Mineral Enterprises Limited (MEL), the lone company, that had started mining operations just a month ago after the Supreme Court nod, has shut owing to the lapse of the lease period on October 6.
Before winding up operations on October 5, the company managed to produce 35,000 tonnes of iron ore in a span of 30 days.
Even though there are 11 other mines coming under A category, MEL was the only one that had met all the environment parameters fixed by the SC.
The Bedara Bhommanahalli (BBH) Mines that covers 102.54 hectares and is spread over Bedara Bhommenahalli, Megalahalli, Hirekandavadi, Mari Jogenahalli started its operation in September.
MD of the company Basant Poddar told Express: “We have stopped all our operations at BBH mines since October 6 as our mining lease has expired. We need nearly 12 to 18 months to get the lease renewed. As there was a gap of 13 months due to blanket ban and CEC inquiry over illegal mining, the file which we submitted for renewal didn’t move an inch. But we are confident of getting the lease renewed.”
He also said that a letter has been sent to the monitoring committee about the additional ore extracted and they are expecting a reply. He said they have fixed the base price for the auction.
E-auction Under Way
Even though extraction operations have been stopped, the company is going ahead with rehabilitation and reclamation works in the leased area. “We have a total stock of approximately 3 million tonnes at the spot which needs about six months to clear,” he said.
Unemployment
Ramachandrappa, deputy general manager, Chitradurga operations, said about 100 direct employees of the company, 300 daily wagers and 4,000 auxiliary employees will be jobless due to operations coming to a halt.
As per the new plan approved by the CEC appointed by the apex court and IBM MEL that had original sanction of extracting one million metric tonnes was reduced to 3.80 lakh tonnes based on the size and the quality.