By Vijesh Kamath, DH News Service, Bangalore:

The BJP Government has gone on record that the Western Ghats would be declared a no-mining zone, but its new draft mineral policy envisages continuation of survey and exploration to discover mineral resources in the ecological sensitive region.

Johnson T A Posted: Nov 26, 2008 at 0124 hrs IST

Bellary : Over the past several years, sunsets in Bellary have been redder than at most other places in Karnataka. As lines of iron ore-laden trucks rumbled on to the coast from the many mines that crater the low, red hills, they churned up clouds of dust that hung over the town in a rusty haze long after the vehicles themselves had passed.

Ongole, Nov. 25: Until two decades ago, Rajupalem Lakshmi Puram, Ramatheertham and Chimakurthi were nondescript villages. But things suddenly changed when a unique form of granite was discovered in the 1,000 acres of land contiguous to these villages.

Ongole, Nov. 25: Recently, the mines department in the state discovered enor-mous granite stocks beneath the road between Chimakurthi and Rajupalem-Laksh-mipuram. The department estimates that if the granite is excavated form beneath the road, the government could earn a royalty of at least Rs 500 crore.

Ongole, Nov. 25: The global meltdown has badly affected the exports of the world famous galaxy granite from Chimakurthi of Prakasam district. Chimakurthi, located about 25 km from Ongole on the Kurnool Road, is famous for a rare type of black granite which is not found anywhere else in the world. It is exported to all corners of the globe.

By LYDIA POLGREEN

The ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) has turned down ministry of mines

Nellore, Nov. 18: The sudden fall in iron ore exports has hit the Krishnapatnam port really hard. Though the port also exports and imports other cargo such as granite, coal and fertilisers, the lion

BS Reporter / Kolkata November 11, 2008, 0:29 IST

The government today replaced the specific duty on iron ore fines, imposed 10 days back, with an ad-valorem duty of 8 per cent, which is expected to benefit the low-grade iron ore producers.

NEW DELHI: The Central Government has imposed an 8 per cent ad valorem duty on export of iron ore fines, a move expected to give respite to the mining industry, which is reeling under the pressure of lower demand and fall in prices.