EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT Indian Minerals Yearbook 2015 (Part- I : GENERAL REVIEWS) 54th Edition EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT (ADVANCE RELEASE) GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES INDIAN BUREAU OF MINES Indira Bhavan, Civil Lines, NAGPUR – 440 001 PHONE/FAX NO. (0712) 2565471 PBX : (0712) 2562649, 2560544, 2560648 E-MAIL : [email protected] Website: www.ibm.gov.in March, 2017 4-1 EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT 4 Exploration & Development GOVERNMENT’S POLICY Data filing will be rigorously applied and he National Mineral Policy, 2008 for non- concession holders will be monitored. Tfuel and non-coal minerals, introduced by the Lock-in arrangement will be assured and Government in replacement of the National Mineral the data will be released to prospectors Policy 1993 lay enormous thrust on the various after integration. aspects of mineral industry, such as regulation of * Prospecting being a high-risk venture, minerals, role of State in mineral development, access to risk funds from capital markets survey and exploration, database of mineral will be facilitated. resources and tenements, strategy of mineral development, etc. Among other things, strong This policy initiative is expected to encourage emphasis is laid on the following: greater involvement of private sector in survey and exploration of minerals. * To judiciously exploit and utilise the country's mineral potentialities, The High-Level Committee constituted by the systematic regional and detailed Government of India which brought out the exploration will be carried out using state- National Mineral Policy, 2008 has recommended of-the-art techniques in a time bound amendments to the MMDR Act, 1957 with the manner. Zero-waste mining will be the purpose of providing necessary initiatives to national goal and mining technology will attract investment and participation of private and be upgraded to ensure exploration and public sectors in areas of exploration and utilisation of entire run-of-the-mine. exploitation of minerals. * To make regulatory environment Subsequently, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, conducive to private investment, th procedures for grant of mineral 2015 has been notified on 27 March, 2015 to concessions, such as Reconnaissance amend the MMDR Act, 1957. The Amendment Permits, Prospecting Licences and Mining removes discretion in the grant of mineral Leases shall be transparent and seamless concessions. Henceforth, all mineral concessions with security of tenure guaranteed. will be granted by the respective State Prospecting and mining shall be Governments only through auctions, which will recognised as independent activities with bring greater transparency and remove discretion transferability of concessions playing a in allocation of mineral resources. There would be no renewal of any mineral concession. The key role in mineral development. tenure of mineral concessions has been increased * To attract large investments and high to 50 years compared to earlier provisions of 30 technology, a new concession, namely, a years. Thereafter, all mining leases would be put Large Area Prospecting Licence (LAPL) up for auction. Establishment of District Mineral will be introduced. Duration of all Foundation in any district affected by mining concessions will be rationalised and related operations and National Mineral areas of operations enlarged suitably, Exploration Trust for the purpose of regional and within each State. detailed exploration has also been incorporated in the Act. * IBM will maintain a digitised database comprising a Resource Inventory and a ORGANISATIONS INVOLVED Tenement Registry. The Tenement Registry will give information of leasehold GSI, AMDER, DGMs of various states, public and freehold areas in terms of greenfield, sector companies like NMDC, MECL, MOIL, etc. brownfield and relinquished areas, etc. continued their efforts in respect of surveying, 4-2 EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT mapping and exploration of new deposits and re- million sq km has been covered so far by systematic assessment of old deposits/mines during mapping bringing the total coverage to 98.52%. 