'Orissa has 5,428 mt ore reserves'

The Orissa directorate of geology and the directorate of mines have estimated the total iron ore reserves in the state at 5,428 million tonnes.

The mining rights of most of these reserves have been in the hands of various private and public sector companies since independence.

It was only in 2001 that the state government came out with a policy that made it mandatory for companies to set up steel projects in the state to be allotted iron ore resources.

As of now, the state government is running short of 555 million tonnes of iron ore to meet the requirements of projects for which MoUs have been inked with various companies.

The total iron ore requirement for these projects is estimated at 2,084 million tonnes against the 1,529 million tonnes of iron ore reserves available with the state for allotment.

However, State Steel and Mines Minister PN Behera said this was not a problem and everybody's iron-ore requirements could be met as the exact quantum of iron ore reserves in the state had not been properly explored and could go up substantially with scientific exploration in the coming years.

Moreover, many of the mines under private companies at present would come to the government at the time of the renewal if the companies did not go in for value addition projects in the state.