By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 2, 2019: Iron ore production in Odisha shot up by 12.8 per cent to 118.5 million ton in 2018-19 riding on healthy domestic demand. In the previous fiscal, the state had clocked 104.98 million tons of ore. The mineral rich state accounts for half of the iron ore output of the whole country.

The higher growth in iron ore production has boosted the overall mineral output in the state which reached 289.55 million tonne in FY 19 from 270.84 million ton in the previous year.

Similarly, mining revenue collection of Odisha reached a new peak of Rs 10,294.39 crore (provisional) in 2018-19, which represented an increase of about 68 per cent over the preceding year’s collection of Rs 6130 crore.