India state urges court to approve POSCO mining

Authorities of an Indian state trying to help South Korea's POSCO build a $12 billion steel plant urged the Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a decision to grant the firm mining concession for the mill, mobile crusher building waste for saleofficials said. POSCO, the world's third-largest steel maker, wants to mine iron ore in eastern Orissa state's iron ore-rich Sundergarh district for the proposed steel plant, which aims to have a capacity to produce 12 million tonnes of steel a year.

POSCO's proposed project is India's biggest foreign direct investment proposal, but it has been delayed by more than three years due to protests by farmers who fear losing their livelihood and green worries. In July, a lower court in Orissa had asked state government authorities to review their decision to recommend POSCO for a mining concession, after a local company, also seeking a mining concession, challenged the move. On Friday, the Orissa government filed a petition in the Supreme Court, saying the lower court's order be set aside and POSCO be given the mining concession. "(A) petition has been filed in Supreme Court today," Orissa's steel and mines minister, Raghunath Mohanty, told Reuters. "The recommendation of the Khandadhar mines in favour of POSCO was done as per the MMDR (Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation) Act and there was no violation."