MAPUSA
Maintaining that the government has relied on data approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and followed all the guidelines while auctioning the mineral blocks, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the Goa Legislative Assembly that average iron ore grade has been considered as 55 and the lease holders will pay royalty based on actual extraction.
Sawant on Wednesday also informed that out of the nine blocks e-auctioned so far, four were original lease holders while two were new players.
“Original lease holders were not banned from participating in the auctioning. Besides, we were also concerned about the locals who will now be re-employed with the original lease holders,” Sawant said, while fending questions from the opposition members on auctioning of the mining blocks.
The CM has also said that excess extraction will not happen as the government has asked the lease holder not to go beyond the demarcated boundaries.
“Goa has been permitted an annual extraction to the tune of 20 million tonnes which will be divided between all lease holders to ensure that excess extraction will not happen,” Sawant said in a written reply to a starred question.
He said the lease holders have a period of 50 years to extract the resources based on the annual extraction limit as per Environmental Clearance, abiding the 20 million tonnes extraction cap per year fixed by the Supreme Court.
The House witnessed a fierce debate on the quality of iron ore reserves and recovery from illegal mining between the Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and the CM who is also the Mines Minister.
