Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), the largest public sector undertaking in mining and pelletisation process, is on the verge of finalising an alternate feed material for its pellet and concentrate plants at Mangalore on the western coast of Karnataka.
The Supreme Court has ordered Kudremukh in October 2002 to stop its mining operations from December 2005, thereby providing the beleagurered company a three-year lease of life.
It may be recalled that Kudremukh's 30-year lease agreement with the state government expired in 1999, but has been extended every year with theconcurrence of the Union government, even as the environmental lobbies dragged both parties to the Supreme Court for the closure of its mines, located in the rich bio-diversity Western Ghats in southern Karnataka.
