Govt coming up with many structural reforms in mining sector: Pralhad Joshi

The government is coming up with many structural reforms in the mining sector to realise its true potential, said Union Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi said while addressing the 15th edition of Global Mining Summit and International Mining & Machinery Exhibition.

He said, “The proposed structural changes in the mining sector aim to increase participation of the private sector in mineral exploration, redefine the norms of exploration for auction of mineral blocks to ensure a seamless transition from exploration to production. They will also redefine the standard of exploration required for auctioning of blocks for prospecting license-cum mining lease and open acreage licensing policy for allocation of mining rights which will give a major boost to the production of minerals in the country.”

Highlighting the proactive reform approach of the Government, Joshi said that March, 2020 was a significant period during which leases of large number of working mines expired and they had to be auctioned immediately. The Government took a proactive and biggest industry-friendly step of transferring all statutory clearances to the new lessees by promulgating an ordinance. This was a major step to ensure seamless production of raw materials.

The Minister said that the results of this particular reform have been encouraging and with this ordinance in place, recently Odisha has completed the successful auction of large number of iron ore mines. However, some of the successful bidders are trying to evade the process of auctions by delaying the production. He added that such cases will be dealt seriously and in coordination with the state government, the Ministry is contemplating to bring stringent provisions in the act so that non serious players are terminated and barred from future auctions.