ETEN Enlightens-Daily current capsules (Revision Modules) – 18thMay 2018

Ministry of Mines

Enlighten about Ministry of Mines

Ministry of Mines is responsible for survey and exploration of all

minerals, other than natural gases, petroleum and atomic minerals, for

mining and metallurgy of non-ferrous metals like aluminium, copper,

zinc, lead, gold, nickel, etc. and for administration of the Mines and

Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act, 1957 in respect of all

mines and minerals other than coal, natural gas and petroleum

AMENDMENTS IN THE MINERAL AUCTION RULES

The Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act, 1957 was

amended in 2015.

Auction of concessions for major minerals (other than coal, petroleum

and natural gas) was done for the first time in the history of mineral

administration in the country.

33 blocks were successfully allocated

AERO-GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY

The Multi-sensor Aero-geophysical Survey of the Obvious Geological

Potential Area was inaugurated

Enlighten about Aero-geophysical Survey

With the exhaustion of conventional geological methods for mineral

exploration based on surface manifestations in hard rock areas, necessity

has arisen for search of concealed mineral deposits based on multi-

thematic earth science (geological, geochemical, geophysical and remote

sensing) data.

The regional multi-sensor aero-geophysical surveys are considered

worldwide as an important tool to scan large areas to demarcate

favourable geological environments for hidden mineral resources in a

short span of time.

High quality aero-geophysical data are available over most of the already

explored areas of many parts of the world such as Australia, Canada etc.

and has resulted in locating many new concealed mineral deposits.

COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE NATIONAL MINERAL POLICY, 2008

A committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Additional

Secretary (Mines) to review the National Mineral Policy, 2008 as directed

by the Hon’ble Supreme Court

The 29-member panel, under the chairmanship of Mines Additional

Secretary K Rajeswara Rao—consisting of joint secretaries from

ministries like coal, steel, shipping, road, transport and highways and

finance as its members, among others—will submit its report by October-

end.

Some recent updates regarding Indian Bureau of Mines Government approves restructuring of Indian Bureau of Mines

The government today approved the restructuring of Indian Bureau of

Mines to reform the mineral sector regulation.

The restructuring would enable the adoption of IT and space technology

by the bureau to improve its effectiveness in mineral regulation and

development, the mines ministry said in a statement.

It said the Union Cabinet has approved "the restructuring of the Indian

Bureau of Mines (IBM) by upgradation, creation and abolition of certain

posts of Joint Secretary

IBM was set up by the Centre in March 1948 under the Ministry of

Works, Mines and Power, primarily as an advisory body to help in

formulation of policy and legal framework for the mining sector and

advising the Centre and state on development and utilisation of mineral

resources.

The mines ministry had formed a panel for comprehensive 'Review and

Restructuring of the Functions and Role of IBM' in the light of the

'National Mineral Policy' in 2008.

STAR RATING OF MINES

Ministry of Mines, in its endeavor for taking up exhaustive and universal

implementation of the Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) in

mining, has evolved a system of Star Rating of Mines.

It has been institute as a two tier system providing self-evaluation

templates to be filled in by the mine operator followed by validation

through Indian Bureau of Mines.

Based on the performance of the mining lease, 1 to 5 Star rating, the

positive impact of getting higher Star Rating will drive miners to quickly

adopt sustainable mining practices.

The Star Rating has been included as statutory provision in the MCDR

for time- bound (2 years) achieving of minimum 4 stars.

A web enabled online system for evaluation of measures has been

developed and launched on 18th August, 201

MINING SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM (MSS)

Mining Surveillance System (MSS) is a satellite-based monitoring

system which aims to establish a regime of responsive mineral

administration by curbing instances of illegal mining activity through

automatic remote sensing detection technology

Ministry of Mines & Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) have developed the

MSS, with assistance from Bhaskaracharya Institute for space

applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG), Gandhinagar and Ministry of

Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).

The system works on the basic premise that most minerals occur in the

continuity and their occurrence is not limited to the lease area but is

likely to extend in the vicinity.

The MSS checks a region of 500 meters around the existing mining lease

boundary to search for any unusual activity which is likely to be illegal

mining. Any discrepancy is found is flagged-off as a trigger.

A user friendly mobile app for MSS has been created for enabling public

participation in assisting the governments endeavor to curb illegal

mining, which was being used by the inspecting officials to submit

compliance reports of their inspections.

The training of all the States for its adoption of the MSS for minor

minerals has also been done.

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA (GSI)

GSI has implemented an integrated IT-enablement system - Online Core

Business Integrated System (OCBIS) with a goal towards comprehensive

data management across Missions and Support systems.

OCBIS has been scoped to enhance IT capability of GSI as well as to put

GSI into an open standards based IT platform to effectively exchange

information with external stakeholders, including Ministry of Mines,

national and state level earth science organizations / departments,

industry and citizens.

SWACHHA ICONIC CITY

NALCO has taken up beautification of Shri Jagannatha Temple, Puri

under Swachha iconic city initiative.

Renovation and beautification of Gandhi Park taken up at Puri.

Sources – PIB, Ministry of Mines, My Gov