A six member team of Shah Commission, enquiring into illegal mining activities in Goa and Odisha, arrived here on Tuesday. The commission will hear views of the mine owners during this round of visit to the state.

"We will be hearing the lessees during the visit that will continue for about 3-4 days. Those lessees whose documents were examined during the last visit have been asked to appear before the panel," said U V Singh, additional principal conservator of forests, Karnataka and member of the Commission.

The members of Shah Commission, enquiring into illegal mining activities, will reach Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

The fifth round of hearing of the state government and the miners by the Commission is expected to take place from Wednesday after Justice M B Shah reaches here. A team of the state officials including steel and mines secretary, will present their views in front of the panel members. They will be assisted by three Supreme Court advocates,

A top official from the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) on Tuesday expressed concern over closing down of mines following irregularities by miners, citing the case of Karnataka and Goa as the recent examples of such closures.

Mining cannot be done “at the cost of environment” and social concerns and a sustainable growth structure is required for the industry, Controller General of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) C S Gundewar said on Tuesday. There is a need to evolve sustainable development framework within which all mineral development activities are carried out integrating economic, social and environmental components in the mining industry, according to him.

KOLKATA: Domestic steelmakers JSW SteelBSE -0.42 % and Kalyani SteelsBSE 1.31 % have sought reopening of iron-ore mines in Karnataka to tide over the raw material shortage faced by the industry. The two companies say they are forced to operate their plants at 70% and 30% capacity respectively.

"We are facing shortage of ore despite the Supreme Court order on reopening of Karnataka mines. Only five mines are operating in the state," Seshagiri Rao, joint managing director of JSW Steel said.

PANJIM: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has discharged all show cause notices issued to 43 mining firms, over excess iron ore production (beyond the environment clearance limit), claiming that the Board is not in a position to verify the data and pointing out that the Supreme Court is currently seized of the matter. Goa Foundation, which had submitted the data, has already withdrawn from the matter as the Apex Court is seized of it based on its PIL.

The Board said “as there is no conclusive evidence before them” regarding the mining units having exceeded permissible limits in extraction of mineral ore, which can only be conclusively verified by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) that is the relevant authority to verify it, it was disposing off the matter.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday once again slammed the mining policies of the Centre saying they have helped large mining firms to “run away with super normal profits” from mineral-rich l

The government on Monday said states have detected a total of 25,519 illegal mining cases with fines worth Rs 622 crore realised, till June of the current fiscal.

The maximum number of illegal mining cases detected and fines recovered are from Maharashtra at 7,721 and Rs 131 cr respectively

The government today said states have detected a total of 25,519 illegal mining cases with fines worth Rs 622 crore realised, till June of the current fiscal. Both the maximum number of illegal mining cases detected and fines recovered are from Maharashtra at 7,721 and Rs 131.43 crore respectively, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said in Rajya Sabha.

The illegal mining committed during 2006-11 in three districts of Karnataka has resulted in the state losing a revenue of Rs 3,414.45 crore and the government could recover only Rs 7.22 crore, a report by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India said.

In Chitradurga, Tumkur and Hospet divisions four lessees had extracted 1.47 million mt of iron ore valued at Rs 150.59 crore without the consent of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), the CAG report tabled in the Assembly said.

Report endorses Lokayukta findings on loss to the State exchequer

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has almost endorsed the Karnataka Lokayukta report on illegal iron ore mining and pegged the total loss due to illegal exports of ore at Rs 15,245 crore from 2003 to 2010. Besides, the CAG has estimated Rs 3414.45 crore loss to the State Exchequer due to “compliance deficiencies.” However, unlike the Lokayukta report, the supreme audit institution of India has not directly indicted any public servant.