control board had violated green norms.

(sourced TOI)

Update on iron ore mining in Kudremukh National Park

Friday, 19 Aug 2011

Mr Beni Prasad Verma minister of steel has said that the government have no proposal so far, to reopen the iron ore mine in the area of Kudremukh National Park. However, a part of the loose secondary weathered ore lying in the already broken up area, is posing environmental and ecological threat to the surroundings, particularly to river Bhadra.

To protect from the possible ecological damage, the government has filed an IA No. 3087/2011 before the Hon’ble Supreme Court for allowing Kudremukh Iron Ore Cooperation Ltd for removing approximately 20 million tonnes of loose secondary weathered ore without any drill or blasting.

In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha he said that KIOCL Ltd. is not in the possession of any forest land falling in the Kudremukh National Park. Even the part of forest land which was under lease for mining to KIOCL Ltd has been handed over to Forest Department of government of Karnataka in compliance with the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court. Subsequently, government of Karnataka had included an area of 3703.55 ha of forest land into the Kudremukh National Park vide its Gazette Notification dated January 9th 2007

Chile approves controversial Copec coal mine

Sat Aug 13, 2011

SANTIAGO Aug 12 (Reuters) - Chile's embattled government on Friday approved a controversial coal mine project in the country's southern Patagonia region, despite strong opposition from environmental groups and local residents.

Environment Minister Maria Ignacia Benitez said the government had given the greenlight for the $530 million Mina Invierno project being developed by Minera Isla Riesco, a joint venture between industrial conglomerate Copec's (COP.SN: Quote) and shipping company Ultramar.

The approval comes as conservative President Sebastian Pinera is grappling with growing protests against his policies by students, environmentalists and miners.

COPEC said in April it would start shipments from Isla Riesco, which will supply electricity generators, in the first half of 2013. (sourced Reuters)

NGOs planning legal action to force ArcelorMittal SA to publish masterplan

Monday, 14 Feb 2011

Although their relationship with ArcelorMittal South Africa had become less acrimonious, environmental groups said that they are planning legal action to force the steel producer to publish a secret 8 year old environmental masterplan.

The issue has strained stakeholder relations after the masterplan was compiled by consultants in 2002 but never made public. ArcelorMittal SA said yesterday that it would not release the 9000 page report. The company published year end results and announced plans to spend ZAR 3 billion up to 2015 on environmental rehabilitation, legacy water pollution and clean energy projects. Environmental spend amounted to R300 million in the year under review.

The company said its commitment to making our operations sustainable has not wavered, despite the economic downturn. By comparison, it said in 2009 that only the most urgent of its environmental projects would proceed.

The Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance said in Vanderbijlpark that their relationship was no longer acrimonious, but legal action was nonetheless being pursued.

Vanderbijlpark is home to ArcelorMittal SA's headquarters and primary production site, which has attracted the attention of the Green Scorpions as it falls within the Vaal Triangle priority air shed area.

Mr Phineas Malapela chairman of Vaal Environmental Justice Alliance said that environmental NGOs and Department of Water Affairs officials were part of a monitoring committee to keep watch on issues such as the proximity to water sources of toxic sludge leached from an unlined waste site.

The firm said it no longer had unlined ponds at Vanderbijlpark after a new site was commissioned in December.

Mr Malapela believed the change in ArcelorMittal SA’s attitude to have come about on the instruction of parent company ArcelorMittal, which owns 52% of its JSE listed subsidiary. Global environmental groups have sustained an international campaign to highlight transgressions at ArcelorMittal operations worldwide.

Mr Bobby Peek director of NGO groundWork said that although the relationship with ArcelorMittal SA was not acrimonious. He added that "It's not of any value in the monitoring committee. You can't have a relationship of value to monitor old toxic landfill sites that is based on information you don't have."

He accused ArcelorMittal SA of using the committee to tick boxes. He added that "It's partly up to us (organizations) to unpack that, which is why we’re taking the legal process." He added that an alliance of environmental organizations was investigating the possibility of securing access to the masterplan via the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

According to Mr Malapela, ArcelorMittal SA had said that it was advised by its lawyers not to release the document.

Previously ArcelorMittal SA argued it would not make the document public because it was accepted practice that audits were confidential and the bulk of the work undertaken in the masterplan was outdated. The company said that its efforts to improve environmental performance relied heavily on the experience of and research and development within its parent company.

It would benchmark plants against best practice plants in Europe, North America and South America, and had approved detailed action plans with targets for improved efficiency and reduced energy usage.

(sourced:www.iol.co.za)

Brazil Vale buys area in Para for new port -report

Saturday, Feb05 2011
BRASILIA Feb 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian mining giant Vale VALE 5.SA (VALE.N: Quote) has bought a massive area for the construction of a new port in the state of Para, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Porto do Espadarte is still a "strategic opportunity" being studied, said Mauro Neves, planning director at Vale, according to the newspaper.
The project would help reduce the distance between the Carajas mines and shipment, the newspaper said, but faces opposition from environmental groups and others.

Neves added that any construction is unlikely to begin before 2015, according to the newspaper.
(Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Will Dunham sourced:Reuters)

India hopes to sort Orissa plant coal issues by mid-Feb

Monday 31 January 2011, 2:15 PM

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's power ministry is hopeful of resolving environmental issues regarding a coal block attached to a proposed 4,000 megawatt power project in Orissa by mid-February, Power Secretary P Uma Shankar told reporters on Monday.

"The government has postponed the date for pre-qualifying for the Orissa project to March 31 from Jan. 31," he said on the sidelines of an industry conference.
The coal-fired power plant will use coal from mines located in an environmentally sensitive forested area.
India currently has four 'ultra-mega power projects' of 4,000 MW each under construction, as part of its effort to boost generation capacity.
(Reporting by Ketan Bondre;Editing by Aradhana Aravindan )