On 13-Dec-2022, the Supreme Court issued an order whose operative part says
“We are, therefore, inclined to allow the State Government to carry out the dump mining activities in accordance with the Expert Committee’s Report and specifically paragraph 6 that is containing the recommendation of the Expert Committee.
The application (I.A. No. 6524 of 2020) is disposed of in the above terms.“
The Expert Committee submitted its report on dumps on 14-Oct-2014, which was annexed to its final report on 12-Apr-2015. The recommendations in para 6 of the Expert Committee report are given below, with the addition of a couple of notes in italics for clarity.
6.0 Recommendations
1. The unstable dumps that are contributing to the pollution of surrounding ecosystems and those located on hill slopes, forest areas and other ecologically sensitive non-lease areas should be handled on priority.
2. Those dumps which are stabilized and covered with the vegetation and located in lease area, and not contributing to the degradation of surrounding ecosystems may be permitted for dump mining only after the existing ore as above is exhausted in a particular lease and subject to all clearances including environmental and forest clearances and on an approved mining plan. (The advantage of mining of these dumps will be: (i) that the lateritic plateaus will be available for bring back to their original ecosystem through restoration; (ii) yield minerals of commercial values and generate income and promoted economic growth, (iii) the wastes can be used in back filling demineralized pits, (iv) prevent pollution from un—stabilized dumps, and (v) some of the shallow voids can be used for storage of water and also for recharging ground water. Consequently, the advantages of dump mining outweigh the pollution caused which can be mitigated by appropriate measures.)
3. The dumps in the non-lease area is in the domain of the State Govt. and and the State Govt. may evolve an appropriate policy keeping in view the various existing judgements of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Hon’ble High Courts, the various related legislations, recommendations made in this report, taking into account the environment, ecology, socio-economics of the area, mineral conservation, and other related factors.
4. By and large, dumps which are situated within the mining lease area are being managed and dealt with in accordance with approved mining plans. However, further conditions may be imposed for all such dumps which contain sub-grade ores, either partially or fully, and are situated outside the mining lease area to minimise environmental impacts.
5. The dumps of tailings are the source of pollution of surrounding ecosystems. Therefore, these dumps should be grassed or covered with mulch till the material is disposed of.
6. The GMP, 2013 policy as envisaged under 6.3.6 should be followed before re-handling dumps in forest areas. (Note: Para 6.3.6 of the GMP, 2013 says “Since some of the dumps are within forest areas including Sanctuary causing problem for wild life. The State Government will seek special approval (if required) from the MOEF for the removal of these dumps and filling of large pits of closed mines in the interests of afforestation, and wild life preservation and only upon report from forest department that removal of such dump is in the interest of flora, fauna, forest cover and in the interest of wildlife.”)
7. Additional ore beneficiation/palletisation plants with modern as well as relevant technologies could set up for re-handling of the dumps.
8. The Committee recommends setting up a Centre for Ecological Restoration and Mineral Development, with the financial resource from cess imposed on the saleable minerals or CAMPA funds.
9. Assessment of the extent of saleable Fe ore and potential saleable Fe ore (after beneficiation), and other associated minerals (e.g. industrial minerals) may be undertaken from both stabilized and un-stabilized dumps. This assessment should be carried out as per the MMDR, GMP 2013, IBM rules and other relevant rules/regulations.
10. The mine quarries could be used for storage of water and recharge of ground water, pisiculture development, source of water for irrigation, etc. In such a case, mine closure plan has to be suitably amended.
11. Dump mining should be undertaken after relevant approvals including environmental clearance, forest clearance if required.
12. The committee recommends that the classification of dumps proposed in the report may be followed in the management of dumps. (Note: The classification of dumps is proposed in para 2.0 of the Dump Report dated 14-10-2014 of the Expert Committee. Here are a couple of key extracts:
“In this report of the Expert Committee, the term dump is understood as follows: it constitutes the excavated material accumulated in the form of heap or pile on the surface of the land or stocked on the demineralized area temporarily or m permanent/y during mining, and the material stocked or piled can be re-handled as and when required not only for recovery of Fe minerals and associated minerals but also to fulfil the norms of mine closure plan as specified by the regulatory bodies. Thus dump includes not only the piles or stocks of exploitable Fe mineral, but it also includes mining wastes.
“… in the course of mining, two major categories of materials are generated: Valuables and Wastes. These are further categorised into different subcategories. For example, the valuable fraction of the mined product consists of (i) ore that is marketable at any given point of time, (ii) sub-grade or mineral reject ore that is above the threshold grade as specified by IBM, and (iii) low-grade ore that is below the threshold grade originating from the mineralized strata which includes the tailings‘ that are typically construed as one of the beneficiation products, besides associated and industrial minerals. Furthermore, the waste category of the mined product is subdivided into two groups as: (i) OB dump, top soil, lateritic boulders, associated minerals, etc., that generally lie above the mineralized strata and must be removed prior to working on the mineral strata, and (ii) mine waste which contains material having Fe content of less than threshold value fixed by IBM and has no sale value at that time but may also contain associated and industrial minerals and typically accumulates during mining from the mineralized strata.”)
13. The GMP, 2013 may be amended, as required, to take into account the recommendations made by the Expert Committee.