The Hindu Business Line : Large area prospecting licences only for select group of minerals

New Delhi, Dec. 25 The Government is looking at bringing in only a select group of minerals for which large area prospecting licences (LAPL) would be issued in the National Mineral Policy (NMP). The move, however, could hamper large investments that foreign companies have planned for mining of iron ore in the country as that mineral is not part of the select group.

“LAPL will not be given for every mineral but only for selected minerals. For exploration minerals like iron ore and a couple of others, LAPLs will not be given in the NMP, which is under consideration by the Union Government,” Minister of State for Mines, Mr T. Subbarami Reddy, told Business Line.

In a memorandum submitted to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, last week the Chief Minister’s of the five mineral States said that the introduction of LAPLs and increasing the limit of area under various concessions, coupled with seamless transition and security of tenure for bulk minerals would result in creation of large mining monopolies at the cost of the domestic manufacturing industry.

Mr Reddy also said that companies will not be interested to invest in the sector if they do not get an assurance that the prospecting licence will be translated in to a mining lease automatically. “The Chief Ministers have agreed to this, but only said that minerals like iron ore, chromite and bauxite must be exempted from this category of being provided seamless transition. We have taken note of this issue and have assured them their concerns on the issue would be addressed,” he said.

He added that the NMP would not take away any of the powers from the State Governments but will only address the issue of red-tapism. “If for instance a particular State Government recommends the name a particular company, the Mines Ministry will have to follow their directions and cannot issue the licence to another company,” Mr Reddy said.

States’ request

It is also learnt that the Union Government has accepted the request from the five State Governments seeking more time to scrutinise applications. “The Chief Ministers at the meeting of the Mineral Development Council said that the time to scrutinise the applications be increased from 13 months in case of multiple mining lease applications and nine months for single applications. Agreeing to this, the NMP now proposes 18 months for multiple applications and 15 months for single applications,” he said.

Mr Reddy added that even beyond this if the applications are not cleared then the tribunal will only ask the States to hasten the process. “The tribunal is an autonomous body and can only interfere to dispose of the cases. However, it cannot dictate how the applications should be cleared or who should get the licence. And further, the powers of the tribunal have not yet been finalised and we have told the State Governments that a mechanism can be arrived at after further discussions,” he said.

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