Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mr RK Goyal, managing director of Kalyani Steel said, it appears that all the A category mines, which are cleared by CEC, have to comply with all the regulations including the environmental clearance.
He told “If the mining approval has expired, they have to take it again and they have to obtain consent for operation. So, once all these things are in place, mines will be allowed to open.”
Below is the edited transcript of Goyal’s interview with CNBC-TV18.
Q - Can you tell us what the impact of this Supreme Court lifting the ban would be to your company?
A - Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has submitted their report last week to Supreme Court specifying all the conditions that are to be complied with before mines are allowed to be opened. They have also given rough time estimate for various mines; the approximate time mines may take before they are opened.
SC will give us the final judgment today, but it appears that all the A category mines, which are cleared by CEC, have to comply with all the regulations including the environmental clearance. If the mining approval has expired, they have to take it again and they have to obtain consent for operation. So, once all these things are in place, mines will be allowed to open.
Q - How much time do you think it would take for these Reclamation & Rehabilitation (R&R) plans to be implemented and for the actual mining operations to begin?
A - As per CEC, it is going to take one month to one year. One mine can be started immediately, but all its approvals are expiring sometime in October. So, once approvals expire, they will have to be taken again. CEC has very clearly mentioned the names of the mines and how much time they will take before they are opened.
Q - For you particularly, when do you expect to have the ore and when would you expect the first tranche of ore to come in?
A - As far as we are concerned, currently for the next few months ore is available only from NMDC. We are going to be much better off because we are commissioning one of our centre plant, so we will be able to use.
So, the internal situation has improved by commissioning of this centre plant. It has improved our capability also. We are much better off because till now we were able to use only calibrated ore.
Q - Was the ban on Category A mines already lifted on July 20?
A - Right now, there is an approval from Supreme Court, but approval is in the sense that for operating any mine you need environmental clearance, you need consent for operation, you need forest clearance. So, all those clearances are mandatory even on a normal course. So, they are required to be there.
Source - moneycontrol.com
(www.steelguru.com)
