The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) on Tuesday ruled out allowing export of iron ore pellets from Karnataka-based miners. Responding to requests from the leaseholders at a meeting here, the CEC team, headed by P V Jayakrishnan, told the miners there was no question of allowing exports at this stage from Karnataka. The Supreme Court had directed suspension of iron ore exports from the state in 2011. At Tuesday's meeting, CEC clarified miners would not be allowed to mine or dump ore in the overlapping areas, between two mines. "The survey map fixed by the joint survey team of CEC last year would be sacrosanct and there was no scope for any further dispute. However, if there was any minor overlap in category C mines, such area will be exempt from mining," Basant Poddar, vice-chairman, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, told Business Standard. More than 40 miners with leases to category A and B attended the meeting. The director, mines and geology department, government of Karnataka, and officials from the state forest department were also present. Earlier, the B S Yeddyurappa-headed government had banned export of iron ore with effect from July 26, 2010. Until the export was banned, Karnataka exported about 20 million tonnes (mt) of iron ore annually. CEC had convened the meeting to discuss various issues, including implementation of reclamation and rehabilitation plans, renewal of leases and reallotment of category C mines. This follows the Supreme Court order on April 18, 2013, allowing reopening of category A and B mines in Karnataka. So far, operations have restarted in 11 mines in category A and two mines in category B. These mines together can produce about 4.5 mt per annum. Last week, MSPL, which was classified under category B, restarted its mines in Vyasanakere of Bellary district with an annual capacity of 910,000 tonnes.