Bhubaneswar, Jan 13: The state-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has been granted with the leases of 18 mines for 50 years including a bauxite mining lease by the Odisha government. Among these 18 mines, 7 are iron-ore, 2 manganese, 1 each of bauxite and chromite, 5 gemstone and 2 limestone mines. The Odisha government is also targeting to come out with a notification for leasing of two more iron ore mines. The government has received Rs 500 cr from these lease granted mines as stamp duty and in the future it will be receiving more revenue in way of mining royalty and under the District Mineral Fund (DMF).
Notably, the MMDR act had been enacted on Jan 12 2015. Under this Act, the Centre had approved 62 mines for leasing. But due to lack of required clearances, the lease tenure for the rest 44 mines have expired following which their future will be decided in the court of law and the OMC has been granted with the bauxite mine lease for the first time at Kodingamali in Koraput. The Kodingamali mine has a bauxite reserve of 81 million tonne. As the mine has obtained environmental clearance, aluminum companies in the State can now procure bauxite from OMC which has opened up an avenue for Vedanta to obtain Bauxite ore.
