The State loses over Rs 70 crore every year because of the non-revision of royalty on minerals. However, companies extracting mineral ore have been making a killing in the market. According to the state government, it was the duty of the Centre to revise the royalty rates. But it had not done so. Officials of mines and geology department said the companies which take the mineral-rich areas on lease have been paying the same royalty since 2004. For instance, companies have been paying only Rs 11 to Rs 27 for each tonne of iron ore they extract. They sell it at Rs 2,500 per tonne in the open market. Over 75 million tonnes of iron ore is exported every year to various parts of the country from AP. Now, the government has asked the Centre to increase the royalty of iron ore to at least Rs 50 per tonne. The same is the case with limestone which is the raw material for cement factories. The cement companies pay a mere Rs 45 as royalty per tonne. Around 30 lakh metric tonnes of limestone is being mined every year. The royalty rates were fixed when a cement bag of 50 kg cost around Rs 130. Now the same quantity costs Rs 220 but the royalty rates have not been revised. The government has asked the Centre to enhance the royalty at least by 20 per cent on limestone. The department got Rs 1,250 crore as royalty on industrial minerals and another Rs 500 crore from other minerals. Mr V.D. Rajagopal, director of AP Mines and Geology department, told this correspondent that the state would benefit a lot if the union government revised royalty rates.

THE battle for controlling iron ore resources in the country is far from over. After the steel industry's demand for further curbs on iron ore exports, the mining industry has come up to rebut claims that ore exports would diminish country's resources which are required for value addition within the country. The industry under the aegis of Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) has written to prime minister Manmohan Singh and finance minister P Chidambaram seeking removal of export duty on iron ore that had affected their plans for expansion, exploration and value addition. "The imposition of export duty had affected the plans to start value-addition of iron ore into pellet, sponge iron, pig iron as well as integrated steel mills,' FIMI secretary general R K Sharma told ET. "We have sought audience with both the prime minister and the finance minister to apprise them of the negative impact of the recently imposed duty on the industry,' Mr Sharma explained. The latest move of the mining industry comes after an onslaught of sorts by the steel industry which has succeeded in getting the steel ministry to suggest shifting the present fixed rate export duty on ore to an ad valorem system with 10-15% duty for inclusion in this year's budget. According to FIMI, the claims of steel industry that resources would vanish in no time if export curbs are not introduced are far fetched. "The current iron ore resources of about 25 billion tonne will last for 75-85 years as steel production touches 200 million tonne (MT) by 2020. With more exploration, introduction of technology to treat lower grade ore and increased use of scrap, the resource cycle could be increased by another 125-150 years. Moreover, the vast magnetite iron ore in the country can be beneficiated for use by the steel sector as is being done in Australia, Brazil, China and even USA,' FIMI has said in its note on vibrant iron ore industry. The mining industry has also said that India could only increase its resource by 50% in last 25 years, but countries like Brazil have increased its production ten times in the same period. "If India also increases spending on exploration from a mere $ 5 million annually to a level of $ 500 million in Australia or even to $ 150 million in Brazil, we could add another 20 to 25 billion tonne of resource," the FIMI note has said . The mining industry has also said it is largely exporting ore that is not used by the steel industry. "Let me clear one thing that steel sector is not interested in lowgrade iron ore

Villagers in Kinnanore in Kerala's Kasaragod district called off a month-long agitation against bauxite mining. They relented on January 12 after Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan assured them that the sanction to the mines would be revoked. "The people, the panchayat and the political parties do not want this project,' said Achuthanandan.

January 2, 2006. At least 13 tribal people and a policeman were killed in a clash at the Kalinganagar steel complex in Orissa's Jajpur district. The tribal people were protesting the construction of