The government of eastern Indian province of Odisha is likely to increase the cap for iron ore production for the coming financial year in view of rising production, a government official said on Friday, February 26.
He said that with production from non-captive mines in the financial year 2015-16 is expected to be around 70 million mt, close to the cap for the year of 75 million mt and it will be imperative for the government to increase the cap for next year to enable more number of currently closed mines to get back into production.
However, the production cap for next financial year is yet to be determined, it is possible that a cap of 80 million mt will be set for the financial year 2016-17, he added.
It is pointed out that as of date, as many as over 100 mines are still closed as they have been operating under ‘deemed extension of mining lease’ which was declared illegal by the courts.
Mining leases for these mines are being regularized by the Odisha government but the annual production cap will have to be hiked for these mines to get back into production while maintaining capacity utilizations of currently operational mines, he added.