Centre working on new policy to allow mining of other minerals associated with coal, lignite
New Delhi: A new policy is in works to allow coal and lignite producers to extract and sell other associated minerals present in their mines provided they are not precious metals, rare earths or atomic minerals, Coal Ministry officials said on Monday.
Following reports of presence of new minerals in such mines, officials said the Ministry wants changes in the rules under the Mines & Mineral (Development and Regulations) Act (MMDR) and the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act to facilitate mining of associated minerals from these coal or lignite mines.
The proposed change would allow an operator of any coal/lignite block auctioned or allotted to apply to the state government for amending the mining lease to include other mineral discovered in its block – except precious metals, atomic minerals, coal bed methane and minor minerals. If the additional ore holds either critical, strategic, or deep-seated mineral, the payout to the state government for such associated mineral would be 10 per cent of the revenue share quoted by the operator for the auctioned coal or lignite blocks.
For minerals other than these, the revenue share would be equivalent to the revenue share quoted by the bidder for coal/lignite. Where coal and lignite blocks were auctioned on per tonne basis or on power tariff basis or were allotted on nomination, the operator/allottee would have to pay the reserve price for the associated mineral to the state government.
In case of critical, strategic, and deep-seated associated minerals, the reserve price would be 10 per cent of the royalty rate on coal/lignite. For others, the reserve price would be equal to the rate of royalty on coal/lignite.
Other statutory dues including royalty, dues towards district mineral foundation or National Mineral Exploration Trust and taxes would be payable in accordance with the applicable laws of the State.
The proposed provisions shall be applicable for already auctioned/allotted blocks as well as blocks to be auctioned/allotted in future where the presence of associated mineral is known at the time of auction/allotment or is discovered later.
Current provisions of MMDR Act or Mineral Concession Rules do not permit the leaseholder mining coal to extract the other newly discovered minerals in the leased area unless the mineral is included in the lease, or a separate lease is obtained for it.
Due to the presence of the other mineral, extraction of coal becomes difficult without removing such other mineral. In the absence of clear provisions, the leaseholders resort to non-reporting such newly discovered minerals to continue uninterrupted coal production.
