The Centre will start the auction of 80-90 identified mine blocks by November and will assist states facing problem in this process, Union Minister for Steel and Mines, Narendra Singh Tomar said at an Assocham event held in New Delhi today.
"All the states are participating in the auction process as per their capacity, 146 blocks have been marked by all states, of which 82 blocks will be auctioned in the first phase and I feel this process will begin in November," said Tomar.
"The Central Government will come to the rescue of any state intending to further promote the mining sector but is facing problems in auction process," he added.
In his address at the Assocham summit, Balvinder Kumar, secretary, ministry of mines said that his ministry will put the draft report on National Mineral Exploration Policy in public domain in 2-3 days' time to invite suggestions from the industry including both public and private sector.
"In two months' time we will have a new exploration policy and funds would be coming to the tune of Rs 400-500 crore per annum and these funds will be used for exploration," said Kumar.
"We want to have a very conducive policy where exploration can be encouraged through private sector," he added.
The secretary also said that Mines Ministry was formulating rules for offshore exploration and mining. "We hope that in two months’ time these rules would be ready and by the end of this year we will see that all the 80 blocks are allotted for exploration as well as for mining purposes because there is still tremendous scope for sand in the southern region."
Kumar further told that his ministry has formed a granite council and it would be meeting very soon to address various issues and problems to be faced by granite.
Sharing his views on the issue of transfer of existing captive mining leases, Kumar said, "There should have been provision for transfer of mines which have been allotted earlier but unfortunately the Law department has given very clear opinion that we cannot transfer any mining lease whether it is existing or even for those which would be allotted through auction."
"Though it is a setback for the industry but we will have to explore other areas to resolve this issue," he said.
Talking about mineral waste dumping in Goa, the secretary said, "We are making efforts to resolve the dumping related issue in Goa and have requested the state government to try and include the area where dumps are located because as per a Supreme Court judgement, dumps are a part of mining lease and disposing off dumps will amount to mining activity, under these circumstances we are exploring 2-3 options about how to address this dumping problem which has aggravated in Goa and exists in other states as well."
He also informed that Ministry of Mines was in the process of selecting a consultant who would be preparing documentation for engagement of a global level agency which would carry out aerial geophysical and electromagnetic survey. "We want to give push to exploration so that untapped resources can be tapped in a phase-manner."
On the issue of auction of mine blocks, the secretary said that the ministry had issued directives to all states for having fair and transparent method for allotment of areas for mines and minerals.
"We have taken up this auctioning of blocks at our own level and we are doing handholding on behalf of states, so hopefully we will see some positive results after nearly 2-3 months' time at the most," said Kumar.
"The first and foremost task before is to bring about some confidence into the mining industry and that can only be done once the mines which we have identified are auctioned," he added.
Conceding that India's mining industry is passing through a very bad phase, the secretary said, "The whole manufacturing sector of Indian economy is in a very depressed state, there is hardly any growth and particularly in the mining sector, we see iron ore, aluminium, copper and steel, prospects are not very bright on all these matters at present."
