Mumbai: The Bombay high court has held as “fraudulent” an alleged deal signed by Thane corporator Ravindra Phatak, as “director” of an iron ore mining company in Sindhudurg, to hand over all of its mining rights to a contractor from Sawantwadi.

In a judgment passed on Wednesday by Justice R D Dhanuka, the HC also slammed a lower court for passing what it said was a “perverse” order in favour of the contractor, based on prima facie fraudulent memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Phatak, who currently is the standing panel chief in the Thane civic body.

PANJIM: The Goa State Pollution Control Board has declined to issue consent to operate under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to two mining firms since the case in pending before the Supreme Court.

The Boards order comes on applications filed by M S Talaulikar and Sons Pvt Ltd and G N Agarwal Mining and Export of Mineral ore and further, directions from the Administrative Tribunal which asked the Board to reconsider the application after giving a hearing to the appellant.

VASCO: The Goa Barge Owners Association (GBOA) on Monday once again urged the State government to consider its request to bail it out of the mining crisis.

During a meeting with Mormugao MLA and Power Minister Milind Naik, GBOA President Atul Jadav stated that the government should allow export of the dumps. "The government should also revise the rate of the dumps as the present one is not feasible taking into account the transportation cost. Dumps should be exported, otherwise these will be rendered useless,” he said.

The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) has completed the process of handing over four audit reports to the Chhattisgarh government.

PANJIM: The government has still not decided on granting of extensions to mining leases as three companies holding six leases missed the March 7th deadline to pay stamp duty and renew their leases.

Of the total Rs 294 crore, which was expected to come in from renewal of 16 mining leases, the government managed to earn Rs 139 crore from seven firms who paid up to renew their 10 leases. Assistant director Mines Parag Nagarcekar said that three companies have not paid the stamp duty and the last date for payment was Thursday.

State says IBM report on 'mineral development' not binging

The Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) has sought from the Odisha government the details of 24 mining leases, which are awaiting extension of the validity period of the leases, before giving its recommendation whether the leases should be renewed in the interest of 'mineral development'. The communication from IBM is in contrast with October 2012 executive order of the state government, which asserted that the state is empowered to take a decision about 'mineral development' while processing renewal application.

Project marks CIL's foray into power sector, will take proposal to board in few months

Barely a week after Finance Minister P Chidambaram proposed a public-private partnership (PPP) model in coal, Australian mining major NRW has evinced interest in the same, according to sources. NRW is one of the leading providers of construction and mining services with a turnover $1.35 billion in 2011-12.

PANJIM: The State government is likely to terminate the leases of 40 mines, whose delay in filing the ‘J Form’ was condoned by the former Congress government.

Directorate of Mines and Geology on September 15, 2012 had issued show cause notices to 40 mining firms, to explain why action should not be initiated against them for unlawful condonation of delay and why the leases should not be declared as null and void.

Say it failed to make good on promises, including one related to the miner's growth

NMDC's sole foreign acquisition has hit a roadblock. A few shareholders in Australian company Legacy Iron Ore, acquired by NMDC in 2011, have sent it a notice, asking it to either fulfill the promises made during the acquisition, or leave. Speaking to Business Standard, a source close to the development said shareholders with at least 10 per cent stake in Legacy Iron Ore have threatened they would seek an extraordinary general meeting to vote out the three NMDC representatives from the Legacy Iron board.

The Justice M B Shah Commission, inquiring into illegal mining in Odisha and some other states, on Monday asked the state government and the Union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) to infor