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The Steel Minister, Mr Beni Prasad Verma, said that he is in favour for putting more restrictions on the export of iron ore.
“There should be some control on iron ore exports,” said Mr Verma at the sidelines of a CII summit on steel.
The iron ore exports have gone down by over 30 per cent since July last year, when the Karnataka Government banned issue of permits to transport iron ore and other minerals for export purposes from the State to check illegal mining.
Check illegal mining
However, early this month, the apex court had directed the Karnataka Government to notify a new law by March to check illegal mining. Otherwise, the mining firms will be entitled to get interim relief, the apex court had said.
The Steel Minister also said that although the iron ore reserves in the country were estimated to be 25 billion tonnes, the actual reserves that can be mined are relatively less.
“Actual reserves that can be mined are very low and this may be insufficient to sustain the future growth (of the country),” he said.
The Minister also raised concerns about the lack of coking coal and the rising spot prices of the mineral. He urged steel companies to go in for overseas acquisitions of coking coal assets.
Meanwhile, Mr C.S. Verma, Chairman of SAIL and International Coal Ventures Ltd, said that ICVL will discuss four acquisition proposals in its board meeting on Friday.
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