The Odisha government has decided to extend the leases of three of 11 mines under consideration with the state, including one of Adhunik group's Orissa Manganese & Minerals (OMM). 

This comes after the government's decision last fortnight to extend the leases of 18 mines, after the state's production of iron ore fell 40% in 2014-15. The state government will be executing supplementary leases, on which it will claim a stamp duty, for the extension of these mines. 

Like every other mineral-bearing state, Odisha has been forced to take stock of its mines running on leases, but whose terms had long expired, by a Supreme Court judgement last May. Shutdown of mining has hurt not just Odisha's iron ore-dependent sponge iron and steelmakers, but the wider economy of the state as well. 

In January, the Narendra Modi government introduced an ordinance whereby mines with valid permissions were given an extension till 2020 (till 2030 for captive mines). Meanwhile, the government is also expecting Odisha's mines department to ready a list of deposits it can put up for auction. 

The 11 firms had gone to court seeking permission to resume mining. 

While a mine each of RP Sao and HG Pandya also stand extended, the fate of the remaining remains uncertain. They include two mines of OMM, one each of Narayani & Sons, Kalinga Mining Corporation and Tarini Minerals. "These leases, even if determined (revoked by the state), may not come up for auction very soon since we will not have the geological data, or second or G2 level categorisation, which is the minimum set by the auction rules," said a senior official of the state. 

A CEO of an affected party, who didn't want to be named, said the company had already filed a petition and it intended challenging any move by the state to refuse it an extension in the High Court of Odisha. 

Odisha's iron and manganese sector also remains a matter of a public interest litigation filed by NGO Common Cause, being heard by an SC bench. The court, which is yet to take up the report of a panel appointed by it, could decide the fate of leases including those of Essel Mining, an Aditya Birla company, and Sarda Mines, which supplies ore to JSPL's plants.