According to the statistics released by Ministry of Mines, the Indian iron ore production for increased by about 8.36% for the duration Apr-Oct’17 to 108.66 MnT as against 100.28 MnT for Apr-Oct’16.
Major developments that have been taken up in India’s mining sector include:
1. Iron ore block auctions: For the approval and clearances of mineral block allocation, an online portal and mobile app TAMRA (Transparency, Auction Monitoring & Resource Augmentation) has been launched to keep a record of clearances and to ease the business. An inter-ministerial group i.e. Post Auction Mining and Approvals Facilitator (PAMCAF) has been constituted comprising of all stakeholders at various levels for the same. A total of 88 major mineral blocks have been notified by 9 States for auction and 33 blocks have been successfully auctioned up to 1st Jan’18. Besides, Mineral Auction Rules have been amended on 30th Nov’17 to simply the process of block auction. It includes amendments such as:
– Flexibility of allocating blocks in 2nd attempt (in case of less than 3 bidders) which earlier stood at minimum of 3 attempts
– In the amended rules, such miners will be able to dispose of 25% of such dumps, which are not used for captive purposes. This will help progress towards zero waste mining and utilization,
Summary of Iron Ore Blocks to be auctioned by the States in 2017-18 & 2018-19
|
State |
2017-2018 | 2018-2019
Number Of Blocks |
|
| Number Of Blocks |
Timelines |
||
| Jharkhand | 1 | 5th Jan: NIT for iron ore block | 2 |
| Karnataka | 6 | 22nd Jan: NIT for all 6 blocks | 1 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | Jan: NIT for iron ore block | – |
| Maharashtra | 1 | Jan: NIT for iron ore block | – |
| Odisha | 3 | Jan: NIT for all 3 blocks | 2 |
Source: Ministry of Mines
2. Auction of Mining Leases expiring by 2020 : As per the provision of MMDR amendment, the auction process needs to be initiated in advance for leases which are due to expire in 2020, to facilitate timely execution of new leases along with all the clearances. An action plan for the same is required by the states to be submitted to the ministry of mines. States have been advised to start auctions by 01 Jul’19 to enable incoming miner with sufficient time to start proper functioning of the mines.
State-wise Iron Ore leases which are due to expire by 2020
|
State |
No. of Working Mines | No. of Non-working Mines |
Total |
| Odisha (Iron Ore) | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| Odisha (Iron & Manganese) | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| Karnataka (iron ore) | 7 | 30 | 37 |
| Karnataka (iron & manganese) | – | 1 | 1 |
| Andhra Pradesh | – | 1 | 1 |
| Goa | – | 159 | 159 |
| Maharashtra* | 2 | – | 2 |
| Rajasthan | – | 1 | 1 |
*Maharashtra mines: is under jurisdiction of RO, IBM Nagpur
Source: Ministry of Mines
3. Star Rating of Mines: The Ministry of Mining has developed an online system of “Star Rating of Mines”, to bring standardization in mining and to minimize adverse impacts of mining. Its inclusion in the mines has been made mandatory. The system enables the mines to be graded according to the initiatives taken for implementation of sustainable development framework (SDF).
4. Mining Surveillance System (MSS): A Mining Surveillance System’ (MSS) for major minerals has been developed by the Ministry of Mines through Indian Bureau of Mines(IBM) to curb the incidences of illegal mining using space technology. A MSS is a transparent system that checks the region of 500 mts around the existing lease boundary to detect any unusual activity.
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