BHUBANESWAR: In a bid ease the situation arising out of raw material shortage, the State Government has directed that at least 50 per cent of iron ore lumps and fines from the mines within the State, if not put to captive use, would have to be sold to standalone mineral-based industries in the State.
The sale of lumps and fines will be limited to the user industries in an equitable manner on payment of prevailing fair market price. A gazette notification issued by the State Government maintained that Director of Mines (DoM) will be the nodal officer for implementation of the scheme of pre-emption of iron ore lumps and fines. The pre-emption will be in conformity with the memo issued by the State Government on December 5, 2012. The pre-empted iron ore will be subsequently transferred to genuinely needy user industries located in the State, subject to the overall control of the State Government, it said.
Standalone mineral based industries in the State will have to apply to the Director of Mines for purchase of iron ore lumps and fines for use in their plants within the State. The notification said the application will have to be made in format prescribed by the State Government with a declaration indicating the requirement of iron ore lumps and fines.
The notification said the DoM will consolidate the quarterly requirement of all the state-based industries to know the quantity of ore lumps and fines to be purchased by the State from standalone mines located in the State in the upcoming quarter in exercise of its right of pre-emption.
However, the right of pre-emption will not be exercised in respect of mining lessees who have subsisting agreements with the state based industries for supply of iron ore to the extent of 50 percent of their production or more in any quarter, it said.
According to the notification, the standalone mining lessees will be paid the fair market price prevailing on the date of pre-emption. The basic minimum sale price for different grades of iron ore will be fixed as per the price published by the Indian Bureau of Mines in the 'Monthly Statistics of Mineral Production'.