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The Supreme Court has lifted the ban on iron ore mining operations by private companies in Karnataka. The order will pave the way for resumption of mining activity at 18 sites. The apex court forest bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam accepted the report of its Central Empowered Committee (CEC) which had said that Category 'A' leases which consist of 21 operational and 24 non-operational leases be allowed to carry on their business as they have not violated any rules. The court had suspended the operations in these mines following concerns over environment a year ago and asked the Karnataka government to carry out an environmental impact assessment. The output from the re-started mines will be in addition to state-run NMDC's one million tonnes per month, which was cleared by the apex court for production from August 6 in 2011.

Apex Court lifts ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka