Indian mineral production seen rising by 5 to 8% in 2018

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India Today reported that country major mineral production may see a 5 to 8% growth this year, which in value terms it will be much higher. Union mines secretary Mr Arun Kumar also said closure of some iron ore mines in Odisha and Goa may not have much impact on the ore exports as the situation is moving towards normalisation.

Mr Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of a mining conference here that “Mineral production will grow 5-8 % this year in volume terms. In value terms, production of major minerals (iron ore, bauxite, limestone, chromium and manganese) was about in excess of INR 40,000 crore. This year this will be more as due to higher international prices.”

Replying to a query, he said net exports of iron ore was 25 million tonne last year which was about 12.5 % of the total production.

During the past three years, INR 1.80 trillion worth of mineral were auctioned out and it would entail INR 1.35 trillion revenue to the states.

Mr Kumar said that “Due to the auction process there would be an additional revenue of INR 1.04 trillion to the state and local bodies.”

Union mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar said mining is the second largest sector after agriculture in terms of livelihood.

He said though the country has 8 lakh sqkm of minable area, only 1 % of it is being mined now. Mr Tomar said that “If the mining has been taken up in the entire area from the beginning, we can take it to 8 % from the 1 % now, and contribution of mining to GDP would go up substantially and more employment would be generated.”

He opined that some of the mineral-rich states are economically backward and to strike a balance the district mineral foundation was set up.

ESL Narasimhan, governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh called for a transparent policy for rehabilitation of people-affected by mining.

Source: INDIA TODAY