The battle for the contentious Chiria mines in Jharkhand is set to enter its last lap with the Jharkhand state government continuing to be non-committal on awarding all the leases to Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), opting instead to divide the resources between all the claimants. The state government had earlier written to the prime minister’s office (PMO), which is presiding over the matter, in September last year of its intention to divide the resources between SAIL, Arcelor Mittal and Tata Steel. “Our priority is to utilise the mineral resources of the state in a way that maximum investment and employment is generated in the state. To this effect, we are of the opinion that the 2000 million tonnes of proven iron ore reserves may be divided between SAIL, Arcelor Mittal and Tata Steel,” a senior state government official said. In its letter to the Centre, Jharkhand had indicated that 800 mt of the reserves may be given to SAIL and 600 mt each to Arcelor Mittal and Tata Steel. A decision to this effect would be a huge loss for SAIL which has been eyeing the full reserves and on the suggestion of the steel ministry and PMO also offered to set up a greenfield 15 mt steel plant in the state. SAIL has already laid claims for half or 1 billion tonne of the reserves citing its requirement for the Bokaro and erstwhile IISCO’s Burnpur Steel plants and is locked in litigation for the lease of these reserves. “We are in the process of identifying land for a 15 mt greenfield steel plant in the state to convince the state government of our requirement of the full 2000 mt reserve. We are always open for negotiations and an out of court settlement,” said SAIL chairman S K Roongta. The PSU has identified Sarai Kela as one of the areas for the site. Arcelor Mittal has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the state government for setting up a 12 million tonne steel plant with an investment of Rs 43,000 crore. Though the project has been delayed, the company recently identified Torpa and Kamdara blocks in Khunti and Gumla districts as the site for the steel plant. The company needs 600 mt of proven iron ore reserves for its plant. Tata Steel has also asked the state government for additional iron ore for its 12 mt plant and expansion plans at the existing Jamshedpur plant. Tata needs over 1 billion tonne of iron ore reserves for the next 25 years and its expansion at the Jamshedpur plant is already underway. The plant will have a capacity of 7 million tonne by June this year and 10 million tonne by 2010.Scramble for iron ore •Jharkhand continues to be non-committal on awarding all leases to SAIL• Sends letter to Centre citing its option to divide the resources between all claimants.• State government lists its wish of SAIL to get 800mt, 600 mt each to Arcelor Mittal and Tata Steel of reserves.
