Mining companies and steel industries in Karnataka have welcomed the Supreme Court order on lifting the ban on iron ore mining operations.

Mr Basant Poddar senior VP of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries and MD of Mineral Enterprises Ltd said: “We welcome the apex court order and we also agree with the Supreme Court observation on Friday last, that Karnataka would have gone back to stone ages. Today’s order offers economic growth and security for the nation to become self reliant in steel production where the key raw material is iron ore.”

Mr Anjani Agrawal Partner and Sector Leader of Metals & Mining, Ernst & Young India said “Good for the industry both for mining and steel industries. It may pave the way for re starting growth. Not only Karnataka, the impact will be more in other states as well. When mines begin operations, employment opportunities will open up. There will be plenty of direct employment in sectors like logistics and other allied services sectors in mining and steel sector.”

According to a JP Morgan report, the recommencement of iron ore mines will benefit JSW Steel. It said “Iron ore production and hence availability is likely to increase over the next few months for the state's steel makers (including JSW) and also the sponge iron producers. The restart of production in category A mines will help improve utilization at JSW Steel's Vijayanagar plant, which is currently operating at 74% level. The production from Category A mines and the NMDC production (currently at 7-8MTPA production runrate) should help ease the iron ore availability in Karnataka, but ramp up to full production remains a key concern.”

Source - Business Line & Reuters

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