Parliament Passes Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023

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 The Rajya Sabha has passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023 for making amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) today. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 28.07.2023 and with the passage of the Bill in Rajya Sabha, the Bill will be sent to the President of India for assent.

The MMDR Act, 1957 was comprehensively amended in 2015 to bring several reforms in the mineral sector, notably, mandating method of auction for grant of mineral concessions to bring transparency in allocation of mineral resources, for establishing District Mineral Foundation (DMF) for the welfare of the people and areas affected by mining and for establishing National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) to give thrust to exploration and for ensuring stringent penalty for illegal mining. The Act was further amended in 2016 and 2020 to address specific emergent issues and was last amended in 2021 to bring further reforms in the sector, such as, removing the distinction between captive and merchant mines, transfer of statutory clearances to ensure continuity in mining operations even with change of lessee, removing the restrictions on transfer of mineral concessions, lapsing of rights of non-auctioned concession holders which have not resulted in mining leases to ensure that concessions to private sector are only granted through auction etc.

Accordingly, it was proposed to further amend the said Act by enacting the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023. With the world-wide focus on critical minerals the amendment introduces major reforms in the mining sector which includes:

1. Omission of 6 minerals from the list of 12 atomic minerals specified in Part-B of the First Schedule of the Act, namely, Lithium bearing minerals, Titanium bearing minerals and ores, Beryl and other beryllium bearing minerals, Niobium and Tantalum bearing minerals and Zirconium-bearing minerals.

Upon removal of these minerals from the list of atomic minerals, exploration and mining of these minerals will be open to private sector. As a result, exploration and mining of these minerals is expected to increase significantly in the country.

2. Empowering Central Government to exclusively auction mineral concessions for critical minerals specified in Part D of the First Schedule of the Act. Revenue from these auctions will accrue to concerned State Government.

Another major amendment passed by the Parliament is to empower the Central Government to exclusively auction mining lease and composite licence for certain critical minerals viz. molybdenum, rhenium, tungsten, cadmium, indium, gallium, graphite, vanadium, tellurium, selenium, nickel, cobalt, tin, platinum group of elements, minerals of “rare earth” group (not containing Uranium and Thorium); fertilizer minerals such as potash, glauconite and phosphate (without uranium) and minerals being removed from the list of atomic minerals.

Even though auction would be conducted by the Central Government, the mining lease or composite licence for these minerals to the successful bidders will be granted by the State Government only and the auction premium and other statutory payments shall continue to be received by the State Government.

3. Introducing exploration licence for deep-seated and critical minerals

The Bill introduces provisions for grant of a new mineral concession, namely, Exploration Licence (EL), in the Act. The exploration licence granted through auction shall permit the licencee to undertake reconnaissance and prospecting operations for critical and deep-seated minerals mentioned in the newly proposed Seventh Schedule to the Act.  These minerals are copper, gold, silver, diamond, lithium, cobalt, molybdenum, lead, zinc, cadmium, elements of the rare earth group, graphite, vanadium, nickel, tin, tellurium, selenium, indium, rock phosphate, apatite, potash, rhenium, tungsten, platinum group of elements and other minerals proposed to be removed from the list of atomic minerals. 

PIB


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