After having promulgated the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Amendment Ordinance 2015, which entails of auction of mining leases, the Government is aiming to start the bidding process of leases of 199 mines by June this year. According to sources privy to the development, exploration work of around 70 per cent of these 199 mines is complete and the Mines Ministry is confident of wrapping up the exploration of the remaining mines soon, which will help it to start the auction of leases by the middle of the calendar year.
Though mines pertaining to several major minerals like iron ore, manganese and bauxite are spread out in great numbers across the country, the Mines Ministry has in the first place has identified 199 mines consisting of the aforementioned minerals, whose leases it will put on auction.Out of these 199 mines, 16 are bauxite reserves, 12 of them are iron ore mines, while there are three manganese mines. Interestingly though, 168 of these are limestone mines. Also 142 of the 199 mines, whose leases are to be auctioned, are located in Gujarat. All of these are limestone mines.
As per the ordinance, the Union Mines Ministry is going to conduct the exploration of all these reserves which will be put up for auction, through Geological Survey of India (GSI). The leases will be given away by State Governments, while the necessary environmental clearances will be granted by the Environment Ministry.
Sources further pointed out that Mines Ministry will send its officials across to all the mineral rich states where most of the mines on offer, are located. These teams of officials will help in sensitising their counterparts in the states regarding the details of the ordinance, so that all the formalities for initiating the auction of mining leases are completed on time.
These teams have already started visiting the states, and simultaneously the exploration of all the remaining mines is also being conducted, so that the auction of leases can formally start within the next four to five months, official sources informed.Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, earlier this month after interacting with his counterparts from all the mineral rich states, had emphasised that the auction of leases will be done as soon as possible, once the ordinance gets tabled in the forthcoming Budget Session of Parliament as a bill and subsequently gets cleared.
Tomar again underlined this fact during a meeting with senior ministry officials which was held this week, saying that the Government’s priority is not only to table the draft bill in the Budget session, but also to ensure that the auction of mines is done “in the least possible time”.During this meeting, all the significant aspects related to the ordinance namely the mechanism to determine mineralisation, scheme for setting up the District Mineral Foundation and National Mineral Exploration Trust, and conditions for granting non-exclusive reconnaissance permit, among other things, were discussed.
Timelines for each of these activities were also duly delineated to speed up the process and meet with the aim of beginning the auctions within the next four to five months, sources said.