PANJIM: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on mining, which was not accepted by former Speaker Pratapsing Rane of the previous Goa Assembly, has been quoted in the new draft State Mining Policy 2012, which states that the delay in the policy has resulted in haphazard mining, resulting in a scam of Rs 3,500 crore.

The draft policy, tabled before the State legislative Assembly on Wednesday, has provision for proposed handling of dumps upto 25 mmt annually.

The global demand for bauxite, from which the aluminium smelter feedstock alumina is derived, is likely to rise at an annual rate of 6.9 per cent from 220 million tonnes (mt) in 2011 to 750 mt in 2

India's manufacturing activities expanded last month at the slowest pace in eight months, shows the HSBC Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

The index fell sharply to 52.9 points in July against 55 points in June. Before that, PMI was lower in November 2011, when it was at 51 points. A reading above 50 points denotes expansion and below that level is contraction. One reason given for low PMI is power outages faced by the manufacturing sector (though their national grid collapses of this week weren’t taken into account).

The federation representing merchant miners in the country claims stocks at mine heads reveal that there is no real shortage of iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient.

PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said he would refer cases of fraudulent granting of Environmental Clearances (ECs) by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to the state police crime bran

Leases with SC panel-nod yet to get legal approvals from Indian Bureau of Mines operations unlikely to start before October

Steel mills in and around Karnataka that are dependent on iron ore from state mines might have to wait for some more time to get fresh supplies, as the resumption of mining is likely to be delayed. Though the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), appointed by the Supreme Court (SC), has approved 12 firms for resuming operations, following acceptance of their reclamation and rehabilitation (R&R) plans, actual mining might start only by October.

PANJIM: In a categorical statement, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar declared that no additional or new forest land would be diverted for mining also indicating that new rules are in the offing for regulating extraction of minor minerals, including sand extraction.

Leaving it to the administrative machinery to work out the logistics, Parrikar said, “the Forest Department will have to work out a policy on how to deal with existing dumps on forest land”.