SC verdict on Goa mining leases will not hit steel, iron ore production: Secy

The Centre today said the apex court verdict cancelling iron ore leases of 88 companies in Goa will affect the "individual businesses" but not hit steel and iron ore production.
"First of all let us be clear that minerals belong to the state. The miners are lease holders and in this particular case the mineral belongs to the state of Goa...So yes individual businesses will be affected, that goes without saying," Mines Secretary Arun Kumar told reporters here.
The Supreme Court had earlier this month quashed the second renewal of iron ore mining leases given to 88 companies in Goa in 2015, saying the sole motive of the companies behind the commercial activity was profit maximisation and no social purpose was attached to it.

Asked whether steel production will be hit due to the apex court verdict, the secretary said, "You see Goa iron ore is essentially export-oriented. Last year, they had exported 20 million tonnes and I believe that the local consumption was only about 3-4 million tonnes. If at all there was this figure... that can be easily met from other mining jurisdictions neighbouring Goa. So steel and sponge (production) would certainly not take a hit."
The government expects the pace of auction of mineral blocks to pick up in the next fiscal year.
"...I think that the pace (of mineral block auction) will double from the current fiscal year. If we are talking roughly (in this fiscal) auctioning out about Rs 80,000 crores worth of minerals ..next year I am very confident that it will be Rs 1,60,000 crore," Kumar said.

He also said that exploration time of the mineral blocks will reduce by half from six years to three because of change in methodology, among others.
The government had earlier said that a total of 88 major mineral blocks have been notified by 9 states for auction and 33 blocks have been successfully auctioned.