Centre considering amendment to free 724 mineral deposits for auction
BHUBANESWAR: Mining companies are bracing to resist an anticipated policy change that threatens to take away 524 mineral blocks from applicants who were extended the right only five years ago.
In 2015, the Narendra Modi government introduced a regime of auctions for mining rights for tenures of 50 years with an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. It simultaneously allowed companies that had carried out geological exploration successfully to automatically move to the next stage – of prospecting or mining. Every other pending application was to lapse.
According to sources, the mines ministry is now considering canceling these pending claims across minerals and states as part of proposed major policy reforms. Among them are those of JSPL’s to an iron ore deposit in Jharkhand, Deccan Gold’s to a gold deposit in Karnataka, and MSPL’s claim to a deposit of rare earth in Rajasthan.
