- Bill boosts critical mineral exploration, transparent market mechanisms
- Higher levy to fund NMEDT for acquiring leases in India and abroad
The Rajya Sabha has cleared the amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. The Bill had already been passed by the Lok Sabha last week, as reported by BigMint.
The amendments allow for the inclusion of areas contiguous to existing deep-seated mineral leases for optimal extraction. They also remove the 50% cap on the sale of ore from captive mines, and expand the mandate of the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) – renamed the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust (NMEDT) – to use its funds to acquire critical mineral leases within and outside India.
Miners will henceforth, upon notification of these amendments, contribute 3% of royalty (instead of the earlier 2%) towards NMEDT. The Bill also provides for the creation of trading platforms or marketplaces for minerals, including their concentrates and processed forms, in order to establish a dynamic and transparent market mechanism for price discovery based on supply and demand.
Meanwhile, the Environment Ministry has included critical minerals as a separate category in its online clearance portal, Parivesh 2.0, for green approvals.
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