Importance of iron ore

y Elemental Iron (Fe) is ranked fourth in abundance in the earth's crust

and is the major constituent of the Earth's core. y Iron accounts for approximately 95% of all metals used by modern industrial society. y Metallic iron is most commonly produced from the smelting of iron ore to produce pig iron. y Steel is a processed form of pig iron

Importance of iron ore

y Iron and steel produced from iron ore are essential for

developing infrastructure. y Contributes to India exports, which in turn helps in improving CAD( current account deficit). y Iron and steel are also used in manufacturing utensils , electric equipments and other household articles.

Sourcing- Indian Iron Ore-Reserves & Mine Locations (Hematite Ore Reserves)
Source: WSI (In Million Tonnes)

STATE
ALL INDIA TOTAL ANDHRA PRADESH CHHATTISGARH GOA MADHYA PRADESH MAHARASTRA ORISSA OTHER STATES JHARKHAND KARNATAKA

RESERVES
7004 40 761 459 34 14 2,252 11 2,494 940

REMAINING RESOURCES
7626 123 1,970 254 171 251 2,509 70 1,542 736

TOTAL RESOURCES
14630 163 2,731 713 205 265 4,761 81 4,036 1,676

Sourcing- Indian Iron Ore- Port Network

GOA

Goa Iron ore

y Goa s infrastructure better than other exporting

regions of the country y Network of rivers that connect the mines with the natural port provide a cost effective and efficient mechanism to export. y The major players in the Goan iron industry are Sesa Goa, Chowgules, Salgaocars, Dempos, Fomento and the Timblos.

China s Influence
y India is the third largest exporter of iron ore to China y Iron ore constitutes 53% of total Indian exports to China and 16% of Chinese iron ore demand y China requires over 700mt of iron ore to achieve steel production target of 600mt. y No takers for Goa s low grade iron ore in Indian steel industry. y From 2005 China started buying this low grade ore as it had the technology to blend it with high grade ore from Australia and use it for producing iron and steel. This led to excessive and illegal mining

Mining Problem
y Mining used to take place in Goa since 6 decades. Japan and South Korea used the high grade ore y For 1 mt of high grade iron ore 3 mt of ore had to be rejected, this was the low grade ore. This used to be dumped.

Low cost

Environmental hazard: Goa s 750 mt of iron ore dumps

Iron ore mining began in Goa in the 1950s. The debris has mostly been dumped outside the mines as there is shortage of space mines are dug close to one another in the hilly terrain. Many mine owners have not taken adequate care of the dumps, which need to be stabilized scientifically they should be fenced, covered with some top soil, irrigated and planted with vegetation to prevent erosion.

Impact on environment
y Deforestation y Land degradation y Ground water pollution y Surface water pollution y Dust pollution y Damage to beaches

Impact on People
y Dry wells y Respiratory diseases y Water diseases y Adverse effect on farmlands and plantation y Damage to houses due to mining blasts.

Importance of mining for Goa

y Vital Statistics: y Source: Goa officials, Goa Mineral ore Exporter s

Association
Important facts Annual revenue from tourism Annual revenue from mining Employment in mining Approximate no. of leases Iron ore exported to Figures Rs.950-1000 crores Rs.980 crores 75000 people 95 China, Japan, South Korea

Sesa Goa: Major player in Goa iron ore mining.

Importance of iron ore mining for Sesa Goa

Donation or bribe?
y Vedanta's Resources plc's current annual report (2011, page 79) states the

Boards policy as that neither Vedanta nor any of its subsidiary companies may, under any circumstances, make donations or contributions to political organizations within the UK or EU. y The report then goes on to announce that the Group made political donations in India of US$0.02 million during FY 2011 (2010; US$3.66 million), either through a trust or directly in respect of the Indian general election. The Board believes this will encourage and strengthen the democratic process in India (sic). y BJP, Congress, NCP, MGP, SGF, Shiv Sena took political donations from Sesa Goa- Goa Chronicle

Law provision
y This statement appears to violate the intent of Indias

Foreign Contribution Regulation Act of 1976 which states clearly (Chapter 11 page 3) that: No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any candidate for election, and which was amended and tightened on May 1 this year, so as to place any payment of a political nature in the category prohibited to accept foreign contributions.

Recommendations to curb illegal mining in goa

y Corruption in the mining sector has largely been due to extraction of

ore in volumes that are greater than the permissible volumes. We need to build an information system which will monitor the movement of ore from the mines to the ports or across our border. y We need to have a central repository of data that would include following data:i. List of mines (Operational & Non-Operational mines). ii.Minor & Major mineral lease holders. y Installation of RFID tag on all trucks with a unique serial number for e.g. a combination of lease and truck registration number. RFID- Radio Frequency Identification .