In what is seen as a massive relief to the State, the Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Goa government to handle dumps based on the expert committee's recommendations. The decision comes as a major consolation to the State, which has struggled to get mining back on track. Also, more than the comfort it gets for the government, there are takeaways for the State's economy, which is struggling and heavily dependent on tourism.
The onus now shifts to the State government, and it has a task cut out. It has to decide on the way forward on dumps since the government has already chosen the auction route for future mining. In December 2021, ahead of the 2022 assembly elections, the Pramod Sawant-led government approved a new policy for handling mining dumps outside and inside the leases via the auction route.
The policy allowed lessees to handle the dumps provided the applicant makes the payment as specified in the schedule of fees and obtains the statutory clearances and permissions from the Indian Bureau of Mines and Directorate General of Mines Safety. However, it also states that where the grade is above the current threshold value, the government will charge a royalty as per the average sale price of minerals prescribed by the Indian Bureau of Mines. This means that the government will have to undertake an evaluation process to identify the quality of available ore.
The expert committee report has made some interesting observations. It has held that Goa's mining landscape is full of dumps, including old 'over burden' dumps having unknown proportions of mineral rejects, mine wastes, topsoil, clay, etc. The report estimates the dumps to be around 700 million tonnes but states that the exact location of dumps to lease area and the Fe content are not known. Interestingly, the experts mention that a very small fraction of the total quantity of dump is saleable. According to the mines department, around 20 million tonnes of iron ore is long in the form of dumps and can be exported over the next four to five years. It is to be seen how the government reassesses the dumps both in terms of quality of content and valuation.
The question is whether the government will stick to its dump policy or halt the auction process and modify the bid offers after an assessment of the dumps or whether the government itself will take over the disposal of dumps. The latter appears unlikely since the government does not have the required infrastructure for the purpose.
The only other rider, however, is the need for environmental clearances. An office memorandum from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change dated June 18, 2018 clarifies that as per the provision of the EIA Notification 2006, there is a requirement for prior environmental clearance irrespective of the size of the mine lease area and type of mineral including 'over burden' and dump mining. However, getting environmental clearances for dumps could be time-consuming and a stumbling block.
Amid the gloom and uncertainties of mining resumption, the Supreme Court decision brings positivity and hope for the State and all those dependent on mining. While the process on dumps may take its time, the court's green signal would mean that the wheels of the economy could chug sooner.
