 "State may not renew manganese ore lease of Stemcor subsidiary")
'The state government has come to understand that you do not have any captive industry for use of the mineral of the subject mine. The third renewal application, therefore, does not fulfill the ingredients of mineral development,” said the state steel and mines department.
In October 2012, the state had come out with an executive order, which said miners awaiting second and subsequent lease renewals without having end-use plants may not be permitted to possess the lease as they do not conform to the mineral development clause of the Mines Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act.
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It had also asked these miners to halt production till the completion of processing of their lease renewal application, which was later quashed by Revision Authority of Union Mines ministry.
The department has asked Aryan Mining to turn up with its reply within 30 days otherwise action will be taken to cancel the lease of Mahasulkha mines, situated in Koira area.
The decision is likely to affect the business of the company as the mine is operational and is estimated to have 374,424 tonne deposit. Though the lease validity of the mine expired in 2005, it is running under special conditions mentioned in the Mineral Concession Rule, 1960.
The company has committed to produce about 18,000 tonne manganese a year, as per its mining plan.
“We have submitted a proposal for an end-use plant along with our lease renewal application. Hope we will continue the operation,” said an official of Aryan Mining.
As per government records, Aryan Mining has no end-use plant for manganese ore processing while its sister company Brahmani River Pellet Ltd has a four million tonne a year iron ore pellet plant.