The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Mineral Exploration Policy setting the stage for auctioning exploration permits to private sector players on a revenue-sharing basis starting with 100 identified mineral blocks over the next six months. “After we enacted the MMDR Act of 2015, getting private players into exploration was not possible. In any case, our progress on exploration has been quite poor with just 10 per cent of a potential 8 lakh square kilometres being explored so far,” said Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on the new policy which would hasten the mapping process of the country’s mineral riches.
New regimeThough private players, including foreign investors, were allowed to explore blocks for determining mineral reserves, a new regime became imperative after the passage of the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act which was enacted in 2015.
The new mining law requires all blocks with identified mineral reserves to be auctioned instead of allotted administratively. Hence, there was no guarantee that those who explored for the minerals would be able to exploit the blocks which were found viable for mining. Prior to the 2015 law, a reconnaissance permit could be converted into a prospecting licence and mining lease.
First phase
Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar said in the first phase, about 100 blocks identified by the Geological Survey of India would be put out for bidding in the next six months for exploration. The rights would be awarded to the bidder seeking the minimum revenue-share if their exploration results in the discovery of auctionable reserves.
The Cabinet also cleared an additional outlay of Rs.2,116 crore for the ministry to implement the other aspects of the exploration policy which includes the creation of baseline geoscientific data for open dissemination and a national aero-geophysical programme to map the entire country to find deep-seated mineral deposits.
