KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) - India’s Supreme Court on Monday lifted the 18-month ban on iron-ore mining in the western Indian coastal province of Goa subject to a cap of 20-million tonnes a year.

However, while bringing cheer to miners in the west, the apex court order cast a pall of fear in the east, as the Supreme Court directed the federal government, the government of the eastern Indian province of Odisha and the Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee to formally explain allegations of illegal mining in Odisha.

The Court directive triggered fears of a ban on iron-ore mining across the coastal province of Odisha similar to the one imposed by the Supreme Court in Goa and Karnataka in southern India, in the wake of illegal mining.

The M B Shah Commission, which inquired into illegal mining across the country, had submitted a report estimating illegal mining across Odisha at $10-billion between 2008 and 2011.

While seeking a formal response on illegal mining in Odisha, the Supreme Court rejected submissions from miners that the court should not intervene in the matter as the issue had already been dealt with by Parliament and the enquiry commission.

In the case of the resumption of mining in Goa, the court ruled that an expert committee, which would take a final view on the annual quantitative cap on ore mined, should be set up. The government of Goa said that it would take three to six months for mining companies to resume operations as much of the logistics and infrastructure, including transportation systems, had fallen into disuse since the ban on mining was imposed in September 2012.

Leading miners operating in Goa said that the current cap of 20-million tonnes a year imposed by the court would be substantially lower than production of ore from the region before the ban, when it stood at about 40-million tonnes a year.

As it would take time for mining infrastructure to get back on the rails, ore production in the current fiscal would not exceed more than 10-million tonnes.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had imposed a ban on iron-ore mining in the southern Indian province of Karnataka in July 2011, partially lifting the ban in April 2013 subject to an annual cap of 30-million tonnes.

However, even a year after the ban had been lifted, mining operations were yet to reach normalcy. Of the 115 mines cleared for resumption by the court last year, only 23 mines, including two leased by government-owned miner NMDC Limited, were back in production with production of  around 19-million tonnes, far short of the 30-million-tonne-a-year cap set by the Supreme Court

According to the India’s National Mineral Inventory 2010, Odisha accounts for 33.9% and Goa 5.3% of the total Indian 28.52-billion tonnes iron-ore reserves.