The Supreme Court-appointed panel has permitted Iron ore production in Goa, India’s top exporting state of the raw ingredient for steel, with an annual cap of 20 million tonnes once the state sets up an adequate regulatory and monitoring mechanism.
The panel has also recommended that regulation and monitoring for these mines can be done by the department of mines and geology and Goa State Pollution Control Board in consultation with the Indian Bureau of Mines and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Monitoring should continue for the mining activity, according to Supreme Court norms, till the panel’s scientific study is completed. The panel’s scientific study is expected to take a minimum of 12 months to complete. However, Supreme Court has to give final approval on the recommendations made by the committee..
Mining activities in Goa came to a grinding halt since the Supreme Court imposed mining ban in this region. Prior to ban, Goa used to export over 40 million tonnes iron ore per year accounting for about 70% of India's total iron ore exports. The latest move also came in as a major relief to Indian steel industry facing huge shortage of iron ore. During the April- February’ 2014 period, India exported 14.01 million tonnes of iron ore compared to 17.36 million tonnes in the year-ago period, showing a decline of 19.3%. Low domestic production and sluggish demand from China were the leading factors that attributed to decline in shipments.