States will benefit from ‘social licence’ mechanism, districts through the District Mineral Foundation in mining sector, said Vishwapati Trivedi, Secretary, Union Ministry of Mines.

The State Government on Tuesday admitted to have recommended 42 private companies for allocation of coal blocks, contrary to the claims made by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik that the State favoured

The ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) is planning to make public hearings mandatory for all mining licences coming up for renewal or where the mine is going in for expansion. The move is expected to add another layer of control over mining activities at a time when the Prime Minister’s Office is keen to ease regulations and speed up projects.

Public hearing is a mandatory step in the process of environmental clearance for addressing concerns of affected persons which is conducted by the state pollution control board (SPCB). It is supposed to be completed within 45 days from the date of receipt of the request letter from the applicant, but often, the time taken is much more. Normally, the process is adopted while giving a fresh mining lease.

New Delhi In a major step towards women empowerment, the Centre is planning a new legislation that will make the woman of the house the chief beneficiary of the compensation for land acquired for mining projects. According to officials in the mining ministry, the move will not only ensure the compensation amount is spent wisely but also give women a bigger role in financial decision-making.

The draft new Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011 — which is currently being vetted by a parliamentary standing committee — provides for sharing of 26% of profit by coal miners and an amount equivalent to royalty by others (in case of other minerals) with project-affected people. The money is to be distributed to beneficiaries through a District Mineral Development Fund.

PANJIM: Environmentalists have termed the State Government’s decision to allow handling of dumps of 25 MMT, annually, in the draft mining policy as ‘a sin bigger than that of Digambar Kamat government.’

Environmentalists see red in the decision to allow handling of the dumps, which they say, could result in extensive illegal mining in the State. “The decision to allow handling of dumps is like allowing illegal mining in a legal format,” said Ramesh Gawas, who has been fighting battles against several illegalities in the mining sector, for last many years.

Odisha is set to voice its opposition to some of the contentious provisions in the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill-2011 that the state government feels may undermine the federal structure of the constitution.

In May this year, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had shot off a letter to Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh complaining that the MMDR Bill sought to transfer certain powers and functions now being exercised by states to the Centre.

500 mn tonne worth of coal mines is target for acquisitions by 2020

International Coal Ventures Limited, or ICVL, was the epitome of India’s babudom running public sector undertakings (PSUs). Five major public PSUs — NTPC, SAIL, NMDC, Coal India and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) — with a war chest of Rs 10,000 crore had come together for this initiative to buy coal blocks outside the country. However, since its inception on May 20, 2009, the venture has failed to acquire even a single asset. And, two of its integral members, Coal India and NTPC, have clarified they aren’t interested in being a part of ICVL any more.

The federation representing merchant miners in the country claims stocks at mine heads reveal that there is no real shortage of iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient.

PANJIM: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) will urge the Central government not to grant any relief to the State to reduce the 10-km buffer zone around the wildlife sanctuaries.

“I will meet the Union that there should not be any reduction of buffer zone as it will encourage mining activity. If possible, the Central government should instead expand the radius from 10 kms to 15 kms,” GPCC spokesperson Jitendra Deshprabhu told reporters on Thursday.

Says errant miners need to pay 24% interest rate until penalty payments

After the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and the Union mines ministry remained silent over excess mineral raising cases detected in Odisha, the state government has pulled its socks to recover the prices of the mineral raised beyond permitted quantity. The state steel and mines department has asked the state Director of Mines to instruct all mining circle heads to send 30-days notices to all such miners regarding payment of the mineral prices.