KOLKATA: The ministry of mines is in the process of creating a draft policy framework for atomic minerals. The draft policy is likely to put it up on the ministry’s website soon for industry feedback. This was stated by Sudhakar Shukla, economic advisor, ministry of mines at an industry meet in New Delhi on Wednesday. He added that Atomic Minerals Department has sent draft rules and the Ministry has conducted due diligence.
He said that decision to allow auction or reservations will be based threshold limits given by the AMD. Minerals falling below threshold will be open for auctions. He added that the ministry is currently drafting an exploration policy which will address investor’s interests. It carries provision for hedging risks and revenue sharing in case if discovery leads to exploration of mines. Ministry is also working on Ru ..
Mining reforms process in underway. The new MMDR Act has brought in transparency, Shukla said while addressing Assocham’s Heavy Minerals Conference. While auctions for 24 blocks in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand and Maharashtra have already commenced and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will follow soon.
S Vaikundarajan, Managing Partner, VV Mineral asserted that the heavy mining industry has potential of about Rs 65,000 crore in India. The National Mineral Policy recognized the need for encouraging private investment including foreign direct investment and for attracting state of art technology in the mineral sector. Minerals like Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Leucoxene and Monazite are in Part ‘B’ of the First Schedule as atomic minerals. But Ilmenite, Rutile, Leucoxene are Titanium minerals and Zircon is Zirconium mineral. These minerals are not used for production of atomic energy or research. The High level committee of Planning Commission has thus suggested de-listing them from the list of atomic minerals. This is also likely to generate additional employment of over four lakh.
D Singh, CMD, Indian Rare Earths emphasised on the need to create value through modern technology and optimum utilization of heavy minerals. Pradeep Koneru, Managing Director, Trimex Group in his address said that India has 28% of global deposits of heavy minerals but exploration is dismally low at about six per cent.
