Confederation of Indian Industry (CII – Odisha State Office) organized a half day Roundtable on Metals & Minerals today at Hotel Mayfair Lagoon, Bhubaneswar. The Chief Guests for the Roundtable Shri Surya Narayan Patro, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue & Disaster Management, Government of Odisha; Shri Rajani Kant Singh, Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha; Shri Niranjan Pujari, Industry Minister, Government of Odisha.

The prime objective of the Roundtable is to have sustainable investment climate in mining, reviving economic growth through investment-friendly policies and regulatory framework, value addition of minerals and the use of productivity enhancing techniques.

The Welcome Address of the roundtable was delivered by Mr. Santosh Kumar Mohapatra, CEO, The Dhamra Port Corporation Ltd. & Past Chairman, CII Odisha State Council. In line with the objective of the roundtable India’s Minerals and Metals sector demonstrated stable growth during the 90’s. Domestic demand for key metals was robust and demand for steel grew at a healthy rate of approximately 7 % per annum and aluminum at approximately 4 % per annum. The growth has still accelerated further over the last three to four years.  The Mining Policy also seeks to develop a sustainable framework for optimum utilization of the country's natural mineral resources for the industrial growth in the country and at the same time improving the life of people living in the mining areas, which are generally located in the backward and tribal regions of the country.

Shri Niranjan Pujari, Hon’ble Minister, Industries, Government of Odisha, said Odisha accounts for 16 % of the nation’s cumulative mineral wealth, making it possible for it to emerge as a mineral hub of the country and the world. The State Government also aims at adopting the global best practices in the areas of mineral exploration and mining with a view to conserve and uses the resources optimally. So in less than a decade time Odisha is all set to emerge as a steel hub of the country with commissioning 90 mtpa production capacities, a hub for aluminum by adding four mtpa capacity and power corridor by generating 1900 MW of thermal energy over the next decade.

Shri Rajani Kant Singh, Hon’ble Minister, Steel & Mines, Government of Odisha, stressed that sustained growth of the Indian economy has resulted in robust demand for all basic materials including metals such as steel, aluminum and copper & minerals such as coal, iron ore & bauxite. In addition, the global scenario for the metals and minerals sector has seen significant upsurge over the last three years, primarily driven by stupendous growth of demand in china. This positive domestic and global outlook for the sector is only expected to improve over the next few years.

Shri Surya Narayan Patro, Hon’ble Minister, Revenue & Disaster, Government of Odisha, said Odisha iron ore reserve is around 25,249 Million tones, In order to meet the target we need around 500 mt of iron ore. It is also well known that with the present rate of mining the life of our known good reserves would last only 30-35 years. It is for this reason the national steel policy envisages investment in modern mining and beneficiation methods for modern value addition and utilization of iron ores fines.

The State Government has been pursuing investments in the steel & mines sector by enabling ore linkage through grant of mining lease and secure supply of OMC. The grant of mining lease including in favor of MoU signed plants is strictly in accordance with the law laid down under M & M (D&R) Act, 1957, MCR 1960 etc. The provision of law facilitates giving due weight age to value addition and we take this in to account besides technical, financial, managerial competence.

The Vote of Thanks was delivered by Mr Ujjwal Chatterjee, Convenor, CII Odisha Mining Panel & COO, Tata Sponge Limited.

The other panelist in the Roundtable were: Mr B K Mohanty, Ex Director of Mines, Government of Odisha, Dr D K Behera, Sr Scientist, Odisha State Pollution Control Board, Dr Mukesh Kumar, COO & President, Vedanta Aluminum Limited and Mr Mahesh Raheja, GM- Mining, Jindal Steel & Power Limited.