Ministry of Mines Award “Star Rating” to Mining Leases

Ministry of Mines conducted first of its kind event – “National Conclave on Mines & Minerals” today at Raipur (Chhattisgarh). The two-day conclave aims at providing an effective platform to showcase the recent policy initiatives by the government of India and enable intensive discussion on the issues, challenges and opportunities in the mining sector to realize its optimum potential for the sustainable development of the country.

In its inaugural session conducted today (04 Jul’16), Ministry of Mines awarded rating to the 20 mines as per the efforts and initiatives taken for implementation of the Sustainable Development Framework (SDF). Some of the prominent iron ore mines which received “star rating” were as follows:

5-star rating –

1. Tata Steel Noamundi Mines, Jharkhand
2. Vedanta’s Codli iron ore mines, South Goa
3. Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores Ltd (SMIORE), Karnataka

4-star rating –

1. NMDC’s Donimalai Mines, Karnataka
2. SAIL’s Kiriburu iron ore mines, Jharkhand
3. Rungta Jajang iron ore mines, Odisha
4. Vyasankere iron ore mines, Karnataka

National Mineral Exploration Policy (NMEP) launched – The NMEP which was approved by Cabinet on 29 Jun’16, was launched by Minister of Mines – Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar. The policy primarily aims at accelerating the exploration activity in the country through enhanced participation of the private sector.

Apart from this the matters the conclave also highlighted contribution made towards District Mineral Foundation (DMF) fund and National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET).

In a question put forward by SteelMint, Mr. Narendra Singh Tomar shared that owing to issues over stamp duty the mine block auction of 14 “C” category mines was postponed. But with now having issues resolved, mine blocks are all set to be put up for auction for which process is likely to begin in early Aug’16.

Also in the conclave steel secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that India may alter the list of steel items that attract a minimum import price if the country decides to continue with the protectionist measure beyond Aug’16.