The Mines and Minerals Act, 1957 has been amended to ensure uninterrupted supply of minerals, by enabling re-auctioning of leases before their expiry.
According to the rules of Mineral Conservation and development Act, 2017, the detailed exploration was to be commenced towards the end of 2022, which could hinder the mineral’s supply. Henceforth, the flaws were detected and are rectified to make required amendments to enable systematical transit of the expiring leases to new lessees by auction process rather than nomination.
Though the 288 merchant mining leases which are to expire by 31st Mar’20, the suggested date for start of auctions is 1st Jul’19, to provide sufficient time for transition from erstwhile lease holders to new lessee’s. This is to ensure that production is not adversely effected as the new leases would require around 3-4 years starting operations after various clearances.
The new amendments make it mandatory for the leaseholders to carry out general exploration (G2) over the mineralized area and submit the report before Apr’19 to state government and Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) within a month of completion of exploration work.
The total number of mines put to auction will be 288. Out of 288 mines, 160 mines are located in Goa, 45 in Karnataka, 30 in Odisha and 14 in Madhya Pradesh.
~Sourced
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