In a bid to explore untapped mineral resources, the central government on Friday said that an area of 8.13 lakh square kilometres will be taken up for aero-geophysical survey.
The size of the land area to be surveyed was disclosed by Minister for Mines and Steel Narendra Singh Tomar, while chairing the first meeting of the national mineral exploration trust (NMET).
The minister elaborated the urgent need to conduct mineral surveys and that NMET is taking a concrete shape by conducting its first meeting to give direction and energy to the exploration effort.
The minister emphasised the need for working in close coordination with the state governments and exploration agencies for better synergy and progress.
During the meeting Piyush Goyal, who is the minister of state (MoS) with independent charge for power, coal, new and renewable energy, suggested that cooking coal should be given top exploration priority.
The step, he said will help the country to achieve self-sufficiency in cooking coal and reduce imports.
According to the government, various issues like environment clearances, use of space technology, pooling of resources and role of central and state agencies came up for discussion during the meeting.