The Hindu Business Line : 52 MoUs for mining, but none cleared

THE recent rush for iron ore mining leases appears to have reached a dead end. The race between the three States of Orissa and the newly-created Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for getting commitments from potential investors and the hurry for signing memorandum of understandings (MoUs) for setting up steel plants have made little progress towards taking shape because none has been approved.

According to official sources, there is a procedure involving recommendations from the State Governments that is followed by a formal approval from the Ministry of Mines and the States process are different in different States.

Mining leases are generally granted by the respective State Governments. Only in the case of atomic minerals and 10 major metallic and non-metallic minerals Centre's prior approval is required. Iron ore being a major mineral, every case needs to be separately vetted by the Centre, officials said.

Approval by the Central Government follows recommendations from the respective State Governments. Sources said that the delay in sanctions is because of the delay in receiving the recommendations.

A large number of mining leases have been granted during the last years. Only during 2004-05 the Ministry has sanctioned 239 mining leases, officials said but none of these are with any of the big steel projects.

In fact, the total number of mining leases for major minerals has been declining during the past three years. While during 2002-03, the total number of mining leases stood at 373, during 2003-04, it fell to 285 and further down to 239 last fiscal, officials noted.

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