The western Indian state of Goa, where 88 iron ore mines have remained closed since last year, will allow liquidation of low grade iron ore fines dumps across the state, a Goa government official said on Thursday, May 16.
The official said that the state’s department of mines and geology has been directed to make inventories of all low grade iron ore fines dumps following which the Goa government will commence sale of the material through e-auctions.
According to the official, this will be the first step toward resumption of mining in Goa after the Indian Supreme Court in March 2018 held renewal of the lease of the 88 iron ore mines to be illegal and ordered a halt in operations of all these mines.
However, the official did not comment on how the state government will proceed in getting the existing Supreme Court ban on mining to be relaxed to enable resumption of mining operations.