Normalcy in iron ore production is yet to be restored in Karnataka a year after the Supreme Court ordered for reopening of all mines under Category A and B.

Of 115 mines, only 23 mines, besides two leases of state owned National Mineral Development Corporation Limited, have resumed production. This will be enough to meet only half the steel industry’s iron ore requirement.

On April 18 last year, the apex court had allowed reopening of all mines subject to statutory approvals that include clearance from Indian Bureau of Mines, the Union environment ministry, state pollution control board and the Central Empowered Committee of the SC. However, till now, only 25 mines have secured clearances, of which two leases had to shut down operations due to expiry of their leases.

Currently, as against the steel industry’s requirement of 36 million tonnes per annum, the total production of iron ore from 23 operational mines is barely 19 million tonne to 20 million tonne. This includes production from NMDC.

Mr Vinod Nowal deputy managing director of JSW Steel said that “The steel industry in and around Karnataka requires about 36 million tonne of iron ore per annum and till now, we have seen production touching hardly 19 million tonne. We are forced to outsource the ore from other states such as Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, by paying a huge amount on logistics.”

After assessing the extent of illegalities conducted by all the 166 mining leases, the survey team appointed by CEC classified mines into three categories, A, B and C, depending on the extent of illegalities. The apex court ordered cancellation of leases under the C category. It had also capped the production at 30 million tonne per annum (25 million tonne in Bellary and five mt in Chitradurga and Tumkur).

Category A comprises 45 mines, Category B has 70 mines and Category C has 51 mines. At the peak of mining in the state, all these produced about 50 million tonne in 2008 and 2009. However, till now, only 23 mines are operational, with a combined output of 10 million tonne. NMDC with two leases is producing another nine mt per annum.

According to Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, which assisted the Dehradun based Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education in preparing the detailed reclamation and rehabilitation plans for all the mines, another eight-ten mining leases with an additional capacity of three mt per annum are likely to start production during FY 2015. If they reopen, the production could go up to 22 million tonne by end of March 2015.