India: Supreme Court raises iron ore production cap in Karnataka to 50 mnt from 35 mnt

In a significant development, India's Supreme Court has raised the iron ore production ceiling in Karnataka from the current 35 million tonnes (mnt) to 50 mnt from the A and B category mines in the state, as per latest updates with SteelMint.

The production cap in Bellary has been raised to 35 mnt from 28 mnt, while in Chitradurga the ceiling has been raised to 15 mnt from the erstwhile 7 mnt, as per updates. Therefore, the total cap has been increased to 50 mnt.

The apex court had lifted the five-year-old ceiling on production from 30 mnt to 35 mnt for A and B category mines in 2018. There was no cap on the C category mines or the mines that were subsequently auctioned in the state.

The SC-appointed Central Enforcing Committee (CEC) had categorised 166 mining leases into A, B and C as per the extent of environmental illegalities committed by them. Category A comprised 45 mines that had negligible or no illegalities. Under category B were 72 mines where pits were found outside the lease area and 49 category C mines were operations had stretched beyond the lease boundary by more than 15%.

The Supreme Court on 20 May this year lifted curbs on exports of iron ore from Karnataka and eased all restrictions on sales from the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur where mining activity had been prohibited following rampant environmental transgressions in 2011.

As per SteelMint data, Karnataka was the second-largest iron ore producing state in India with over 40 mnt of production recorded in FY'22.