Iron ore mining operations in western Indian province of Goa will start from October 1, 2017, as monsoon rains start to withdraw from the region, a government official said on Monday.
He said that the mines which were shut down operations with the onset of monsoon rains on May 31, will progressively get back into operations starting next month.
However, he said that with less than a month left for mines to resume operations, the Supreme Court is yet to hear and approve the expert committee’s recommendation to increase annual iron ore extraction limit to 30 million mt in the current year from 20 million mt ceiling set by the court for 2016-17.
For the record, total iron ore extracted by all mines in Goa during 2016-17 touched the ceiling of 20 million mt and an early decision on hiking the limit for the current year will enable the miners to plan their production accordingly for rest of the current year, the official added.