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Steel Authority of India Ltd has finally obtained environmental clearance for the McLellan Iron Ore Mining Project, exclusively for Budhaburu lease, having the largest reserves (1,166.14 million tonnes) among the Chiria group of mines in Jharkhand.
According to the SAIL proposal, the capital cost of the project is Rs 1,243.33 crore and environmental protection measures are to cost Rs 41.30 crore. The annual recurring expenditure for environment protection is put at Rs 4.91 crore.
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on March 23 issued the clearance, with specific and general riders, based on a revised proposal for an open-cast mechanised iron ore mining with a targeted capacity of 4.2 million tonnes a year.
The project is crucial for SAIL's long-term raw material security as the reserves are expected to last at least 150 years.
The project proposal went through a revision as the Environment Ministry had asked SAIL to resubmit the proposal without clubbing all Chiria lease renewals in one. SAIL had earlier placed a combined proposal for three leases — McLellan (Budhaburu), Ajitaburu and Sukri-Latur — as Monoharpur Ore Mining Project.
Large reserves
The Chiria group of mines, a legacy of IISCO, merged with SAIL since April 2005, remains largely untapped and has over 2 billion tonnes of reserves, considered the largest single hill iron deposit in Asia. The mine lease has since been transferred to SAIL.
The proposed McLellan mine area falls in the in the core area of Saranda teak forest and Singhbhum Elephant Reserve of Jharkhand.
The clearance letter notes that according to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Biodiversity Conservation-cum-Chief Wildlife Warden of Jharkhand, elephant corridors are reported to be beyond the safe limits of 10 km from the lease area.
The Ministry's letter says: “The mine is reported to be closed since December 2005. The total mine lease area of the project is 823.63 ha, which is a forestland falling under Ankua Reserved Forest of Sranda Forest Division”.
The area proposed for excavation is 288 hectares (ha). According to the SAIL proposal, 21.036 ha has been kept for over burden dumps, 5.6 ha for infrastructure, 6.4 ha for roads, 25.87 ha for afforestation and 476.78 ha for other purposes (32.38 ha area with primary vegetation and 444.40 ha is unutilised area).
The McLellan proposal states that the backfilling of ore-exhausted craters is to start after first 15 years. It said that mine working will not intersect the ground water table of the area. The proposal did not envisage any rehabilitation and resettlement as “there is no population in the core zone of the project”.
The approval letter says: “The Ministry of Environment and Forests has examined the application in accordance with the EIA notification, 2006, and hereby accords environmental clearance under the provisions thereof” to McLellan Iron Ore Mining Project of SAIL, subject to implementation of specific and general conditions and environmental safeguards.
It is also stipulated that a detailed hydro-geological study should be prepared by SAIL before seeking permission for mining operation. The letter further states that environmental clearance from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife is mandatory before starting any activity at the site.
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