Dalli mines deposit was discovered by Pramatha Nath Bose, the first Indian graded officer of the Geological Survey of India around 1900.

These are captive iron ore mines for Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) – a SAIL enterprise.

The other mines in the neighbourhood produce dolomite, lime and other raw materials which go into steel production.

Dalli-Rajhara is a self-sufficient township with BSP having set up hospitals and a considerable number of educational institutes.

The expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the ministry had met during the last three days to clear a shelf of stranded projects entailing an investment of nearly Rs 80,000 crore.

Among those cleared on Saturday are SAIL's proposed 1 million tonne per annum pellet plant along with upstream slime beneficiation facilities at its Dalli-Rajhara iron ore mine in Chhattisgarh.