BHP expects Orissa iron ore deposits to surpass estimates

The actual iron ore reserve in Orissa could be double the officially estimated figures, said top sources at BHP Billiton, the largest diversified resource company in the world.

Officially, , Orissa had deposits of about 3567 million tonnes of iron ore, but the reserve was calculated in terms of deposits of high grade ore with more than 62 per cent iron content as there was no effort so far to recover low grade ore through improved mining technology and bring it to the usable stage through beneficiation, says Don A Carroll, country president, BHP Billiton Marketing Services India.

Mining of low grade ore and its beneficiation would augment the state's iron ore reserve to a great extent, he added.

The mining technology used in Orissa was different from that used in Australia. In Orissa, the mines were mostly dug in inverse pyramid form where iron bearing soil, or low grade ore, was left behind as waste after taking out the iron rich ore at the top.

In Australia, the mines were dug in cylindrical form, which allowed extraction of every bit of iron bearing material from the mines, Carroll pointed out.

Drawing a comparison between western Australia and Orissa, Carroll said, in Pilbara, the company operating the existing reserve of 3 billion tonne stumbled upon new iron ore bearing mines with deposits of six billion tonnes recently.

Occurrence of mineral resources in Orissa was on the same pattern as western Australia, so there was every possibility that Orissa had reserves at almost double the present estimate, he said.

Carroll claimed this uncharted reserve could be brought to the recoverable stage only through proper prospecting, exploration and mining using latest technology.

BHP has proposed a joint venture with state-owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) for better exploration and mining of iron ore reserves in the state.

"This may be for other resources too... It needs to be explored and exploited scientifically and with our state of the art technology such as that we have employed in Australia". he said.

Geologically, Orissa had similarities with Australia where diamond tracked iron ore reserves at some places. "It has not been proven here yet, but BHP would certainly be exploring that too", Carroll said.