PANJIM: The Union Ministry of Mines dropped a bombshell Friday, by shooting a copy of the letter addressed to Orissa government to all State governments which says that basic Central government permissions were needed before renewal of mining leases and permissions from the Indian Bureau of Mines and assessment of amount of mineral left in the lease, feasibility and other such criteria need to be adhered to. The two-page directions received by State Directorate of Mines come on the heels of the communiqué from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests stating that leases cannot be renewed in case any part of the mining lease comes within forest areas and for which forest clearance has to be obtained. The state, which has begun the renewal of its leases, has already received stamp duty of about Rs 141 crore for renewal of six mining leases. According to authorities, the department has also identified some 42 mines for renewal of leases, saying that these leases did not need forest clearances. The MoEF also issued show cause notices on 11th September, 2012 to 49 mines in Goa which were inspected by the Regional Office of the MoEF at Bangalore and the inspection report revealed that dump mining has been found to have taken place, and the conditions of the environmental clearance have been violated, the minister said. The MoEF has also issued directions under section 5 of the EP Act, 1986 keeping in abeyance the environment clearances in respect of 139 mine leases in Goa on 14th September, 2012. The project proponent concerned for each of these 139 mines have been asked to submit relevant documents to MoEF so as to verify the legality of the environment clearance granted under which the mines have been operating. Meanwhile, the Union Minister of Mines, Dinsha Patel Friday said in Parliament that in the 11th Report of Committee on Public Undertaking (2010-11) regarding comprehensive examination of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the Committee has “interalia recommended that injudicious export of raw natural resources like iron ore, coal needs to be banned.” He also said that export of iron ore was regulated by imposition of export duty and so the Centre had increased the export duty on iron ore from 20% to 30% advalorem on all grades of iron ore (except pellets) with effect from 30th December 2011. The Union Minister also informed that, the Centre, while taking necessary action against the violation of environmental norms/ statutory requirements by mining units in Goa, from time to time, and asked the State Government to take action against such units under the relevant provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (EP Act, 1986) and the rules framed there under. During 2012-13, based on the inspection/monitoring conducted by the Regional Office of Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) at Bangalore, directions have been issued by MoEF in August and September, 2012 under section 5 of the EP Act, 1986 for closure of five mines.