A new study suggests that using basalt rock instead of limestone in cement production could significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, offering a pathway to a greener construction industry.
The Centre has proposed allowing captive mine owners to sell minerals in the open market after meeting the requirement of their linked end-use plants, as part of a broader overhaul of mineral concession rules aimed at easing operational restrictions and encouraging deeper mineral exploration.
The home portfolio of Bihar, which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar kept with himself all through his nearly 20-year-long tenure, has been given to his deputy, BJP leader Samrat Chowdhury, this time, according to an official notification issued on Friday.
The Supreme Court has kept in abeyance its previous verdict on the definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges and proposed a high-powered committee to examine the issue.
If as critics point out, the environmental impact assessment study was commissioned only after the auction process got underway with not all the stakeholders getting to know of it, then the government has already compromised the trust it could have enjoyed with Kerala's public including its coastal communities, points out Shyam G Menon.
Experts warn that a new government definition of the Aravali Hills, accepted by the Supreme Court, could lead to environmental degradation and expose Delhi and surrounding regions to harsher weather and drought conditions.
A special CBI court in Hyderabad convicted former Karnataka minister and MLA Gali Janardhana Reddy and three others in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) illegal iron ore mining case after a prolonged trial spanning nearly 14 years. The court sentenced them to seven years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each. Reddy was named accused number two. The court imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on the company. The CBI took Reddy and others into custody soon after the judgment.
India is planning to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 2023 to specify the use of funds currently earmarked at 5,600 crore for exploring critical mineral mines overseas, according to a top official. The proposed amendments also aim to introduce a tailings policy and modify the royalty structure to facilitate the extraction of critical minerals from waste materials, the official added.
Vedanta Ltd on Friday said it has been declared as preferred bidder for a diamond mine in Madhya Pradesh. The company said it is the highest bidder with a final price offer of 1.10 per cent.
Faced with one setback after another in expanding the scope of mining in the country, almost all the major miners of the world have wound down their operations in India.
Eight persons were trapped inside after a section of roof collapsed in the under construction stretch in the tunnel of Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) project, Telangana Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy said on Saturday.
The Centre will invest around Rs 200 crore over five years for the exploration and development of these mines.
Parliament has cleared the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2023, recently. The objective of the Act is to invite investments from the private sector, including foreign companies, for mining minerals such as lithium and other critical minerals. Other than lithium, some of these minerals were classified as atomic minerals, including beryl and beryllium, niobium, titanium, tantalum and zirconium.
The Ministry of Mines has directed the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to conduct a re-exploration of the 5.9 million tonnes of lithium block in Jammu and Kashmir's (J&K's) Reasi district after repeated setbacks to put the reserve up for auction again in six months.
In a step towards diversifying its resource base and securing green energy minerals, India is poised to launch its first-ever offshore mineral auction in the first quarter of 2024, announced Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi during the launch event of the National Geoscience Data Repository portal. The government plans to hold auctions in March, offering 10-15 blocks for bidding. Meanwhile, the ministry of mines is currently developing rules and regulations for offshore mining.
The top court said a balanced approach of sustainable development ensuring environmental safeguards needs to be resorted to while dealing with the issue of sand mining.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday filed a chargesheet in a special court in the illegal mining case involving Obulapuram Mining Company owned by former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhana Reddy.
Iron ore deposits in the Donimali mine are estimated at 143 million tonnes and worth around Rs 40,000 crore. NMDC had leased the mine in 1968 for a period of 50 years. The lease expired on November 3, 2018.
The Goa government on Monday issued a notification asking all 90 mines in the state to suspend operations with immediate effect. The State Mines and Geology Department issued a notification directing the mines to stop their operations.
Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat on Thursday said that the officials from state mines and geology department protecting illegal mines, will be dealt with stern punishment.
'The larger story of systematic destruction, which can and has been quantified, goes mysteriously missing from any political and/or public discourse about the ongoing devastation in the Ghats,' notes Prem Panicker.
