Iron ore production in the eastern India state of Odisha is expected to touch the 100 million mt mark for the year ending March 31, 2018, despite seven operational mines closing down, a senior government official said on Thursday, January 18.
The government official said that the seven operational mines accounting for about 20 million mt of production per year had closed down after they failed to pay the Supreme Court-imposed penalty for mining law violations within the December 31, 2017 deadline, but production during the year 2017-18 will touch the 100 million mt mark, against 94 million mt achieved in the previous fiscal 2016-17.
The official said that there is still headroom to increase total production in the state as the empowered committee of the Supreme Court has set an annual production limit for the region at 180 million mt per year.
On Tuesday, January 16, India's minister of mines, Narendra Tomar, held a meeting with all mine owners in Odisha to review iron ore production in the state, asking all operational mines to increase production levels so that the court-imposed production ceiling could be reached in the next fiscal year.