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The mines ministry has come up with few recommendations to comply with the Supreme Court directions on lease of mining assets and allocation of mineral concessions.
As per the proposal, the primary objective of the department is to make allocation of mineral concessions a fair, transparent, reasonable and equitable process.
Therefore, notification of mining area, that is identifying and clearly outlining the area with capability of being explored has emerged as the most preferred option for virgin areas for grant of concessions.
Besides, multiple permits will be allowed to many parties for recce operations , that is preliminary investigation to assess the mineralization in line with the open sky policy. The need for government approval will be restricted only for mining of coal, beach and 11 atomic minerals.
There are three kinds of mineral concessions - Reconnaissance Permit (RP) granted for preliminary prospecting of a mineral through regional, aerial, geophysical surveys, Prospecting License (PL) for undertaking operations for the purpose of exploring, locating or proving mineral deposit and Mining Lease (ML) granted for undertaking operations for winning any mineral.
One of the important parameters set for granting licenses is evidence of mineralization which indicates deposition of economically important metals in the formation of ore bodies.
Financial bid and auction will not be the only parameter but only one of the criteria, in line with the Supreme Court opinion that auction as mode is not a constitutional principle.
Other parameters which have taken precedence are mineralization, ore linkage, value addition. Moreover, the choice of parameters and their benchmarking should depend on mineral and quality of deposits.
There will be time limits for disposal of application by state governments and government of India and checks on sweeping powers of state and central governments especially in deemed renewal, refusal and reducing area, said an official.
While the State Governments are the owners of minerals located within their respective boundaries, the Central Government is the owner of the minerals underlying the ocean within the territorial waters or the Exclusive Economic Zone of India.
The State Governments grant the mineral concessions for all the minerals located within the boundary of the State, under the provisions of the MMDR Act, 1957, and Mineral Concession Rules (MCR), 1960 framed there under. Under the provisions of the MMDR Act, 1957 and MCR, 1960, prior approval of the Central Government is required for some cases.
There are three kinds of mineral concessions - Reconnaissance Permit (RP) granted for preliminary prospecting of a mineral through regional, aerial, geophysical surveys, Prospecting License (PL) for undertaking operations for the purpose of exploring, locating or proving mineral deposit and Mining Lease (ML) granted for undertaking operations for winning any mineral.
