The government of the eastern Indian state of Goa has mooted the proposal of floating a state-run mineral corporation to restart closed iron ore mines in the region, a government official said on Wednesday, October 31.
The official said that, under existing laws, the state government could float a dedicated mineral development corporation, similar to those which exist in several other mineral bearing states, and this state-owned entity could be entrusted to resume operations of the 88 closed iron ore mines in Goa.
The government could hand over the iron ore mines to the state-owned mineral development corporation as existing laws permit the government to allocate mineral resources to government companies through the preferential dispensation route and not through the mandatory auction route as in the case of all other private companies, the official added.
It might be noted that the Indian Supreme Court in a verdict in February 2018 ruled that mining leases renewed for these 88 mines by the state government were illegal as such renewals of leases were not completed through the mandatory auction route, and directed the mines to close down with effect from March 15, 2018.
At the same time, the federal Indian government is also considering an ordinance to enable the closed mines to resume operations, circumventing the Supreme Court order.