Vedanta group firm Sesa Goa today said it expects mining operations in Karnataka to begin "soon" as it has submitted reclamation and resettlement plan for its mine in Chitradurga district to an ape

Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group company, already seeing erosion in profits due to a mining ban in Karnataka, is facing fresh trouble in Goa, with a stop-mining order on a petition from locals.

A sub-divisional magistrate (Bicholim) has directed immediate stopping of work at its Phase-III mines in Advalpal village (north Goa). Phase-I and -II mining operations in the area were stopped earlier. Sesa Goa sources 15 mt of ore from Goa annually. From Phase-III, it gets 200,000 tonnes of ore.

A consortium of four state-owned Indian companies - SAIL, Nalco, Hindustan Copper and Mineral Exploration Corp - has been shortlisted to invest in new gold and copper deposits in Afghanistan.

The government’s decision to switch to a new royalty formula for coal would erode the benefit currently available to captive coal miners by way of reduced royalty rates. At the same time, it would increase state governments’ royalty collection multi-fold.

As captive miners do not engage in any sale, these currently pay royalty to states as a percentage of the sale price realised at the nearest Coal India mine. This arrangement benefits captive miners, as Coal India (CIL) prices are 70-80 per cent lower than those of international benchmarks.

PANJIM: The major issues faced by farming community due to run offs from the mining rejects are likely to be taken care of in the State Mining Policy, which will take shape by May end.

Highly-placed sources stated that the State government is yet to take a call on whether to go ahead with the draft mining policy formed in 2008 or draft a new policy. The newly-inducted state government has given a commitment to get the policy in place by May end.

Coal India Ltd (CIL), the world’s largest coal producer, would finalise at least eight fuel supply agreements (FSAs) by Tuesday, said its new chairman and managing director, S Narsing Rao.

However, sources said the country’s largest power producer, NTPC, was yet to sign new FSA with the city-based company, as it wanted a rollback on the gross calorific value (GCV) system.

Coking coal prices are set to rebound as early as July from four straight quarterly declines as China and India seek raw material overseas to fire new steel production in the world’s fastest-growing major economies.

Contract prices that fell to $206 a tonne for the quarter ending June 30 may rebound to average $225 a tonne this financial year, based on the mean estimate of 10 analysts, steelmakers and mining companies surveyed by Bloomberg. Contracts of coking coal peaked at $330 in the June quarter last year.

New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday sought replies from the Centre, ONGC and others on a PIL seeking a CBI probe into the $8.48-billion Cairn-Vedanta deal, besides a direction to the government to cancel its approval for the deal on the ground that the country would lose over Rs one lakh crore in the process.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had on January 24 granted final approval to Vedanta Resources’s acquisition of a majority stake in Cairn India for $8.48 billion.

“Illegal mining has become a huge problem in Madhya Pradesh as the stakes are too high and those involved get huge monetary returns by indulging in this activity.” This was pointed out by state chief secretary Avani Vaish during an informal interaction with a group of media-persons at the State Academy of Administration here on Sunday afternoon.

The chief secretary, who retires at the end of April, stressed the need for joint operation against the illegal miners and said there should be a coordinated initiative by revenue, police and forest department officers whenever any raid is required to be conducted to stop illegal mining.

Sets stiff terms allows auction of iron ore already lying in stockyards

The Supreme Court on Friday partially lifted the ban on mining in three districts of Karnataka. It was lifted for a certain category of mines, with strict conditions. The court also allowed the auction of iron ore already lying in stockyards, under the supervision of a monitoring committee.
The court directed the Union ministry of environment and forests to “revisit” clearances given in the light of the reclamation and resettlement (R&R) programme.