Mumbai | Jan 22, 2015: The Ministry of Mines has constituted a nine-member commitee to draft quality parameters for excavated minerals.
The committee will be chaired by Ranjan Sahai, Controller of Mines, Indian Bureau of Mines.
The move comes after complaints by various stakeholders about the recently promulgated MMDR ordinance.
"The mining industry needs clarifications on several issues that are not addressed in the Ordinance. For example, quality parametres, the definition of captive users, the fate of independent miners etc are not explained in the Ordinance which needs clarifications before opening up mining" said Haresh Melwani, Chief Executive Officer of H L Nathurmal & Co, a Goa-based miner.
The committee's other members include officials from IBM and state mineral corporations. The committee is set to submit the draft report by Jan 29 and the final report after consultations with various stakeholders by February 13.
Meanwhile, apex imdusty body, the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), has written to the ministry seeking reduction in the iron ore export duty, which currently stands at 30%.
(Source: http://www.business-standard.com/)