The Supreme Court today passed an interim order allowing the government organization NMDC to operate its two mines of iron ore in the Bellary district of Karnataka with a condition that no part of the iron ore extracted by it will be exported.

It might be mentioned that the Supreme Court has banned mining in Bellary a week ago until further orders based on reports that ecology was being destroyed because of the mining.

Delivering the order, a special forest bench headed by the Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia said the NMDC can operate its two mines from tomorrow to take out production of up to one million tonnes of ore every month.

The Bench ordered the NMDC to pay royalty to the state government at the rate of 10 per cent of the current market value of the iron ore.

The apex court also directed that a macro-level environment impact assessment (EIA) be undertaken by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) in collaboration with Wildlife Institute of India, Forest Survey of India and other expert organizations in association with Ministry of Environment and Forests.

“The EIA report should come to us within three months,” ordered the Chief Justice- headed bench.