Date | Nov 29, 2017:
In 2016-17, the ratio of minerals produced to minerals imported in India was 1:10, according to Niti Aayog. With around 90 per cent of India’s Obvious Geological Potential (OGP) area currently remaining unexplored, a common theme of concern during all four meetings of the committee — formed on August 14 this year to revamp National Mineral Policy (NMP), 2008 — has been country’s low level of exploration.
During the discussions, almost every stakeholder — including various state governments, ministries in central government, industry associations, etc. — raised the matter of low level of exploration and suggested measures to boost it. On August 2, 2017, the Supreme Court had passed a judgment, wherein it directed the Central government to revisit the NMP, 2008, and announce a “fresh and more effective, meaningful and implementable policy” before the end of this year. The mines ministry formed a committee — which includes officials from various ministries — after the apex court judgment, and its first meeting took place on August 28.
Niti Aayog, which was also part of this committee, submitted its written comments. It stated: “Geologically, India and Australia are part of the ancient Gondwana landmass, but inspite of the vast mineral resources the exploration expenditure per square km in India is $9, when compared to Australia at $5,580 and Canada at $5,310. Further, with respect to the global share on exploration expenditure, Canada tops the list with 14 per cent, Australia at 13 per cent, China and Latin American countries at 6 per cent, African countries at 5 per cent, Russia and Europe at 5 per cent, whereas in India it is as low as 0.2 per cent.”
In India, 5.71 lakh square km has been identified as OGP area, out of which only around 10 per cent has been explored. Mining is undertaken in around 1.5-2 per cent of India’s OGP area. “The success stories of our proven deposits of significance namely the Lead and Zinc deposits in Udaipur, Chromite in Sukinda, Copper in Malanjkand, Gold in Hutti and KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) in Karanataka are not by extensive exploration and merely by chance or through old workings. Till date, our focus has been only on surfacial deposits such as iron ore, bauxite, limestone, manganese, chromite etc, and the lack of exploration of deep seated deposits has resulted in huge imports of gold, diamond, copper, nickel, platinum, potash, etc,” the Niti Aayog stated.
The estimated domestic production of minerals — including bauxite, iron ore, limestone except coal — in India has been of Rs 36, 470 crore for the financial year 2016-17. “The import figures of important minerals and metals — including copper and concentrates, diamond, nickel ores and concentrates, gold and potash — is estimated to be Rs 3.45 lakh crore, “ the Niti Aayog stated. It means, in a broader picture, the production to import figures is of 1:10 ratio.
On October 13, 2017, during the fourth meeting of the committee, Rahul Sharma, a Ficci official raised the issues related to exploration. “Rahul Sharma, FICCI, mentioned that production vs import of minerals is in the ratio of 1:10. High import is mainly because of non-availability of raw material for industries. This is mainly due to lack of focus on exploration. National mineral policy should explicitly put some clauses to attract exploration. Companies should be allowed to identify the area for exploration with preferential right by granting them composite license or giving First Right of Refusal. In his opinion this can be the step forward if we are really looking for encouraging exploration which has come up as an issue invariably in every meeting,” the minutes of the fourth meeting stated.
Currently, if a company has got an area’s non-exclusive reconnaissance permit (NERP), which is required for preliminary exploration, it can either keep the resultant data with itself or submit it to the respective state government so that the latter can initiate the auction of mining license (ML) or composite license (prospecting licence-cum-ML). The company that has got an area’s NERP and the resultant data cannot make a direct claim for ML or composite license, according to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015.
Under the 2015 mining law, the Central government established the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) and notified its rules on August 14, 2015. The NMET is a non-profit body run by the Central government with the primary objective of promoting regional and detailed mineral exploration in the country. The holder of a mining lease or a composite licence shall pay to the NMET a sum equivalent to two per cent of the annual royalty paid to the respective state government.
The third meeting of the committee took place on September 26, 2017. According to the minutes of this meeting, S K Popli, Special Secretary, Department of Steel and Mines, Odisha government, stated: “After the MMDRA Act 2015, the exploration is de-incentivised, as at present only the blocks which are explored to the level of G3 or G2 are auctioned. Prospecting can be incentivised either by providing ROFR (Right of First Refusal) to the private companies undertaking prospecting or by compensating them by defraying the expenditure incurred by them.” There are total four levels of exploration — G4 is the lowest and G1 is the highest. Currently, according to central government rules, the state governments can auction the mine for composite license in case G3 level exploration has been done by NERP holder. A mining lease can be auctioned only after G2 level exploration.
The first meeting of the committee took place on August 28, 2017. N K Rao, Director General, Geological Survey of India (GSI) raised important concerns regarding exploration scenario in India. Three of his concerns were: “Forest clearance issues during exploration need to be streamlined for facilitating conduct of proper exploration to establish mineralisation as per the prescribed norms; state Governments to extend all possible assistance and cooperation to GSI in sorting out local issues, for enabling them to carry out exploration; addressing urbanisation issues i.e. the difficulty in conducting exploration of potential mineral deposits close to populated areas.”The GSI works under the Ministry of Mines only.
During the first meeting, Alarnelmangai, Director, Department of Geology and Mining, Chhattisgarh government, stated that exploration need to taken up “in a big way to augment areas under mining, though use of latest technologies and techniques”. She added that we need to upgrade and strengthen laboratories with regard to “analysis of minerals resulting in more accurate exploration results”. During this meeting, D S Maru, Director of Mines, Rajasthan government, expressed following such concerns: “Exploration and development of deep seated mineral deposit like Potash (needs to be done) — the demands of which are being met 100 per cent through imports at the present. Private sector should be encouraged. Provision of preferential right from reconnaissance to prospecting and then to mining should be given in order to attract private sector involvement.”
Vineet Austin, Director, Geology and Mining, Madhya Pradesh government, stated during the first meeting: “Improvement in methods of survey and exploration techniques should be discussed. Capacity building of state departments for provision of latest equipments and training needs to be addressed. Exploration and development of strategic minerals to be focussed.”
(Source: http://indianexpress.com/)