Panaji, Sep 25: Although demand for iron ore is down and international prices continue to be weak, Goa’s mining industry looks ready to commence operations ahead of the official mining season that begins from October 1.

Several companies said that they reopened their mines even in the rains.

R Kishore Kumar, chief executive officer, iron ore division, Vedanta Ltd, said the company has already resumed mining and that ore extraction began after Ganesh Chaturthi.

“We will be doing our full permitted capacity of 5.5 million tonne in 2016-17,” Kumar said.

Global market for ore is bad, he said, adding that a significant drop in the price is currently being witnessed in high grade ore. With the steel industry undergoing a slump the overall market for iron ore is adversely affected across grades, he explained.

Vedanta is the largest exporter of ore in Goa and also the only listed mining company.

Other mining companies said that they are in the process of restarting  mining operations.

A senior source in the department of mines and geology confirmed that the new season would have several leaseholders in action.

“At least 70 per cent of the leases are going to be active as companies have given indications of reopening,” the source said, adding the major leaseholders have resumed mining operations.

On September 22, the DMG withdrew the notification that prohibited ore transportation during monsoon.

The notification, which has been signed by DMG director Prasanna Acharya, has said that since the monsoon has almost withdrawn the notification that had stopped transport of ore during monsoon stands withdrawn with immediate effect.

The mining industry is trying to remove the 20-million cap on capacity set by the Supreme Court and raise the aggregate extraction limit to higher levels.

A SC expert committee has recommended that Goa’s cap on capacity be raised to 30 million tonne and further enhanced to 37 million tonne after reviewing the impact on environment. However, the decision has been hanging fire as the committee recommendations are yet to be accepted.

Goa’s previous extraction cap was 43 million tonne.

Mining in the state was closed from October 2012 to March 2015 after suspension of leases by the MOEF due to illegal mining scam. After the suspension order was lifted in March 2015 companies started low-key mining with activities picking up in January-March 2016 period.  Production of iron ore in 2015-16 was around 7.3 million tonne and royalty earned was about Rs 88.4 crore, DMG sources said.