Panaji:
Goa Mines and Geology Department has issued notices to 40 mining firms asking them to pay royalties amounting to Rs 34 crore, which it says was due after the final assessment for financial year 2012-13.
Director of Mines and Geology Prasanna Acharya said the royalty was calculated after considering the value of minerals declared by Indian Bureau of Mines for FY13.
State's renowned mining firms including V M Salgaoncar and Bro, Sesa Goa, Dempo, Chowgule are amongst the 40 mining leaseholders told to pay the royalty.
Acharya said the companies have been given seven days time to pay the royalty, failing which they will be charged interest of 24 per cent per annum.
The notices were issued recently under the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960, Acharya said.
The assessment of mining royalty has to be done at the end of every financial year. We did it and found out this gap of Rs 34 crore, he said.
The state had collected Rs 279 crore as mining royalty despite the ban on the extraction and export of ore since last September.
