Times of India | Mining Legacy: Almost 93 Gaping Pits | Crown Capital Management

Posted on crown capital eco management blogspot


PANAJI: Deep scars of half-a-century of mining activity are likely to haunt the state for a long time, as the prospects of restoring the degraded environment appear remote and near-impossible.

Article from IndiaTimes - Goa, feel environmentalists and activists, could well be staring at a legacy of 93 massive mining pits, likely to be left gaping open for posterity.

"The restoration of these 93 pits, some of which are very large, will be almost impossible, as there is nothing left for backfilling them," says Bicholim-based social activist Ramesh Gauns.

While iron ore production was slower in the first few decades since the 1940s, the boom in ore exports, largely to China, triggered more frenzied excavation in the state's 700-sq km mining region in the last few years. Around 300 million tonnes of Goa's earth was scooped out and shipped away from the 93 mines in the last decade alone of the 60-year-old industry.

The devastation is best viewed aerially. One such view is in Bicholim taluka, often considered the heartland of mining, where just one crimson red belt spans over 12 km from Sarmanos to Shirgao. Green hillsides have been scraped and cavernous pits have gobbled up forest areas.

"Some of the pits are over 500 m in radius and 40 m deep," says Colomb-activist Rama Velip. Though many are purportedly abandoned, activists are sure they are waiting to be reworked. "Each lease may even have two to three pits," adds Gauns.

Open cast mining requires the removal of the top soil covering the iron ore formations. "About 2.5 to 3 tonnes of mining waste is generated for every tonne of iron ore," an official source concedes. An annual production of 40 million tonnes creates, on an average, 120 million tonnes of waste.

Records of the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), Goa region, show that the state, credited with pioneering iron ore mining in the country and with exporting 60% of India's iron ore exports, has generated over 700 million tonnes of rejection in the last six decades.

Greens raise queries about the sincerity of mine owners and government agencies in implementing the progressive mines closure plan and environment management, as required under the Mineral Conservation and Development Act, 1988.

"The implementation of the mining plan requires details of the pit size, how much ore is removed and the overburden. If they (miners) don't do this, what can be said of the other stages of progressive mines closure and final closure," wonders Claude Alvares of NGO, Goa Foundation.

But S Sridhar, executive director of Goa mineral ore exporters association ( GMOEA) says that a progressive mine closure plan is compulsory for all mines. "About 23 mines are doing backfilling simultaneously under the guidance of IBM. The mines are doing it wherever it is possible," he told TOI. "But in some areas it is neither feasible nor advisable due to geographical conditions, and it is best to leave the site as a reservoir," he says.

A Sesa Goa official says the firm has reclaimed its Sanquelim mining site and turned it into an ideal habitat for wild animals, birds, butterflies and insects. "The area has been used for aquaculture and horticulture and study of biodiversity, mangrove ecosystem and medicinal plants," the source said.

A few companies have also planted dumps at their sites with native species of trees. "The awareness about these measures is increasing as the dumps are washing off," the source stated.

But in some places, the ripping, dozing, drilling and blasting activity has plunged deep into the earth. The cost involved in restoration, in terms of scale of operations, is considered prohibitive. "For years now there are over 40 seemingly abandoned pits in and around Colomb village itself. It would need lots of money and machinery to restore them," says Velip.

Tonnes of rejection lying close to the banks of the Zuari and Mandovi rivers and their tributaries have also washed off as slurry. "Even if the miners have the will to backfill pits huge quantities of mud have gone into the water bodies," points out Alvares.

But a sizeable part of the overburden required for backfilling has been transported away from the mining site for stacking or has already been exported after demand shot up. Some years back, China's move to accept lower grade of even 40 to 45 Fe spurred more shipments out of Goa.

In its report on the Rs 3,500-crore scam, the Shah commission has indicted the IBM and other agencies for allowing "unrestricted, unchecked and unregulated export of iron ore to China" and lease holders for the plunder of natural resources. IBM officials are unwilling to comment on the issue.

The Union ministry of environment and forests issues the environmental clearance (EC) to project proponents on the recommendation of expert appraisal committees on the basis of the minutes of public hearings and other procedural formalities, including verification of documents.