Indian government working on new mining law: minister
19 Dec 2009
The ministry of mines is in the process of bringing a new legislation to replace the existing Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 in order to give a boost to domestic value addition, minister of state for steel A Sai Prathap informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Friday.
He said the National Mineral Policy, 2008 and the recommendations of the Hoda Committee as approved by the government inter-alia provides for preference to value adders in the allocation of mineral concession.
The present production of iron ore in the country is sufficient for the present domestic steel capacity, the minister stated. Production of iron ore in the country during 2008-09 was 227.64 million tonnes, while the domestic consumption of iron ore was estimated to be only 87 million tonnes, he added.
During 2008-09, the country exported 105.86 million tonnes of iron ore. However, the ministry of steel is in favour of promoting value addition within the country and conservation of iron ore for long term utilisation by the domestic steel industry, he pointed out.
