India’s Ministry of Mines has commenced an exercise to secure relaxation of the court-mandated annual iron ore production ceiling imposed on the western Indian state of Goa, an Indian government official said on Tuesday, February 21.
The official said that the ministry has commenced seeking views and collating data from relevant departments such as environment and forests, the Goa Directorate of Mines, and local authorities so that updated information is available and grounds clarified for securing a higher annual iron ore production limit.
The Indian government official said that the aim is to secure legal sanction to increase the iron ore annual production ceiling from 20 million mt per year to 37 million mt per year for the fiscal year 2017-18.
The Indian Supreme Court had imposed the annual ceiling in response to illegal mining in Goa. Subsequently, a technical committee appointed by the court had recommended that the production ceiling could be hiked in view of newer and more stringent environmental rules and monitoring norms put in place by the Goa government.
The official said that, following preparatory work by the Ministry of Mines, a final report along with the report of the technical committee would be placed before the court for the relaxation of the ceiling.