Essar Steel faces delay in forest clearance to mine

28 November 2016

Essar Steel is facing a delay in securing forest clearance essential to start mining from the Ghoraburhani-Sagasahi iron block it bagged earlier this year in an auction.

The state government’s delay in identification of land for compensatory afforestation has put the brakes on expediting forest clearance. A small patch of forest land measuring 3.75 hectares has supposedly delayed the process.

Essar Steel flagged off the issue at a recent meeting of the Post Auction Mining Clearance and Approvals Facilitator (PAMCAF) held in New Delhi.

At the meeting, an Essar Steel representative said, the company had submitted a proposal for forest clearance on June 14 this year. A presentation for grant of Terms of Reference (ToR) was made by the expert appraisal committee (EAC) under Union ministry of environment, forest & climate change (MoEFCC) on September 20.

“Our mining plan has already been approved by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). We have applied for various other statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearance required before commencing operation. Out of total lease area, 7% is government revenue land and 2.3% private land, for which we have applied to the state government for acquisition as per statutory requirement. As per practice, Idco (Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation) will acquire the same and give it to us before mine opening. We are expecting to complete all shortly”, said an Essar Steel spokesperson.

The company claimed among the recent successful bidders of non-coal mines across various states, Essar Steel is one of the companies that has moved very fast to operationalise the mine won in an auction.

Essar Steel said it has already applied to the Odisha government to complete the acquisition of non-forest land. The mine in Odisha is set to meet 30% of Essar Steel’s 10 million tonne integrated steel plant at Hazira (Gujarat).

Ghoraburhani-Sagasahi block in Odisha through auctions, quoting a premium of 44.35% above the reserve price and outbidding strong contenders like Tata Steel and Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL).

The iron ore mine that Essar Steel has bagged has reserves of 100 million tonne, as per the current estimates. The company plans to mine around six million tonne per annum.

The Odisha government has issued the letter of intent to Essar Steel after it emerged as the preferred bidder in the first iron ore block offered for e-auctions in Odisha. The block is at G2 exploration stage and located in Koira sector in Sundargarh district.

The mineral concession area is spread over 139.16 hectares (ha) including 20.88 ha forest land, 110.69 ha government land and the balance 7.58 ha private land. Survey of the mineral block has been done by the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

Source – BS