PANAJI: The Goa government's move to export 20 million tonnes of iron ore from dumps may face a roadblock if the Supreme Court accepts the recommendation of the Indian School of Mines (ISM), Dhanbad, which has said that any handling of active dumps may be done only after obtaining appropriate environment clearances (EC) with an aim of converting the land to pre-determined land use.

ISM has recommended that no old, stabilized and re-vegetated dump should be handled and only active dumps can be handled judiciously.

The ISM, assigned to conduct an environment impact study (EIS) on Goa's mining by the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), in its report submitted to the Supreme Court, which is hearing the case pertaining to the ban on mining in Goa, in its report also said that dumps are a source of pollution giving rise to sedimentation in nearby water bodies and agricultural fields. Thus, proper reclamation and rehabilitation of these dumps is very expedient. "Handling of mining dumps lying outside the mine lease areas requires environment clearances," the report said.

The report running into three volumes and around 2,000 pages has said that dumps inside mining areas are to be managed effectively and stacking needs to be done grade-wise to allow easy access as this ore become marketable in the future.

ISM also recommended that iron ore export be capped between 24.99 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 45 MTPA according to the various circumstances. The report has submitted that as per existing infrastructure, with 10 tonnage tippers and nine hours restricted transport, government can cap iron ore export at 24.995 MTPA. And with existing infrastructure of 16 tonnage tippers, capping can be put at 37.69 MTPA.

The ISM report stated that if there is a four-lane undivided dedicated ore transportation corridor, then capping can be done at 37.685 MTPA and in cumulative circumstances capping can be put at 45 MTPA.

"Taking into account the high air pollution risks that ore transport routes posses, construction of dedicated corridors for transport of ore is strongly recommended," the report said. As a measure to avoid congestion of traffic due to movement of ore from south to north Goa, it recommended construction and commissioning of new jetties with enhanced capacity of jetties in south Goa.