Press Trust of India reported that with the onset of monsoon, the iron ore mining business in Goa has come to a standstill, with only lumpy ore being transported from the sites to ports.

Industry players like Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association claim that 80% of the business will be down, as fines cannot be laden in trucks and transported to the jetties from where it is ferried to the port by small ships.

Mr Swaminathan Sridhar GMOEA executive secretary said that only few mining companies extract the lumpy ore, while rest deal with fines which are low grade. He said that extraction and transportation of ore becomes difficult during rains due to logistic reasons.

From a record 54 million tonnes of export in 2010-11, before crackdown on the illegal iron ore, the exports had plummeted to 43 million tonnes in 2011-12.

GMOEA Secretary, Mr Glenn Kalavampara said that “The indications are that the exports would further be down by 15% for the current financial year, adding that the trends of exports in April-May this year were indicative of the downfall.”

He said that 38 million tonnes mining export is projected for 2012-13.

He added that “But it may be too early to predict.”

The statistics available with the GMOEA indicate that export was around 8-9 million tonnes for April to May 2012, which is less in comparison to corresponding period last year.

Source - PTI

(www.steelguru.com)