Despite the Supreme Court allowing resumption of approved mines in the Karnataka state of SW India 25 out of 57 approved are still awaiting various permits to start operations.
It is expected to take another three months to obtain the necessary environmental and other permits and in some cases could take much longer.
In the state of Goa, mining is still suspended and 11Mt of ore are said to be stockpiled worth an estimated $1bn in exports. Almost one-third of the state’s population is said to be linked in some way to mining ore.
Steel companies have had to import ore during the suspension of mining with 185.1kt imported in Q1 (April-June) of this year. This was down 78% on the same period 2012 when 826.4kt were imported.