Orissa orders 69 mines to stop operations

By Jatindra Dash

BHUBANESWAR, India (Reuters) - The Orissa government has ordered a halt to work at 69 mines of iron ore, manganese ore and limestone because operators had not submitted proof they were licenced, a senior official said on Tuesday.

The mines were asked last month to submit their approvals from the Indian Bureau of Mines and forest and environment clearances.

"Since they did not submit the documents, we ordered them to suspend operations," Orissa's director of mines, Jyoti Ranjan Patnaik told Reuters, adding some orders were made over the weekend and some on Monday.

The state has approximately 600 mines, all of which would be inspected in phases, Patnaik said.

Orissa started a crackdown on mines in July following allegations some were operating without licenses.

Orissa produced about 70 million tonnes of iron ore in 2008/09, around one-third of total Indian production of 222 million tonnes, data from Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) shows.

Paradip, the state's major port, exported 13.67 million tonnes of iron ore in 2008/09, FIMI data shows.

Iron ore exporters said the inspections had made mine owners cautious, and many had scaled down operations which had seen supplies shrink just as demand from China was picking up.

(Editing by John Mair)