Police on Tuesday arrested the general manager of Orissa Manganese and Minerals (Private) Limited (OMM), the mining arm of steel maker Adhunik Metaliks, during a raid in the Koira mining belt in Sundergarh district. Over 18,000 tonne of iron ore has been seized.
“We have arrested Bijay Ray of OMM for illegal raising of ore and have seized 18,000 tonne iron ore. The raid is going on and another two-three officials of the company may be arrested soon,” said P K Mahapatra, deputy superintendent of police, district intelligence bureau, Sundergarh.
The raid was conducted jointly by Koira police and the steel and mines department of the Orissa government.
Adhunik Metaliks is engaged in mining business in the state through its wholly owned subsidiary OMM. The company was acquired in 2007 and is involved in the exploration, development, mining and processing of mineral assets. It has six manganese ore mines in Orissa and one iron ore mine in Jharkhand.
It is currently operating in Ghatkuri iron ore mines in Jharkhand and three manganese ore mines in Koira, located at Pattamunda, Bhanjikusum and Orahuri. Other mines are not operating because of unavailability of statutory clearances.
Besides, the company was excavating iron ore from Suleipat iron ore deposits in the state despite not having necessary environmental clearances as it had got approval from the Central Empower Committee to continue operation. Adhunik Metalik directly owns an iron ore mine at Kulum in Keonjhar district.
However, neither Adhunik Metaliks nor OMM has any iron ore mine at Koira region, according to the state steel and mines department.
There were allegations against the company over illegal raising of the key steel making ingredient, based on which the raid was conducted at Koira, informed Mohapatra.
Shares of Adhunik Metalik on the Bombay Stock Exchange ended at Rs 49.05 on Tuesday, down 0.7 per cent from previous close.
