Vedanta's Goa mine may restart iron ore export to China

Panaji: Vedanta's iron ore division in Goa is expected to resume exports to China after a lull of three years. Representatives of steel manufacturing mills from China's  Jiangsu province and Tangshan area are currently in Goa to  have discussions with officials of Vedanta's subsidiary, Sesa Iron ore.  "They are our long-term buyers and with the company  intending to resume extraction soon, they are in Goa to have  discussion with the officials," said A N Joshi, Sesa Iron Ore's Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, . 

The Sesa Iron Ore has officially announced resumption  of iron ore extraction at its mine in Codli, 80 km south of  Panaji. It was Asia's biggest iron ore mining site when the industry faced closure in September 2012. The current environment clearance limit for this mine is around three million metric tonnes a year, scaled down from  earlier limit of seven million metric tonnes annually.  Both the Chinese mills had been associated with Sesa for last 25-30 years, Joshi said, adding that they will be  comparing the low grade iron ore from Sesa to markets in  Australia and other places before finalising the deal.  The mills have a production capacity of six million  metric tonnes of steel a year each. 

Before the mining halt in Goa, China was the biggest market for the state.The iron ore extraction activity in Goa had come to standstill after the state government suspended mining leases  owing to illegal activities, and later Supreme Court banned it  till April 2014.  Goa government has already renewed many of the leases, paving way for resumption of iron ore extraction in the  state.  However, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar recently said  that he would order the mine owners to restart the activity in  October this year, if they fail to do so.