|
Ministry of Mines is yet to receive any proposal for grant of prospecting licence or mining lease to M/s. POSCO from the State Government of Orissa. When an application in this regard duly forwarded by the State Government will be received, the proposal will be examined in detail in accordance with law and in consultation with the concerned ministries, Mines Minister, Shri Sis Ram Ola today said in the Lok Sabha. The Minister was responding to the calling attention motion moved by the MPs Shri Basudeb Acharia and Shri Rupchand Pal. He assured the Members that the views expressed by them will be given due consideration when the proposal will be considered in his ministry.
Shri Ola said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with POSCO had clarified that no export of iron ore would be allowed from the captive mine except by way of full replacement through import of equal quantity of high-grade ore and within the limits mentioned in the MoU. He stated that the Government of Orissa has agreed to grant Prospecting licenses and mining leases for 600 million tonnes of iron ore to the company after following prescribed procedures and completion of required milestones. The MoU between the Government of Orissa and M/s. POSCO of the Republic of Korea was signed on June 22, 2005.
The company has proposed to establish an Indian company to invest in Orissa in steel manufacturing, infrastructure necessary for the integrated steel plant and related projects and mining of iron ore and other ores. The proposed investment as envisaged in the MoU will be around US $ 12 billion or Rs.51,000 crore (approximately).
DS/SCH
|
