Panaji, Jul 31 (IANS): Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday told the state Assembly that the government was examining ways to restart the mining industry, while also assuring that a review petition would be filed before the Supreme Court which had banned mining in the coastal state's 88 mining leases last year.

"We have taken a decision and are going to file a review petition now. We should have filed a review writ petition then itself. It was very important to file the review writ petition at that time (after the apex court's order) immediately. There were many legal opinions at the time and the review writ petition was not filed," Sawant said, while replying during a discussion on the mining sector.

The Supreme Court had banned all mining in 88 mining leases from March 2018 while also directing the state government to re-issue mining leases.

Under pressure from thousands of workers who have been rendered jobless by the ban on the mining industry, as well as small businessmen who used to operate ancillary businesses, Sawant has been aggressively pursuing options for resuming mining with central government.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has already formed a Group of Ministers, which includes Union ministers for mining, environment and others to resolve the issue.