2014-15. In oil sector, ONGC, OIL and a few joint Reserves Established venture and private companies were engaged in Resources augmented by GSI during 2014-15 exploration of onshore and offshore areas. are furnished below: i) Total 155.34 million tonnes (Fe:50.40- IBM 62.11%) of iron ore resources in Sundargarh distt., IBM, as a facilitator to the Mineral Industry, Odisha and Kabirdham distt., Chhattisgarh. (a) provides technical consultancy services for conducting feasibility studies, environment ii) Total 21.023 million tonnes (Cu: 0.22-0.76%) impact assessments, environment management of copper ore resources in Alwar, Banswara & plans, etc; (b) carries out mining research project Sikar districts, Rajasthan. on need-based aspects of mining; (c) conducts mineral beneficiation studies, including iii) Total 5.895 million tonnes (Au: 0.88g/t - mineralogical testing and chemical analysis and 1.78 g/t) resources of gold ore in Tumkur distt., (d) prepares mineral maps. Karnataka and Banswara distt., Rajasthan. During 2014-15, IBM prepared 100 multi- iv) Total 635.30 million tonnes (K2O:4.8%) of mineral leasehold maps with forest overlays on glauconite (Potash) resources in Sonbhadra distt., 1:50,000 scale in respect of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar Uttar Pradesh. and Kerala states. Forest overlays are prepared in collaboration with Forest Survey of India. v) Total 250.773 million tonnes of limestone (CaO: 43-46%) in Guntur distt., Andhra Pradesh; During 2014-15, IBM conducted 58 ore West Siang distt.,Arunachal Pradesh and Jaintia dressing investigations, chemical analysis in Hills distt., Meghalaya. respect of 34,660 radicals, and 2,244 mineralogical studies. vi) Total 4.73 million tonnes of graphite (FC: 9-11.68%) in Betul distt., Madhya Pradesh and Indian Bureau of Mines undertakes preparation of National Inventory of mineral vii) Total 24.2 million tonnes of andalusite resources on a quinquennial basis. Under this resources in Sonbhadra distt., Uttar Pradesh. programme, implementation of UNFC system was Survey adopted in 2002 replacing the earlier resource Marine Survey classification based on Indian system. Subsequently, NMI as on 1.4.2005 and 1.4.2010 GSI continued its offshore geoscientific were updated. An intermediate updation of the studies both in Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) NMI of mineral resources in respect of 25 selected and Territorial Waters (TW) along the East and minerals as on 1.4.2013 has been completed in West Coasts of India. Survey in the near-shore 2014-15. Presently, updation of NMI as on zones (0 m - 10 m isobaths) were carried out using 1.4.2015 has been taken up. hired small mechanical boats. During 2014-15, a total of seventeen cruises GSI were undertaken using three vessels. GSI pursued its systematic geological mapping in 2014-15 and had completed 5,450 sq The following marine geoscientific surveys km large-scale mapping, 73.543 sq km detailed were carried out during 2014-15 Field Season: mapping and 87,465.87 m drilling as against R.V. Samudra Ratnakar preceding year's achievement of 5,264 sq km large- scale mapping, 62.525 sq km detailed mapping and SR-001A (SR): Study of tectonic setup of northern 68,037 m drilling. Out of the total mappable areas Andaman Sea by systematic multichannel 2 D of 3.14580 million sq km of the country, 3.09935 seismic survey. 4-3 EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT SR-003 A: Multichannel bathymetric survey on the Airborne Survey eastern extension of Sewell Rise and southern extension of West Andaman Fault- Part II. GSI pursued airborne geophysical survey for generating database by employing magnetic and SR-004 : Sea bed mapping, morphometry, sediment composition and sediment transport in the gamma ray spectrometric techniques. The survey continential slope, off Cochin, Kerala. was followed by data processing, preparation of aerogeophysical maps and interpretations that SR-005: Multibeam bathymetric survey and help in ground evaluation and add information to exploration for Mn micronodules in EEZ of India and beyond, West of Lakshadweep Islands. geological maps and would aid prospecting and exploration for minerals. The data from the aerial SR-006: Geological and geophysical surveys thus form an important backup for refining investigations in Cauvery - Mannar offshore basin and Krishna - Godavari offshore basin, eastern, the geological understanding of an area, with continental margin of India for the gas hydrate focus on identification of favourable locales of study. mineralisation, crustal structure, etc. SR-007: Morphotectonic and sediment During 2014-15, Airborne Suvey System characteristic studies of Laxmi Ridge. (TOASS) and Heliborne Geophysical Survey SR-008: Preliminary assessment of lime mud in the System (HGSS) could not be taken up owing to a continental margin off Gujarat. number of technical and related issues. However, RV Samudra Kaustubh processing of multisensor heliborne geophysical data acquired while conducting test flights over ST-237 : Mapping of seabed in the Territorial waters north off Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu coast. the Aladahalli are taken up for ascertaining the response of the HGSS. ST-238 : Placer mineral resource evaluation in the Territorial waters of Santapalle, North of Since the acquisition and induction of Bhimunipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. TOASS, a total of 495,062 line km, over an area of ST-239 : Systematic magnetic survey within 294,045 sq km, was covered by multi-sensor Territorial