The ban on dumping of iron ore outside mining leases, which led to Indian steel companies having to import iron ore over the last two years, needs to be immediately lifted, a mining association official said on Friday.
"One of the important issues as highlighted earlier too remains with regard to the ban on dumping or stacking of ore and overburden outside the mining lease area. This stipulation is coming in the way of reopening of the existing iron mines particularly in Goa, Karnataka and Odisha," said Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) president H. Noor Ahmed.
Speaking at a conference on raw materials and security for iron and steel held near here, he said the result of such a ban was the steel industry could not tone up their production, which in turn has generated a mismatch between the demand and supply of iron ore.
"Iron ore had to be imported by some steel companies, both last year and this year," he said.