Sarada Mines closure to hit JSPL hard

Bhubaneswar:  If Sarada mines closed the Jindal Steel and Power Limited to be hit very hard. Company's Steel and pellet production to be affected. Eventually JSPL's revenue and buisness to be come down.
Closure notice already served on Sarada Mines .The office of the deputy director of mines- DDM (Joda) had issued this notice which was expired since April 1.
  JSPL was taking the total production of iron ore fines for its five million tonne per annum (mtpa)pellet plant at Barbil. The steel maker was also buying the balance lumpy ore from the standalone miner to feed its three mtpa steel unitat Raigad (Chhatisgarh).


"The issue related to EC for the mines will be sorted out soon. The expertappraisal committee (EAC) of Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) had recommended renewal of EC and the ministry has also granted the same. However, the matter is pending at the state government level that is yet to issue a notification to this effect", he said.
Sarda Mines Ltd, the lessee holding the Thakurani mines at Barbil is indock for glaring violation of Rule-37 of Mineral Concession Rules-1960. The mines owner was selling its entire run of mine (ROM) produce to Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) without any written agreement. Also, the iron sale by the lessee was at unacceptably lowrates compared to market prices. The case was referred to the Supreme Court appointed central empowered committee (CEC) by the apex courtin its order dated September 16, 2013.
Athree-member team of the CEC led by its chairman P V Jayakrishnan had visited the Thakurani mines last month to probe the deal between JSPL and Sarada Mines.
Earlier, the state government had served notice to the lessee for the statutory violation. According to an enquiry report of the stategovernment, the major benefit of the mine was flowing to JSPL. The present arrangement of selling ROM to JSPL by Sarda Mines amounts to transferring the interest in the mining lease to the steel company as per provisions of Rule 37 of MCR-1960, the report stated.
The arrangement also contributed to lower value added tax (VAT) collection by the state government on account of low pricing of ROM by the lessee compared to market prices.
The Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry during its visit to Odisha, had also found many irregularities in the operations of Thakurani mines spread over 947 hectares of Thakurani reserved forest.