India’s Ministry of Steel has directed Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), iron ore miner NMDC Limited and manganese miner MOIL Limited to immediately take action on non-operational mines for which the latter hold mining leases, government officials said on Monday, November 29.
According to the officials, the chief executive officers of these government-run companies have been directed to finalize a roadmap for commencement of production from these idling assets or risk the lapse of the mining leases held by these companies.
SAIL, NMDC and MOIL have been asked to prepare a ‘status report’ on the measures taken towards bringing non-operational mines to production and to submit the status report to the ministry within the next one month.
According to the officials, the move is aimed towards forcing government companies not to “squat” on assets and to bring them into production and contribute towards increasing domestic mineral production.