By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: : Odisha is a key mineral state in India and has rich reserves. The state has been active in leveraging its mineral wealth and is the sixth largest state in India in terms of value of mineral production. Mining & Metal industry has a significant multiplier effect in the economy. It also contributes to employment generation, foreign exchange earnings, freight earned by railways and the earnings on export and import cargo handled by ports and tax revenue, said Shri Prafulla Kumar Mallick Odisha Minister, Steel & Mines and Works, at the Odisha Minerals and Metals Industry Conference organised by ASSOCHAM.
“The government is taking major steps towards modernization of its mining and metals industry and to enhance and optimize logistics configuration between mines, plants, railways and ports. The mining sector contributes about 8.98% of the real GSDP of Odisha. To optimize risk-reward equations and achieve economies of scale, mining companies should forge alliances with infrastructure players, technology and equipment suppliers and financiers (including infrastructure financing) in innovative ways, including the PPP model” he added.
Addressing the gathering, Shri Deoranjan Kumar Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha said, “Mining is getting organised and fragmentation is going away. Bigger blocks for mining not only fetches higher revenue but they are also more efficient. A committee has been constituted to amalgamate blocks which are co-terminus and do not have a natural boundary. More than 40 blocks have already been amalgamated and put for auction. About 300 million blocks that are there in the state will be re-organised to less than 100 blocks. This will pave the way for increased efficiency in the mining industry.”
The conference saw engaging discussions on various pertinent topics where industry captains, CEO and experts such as Shri V Srikanth, Co-Chairman, ASSOCHAM National Council on Mines and Minerals & CEO (Mines), Vedanta Aluminum Limited, Shri. Mukul Manchanda, Head of Sales, AMNS, Shri Pankaj Satija, Managing Director, Tata Steel Mining Limited, Dr. Saibal Chandra Mitra, DDG GSI, Shri B Sahoo, Executive Director (Production), NMDC Ltd, Dr. AK Sahu, Chief Scientist, CSIR, Shri Hitesh Avachat, Associate Director & Sector Specialist -Metals & Mining, Care Edge, Shri Ashish Pandey, Vice President & Head -Raw Material and slurry pipeline, JSPL Limited, Shri. USR Raju, Head- Paradip Pellet Plant Operations, AMNS, Dr DS Rao, Chief Scientist, Indian Institute of metals and Dr Raghupatruni Bhima Rao, Advisor IREL Limited.