Former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy and six others were Monday charge sheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a court in Bangalore in connection with alleged illegal mining of iron ore which caused a loss of Rs 198 crore to the exchequer.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is probing the massive scam of alleged illegal iron ore mining by former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy's company in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, has questioned Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy in connection with the case. The minister was questioned about her role in the decision to grant a lease to Reddy's Obulapuram Mining Company for mining in Anantapur district when she was the minister for mines.
Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal, earlier arrested and remanded to the custody of the ED in a suspected money laundering case, was suspended by the Jharkhand government on Thursday, an official said.
With challenges such as raising the legal age of marriage for women, combating malnutrition among women and children, and addressing women's safety issues, the new ministers face a formidable agenda.
India has about 9 per cent of the total gold reserves in the world, yet imports gold worth more than Rs 65,000 crore. The government plans to reduce gold and diamond imports by Rs 20,000 crore.
The allocation of portfolios well past mid-night on Saturday was also a pointer to an exercise in which the chief minister has established full control over the government by awarding some key departments to his trusted men, which has left few seniors fuming. The chief minister has chosen to keep under him 10 departments, including Finance, Urban Development and Mines and Geology.
Goa Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday told the state legislative assembly that it can be 'inferred' that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat might have been involved in illegal mining activities.
The complaint, to be registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of vigilance department, indirectly refers to Kamat, who was also the mines minister, as it will book former mines and geology department director Arvind Lolienkar, his superiors and subordinates for alleged illegal recruitment in the department, in December last year.
Mysterious underground sounds caused concern among local people residing in a tiny hamlet in Kottayam district of Kerala.
The Union Government on Thursday said that 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves have been found for the first time in the country in Jammu and Kashmir. Lithium is a non-ferrous metal and is one of the key components in EV batteries. "Geological Survey of India for the first time established Lithium inferred resources (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir," the ministry of mines said on Thursday.
The actor-turned-politician has been allotted Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Environment, Forests, and Science and Technology portfolios.
For the country's maiden offshore mineral mining auction, the Centre is planning to relax the rules on the number of chances for bidding. Under the newly announced draft Offshore Areas Mineral (Auction) Rules and Offshore Areas (Existence of Mineral Resources) Rules, the ministry of mines is planning to offer three chances to potential bidders in its forthcoming inaugural offshore mining auction. If a single bid is not received during the second attempt, the plan is to initiate a new round of bidding for the third time.
In a significant move to enhance its strategic resource security, India has officially released its first-ever critical minerals list, identifying 30 key critical minerals crucial to the nation's economic growth and technological development. This pioneering step aims at reducing import dependence, enhancing supply-chain resilience, and supporting the country's net-zero objectives. Union Minister Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi, while releasing the Critical Minerals for India report in New Delhi on Wednesday, said, "India is readying for an Atmanirbhar Bharat."
The government is auctioning 42 coal mines among 204 coal blocks.
Essel Mining & Industries Limited (EMIL), Adani Enterprises (AEL), and JSW Steel are looking to surrender their mines. Of these, AEL and EMIL have already notified the government.
In a letter, dated February 16, 2024, issued by the Cabinet Secretariat department, headed by the CM, officials of the Health, Road Construction, Urban Development and Housing and Rural Works departments have been asked to review the decisions taken during the previous grand alliance government in the state.
Technicians and officials of global diamond major DeBeers and the Directorate of Geology and Mining have been surprised to find a piece of diamond at one of the bore pit in the bed of the Vaghin river near Kalinjer Fort in Banda district. The Uttar Pradesh government has started getting results from its two-year-old "Diamond Exploration" project. Multi-national firm DeBeers is already conducting preliminary survey of the region
India was once the world's third largest iron ore exporter and Goa its biggest exporting state
The sob story of suspended Indian Administrative Service officer Y Srilakshmi on Friday took a turn for good for her as the Central Bureau of Investigation court in Hyderabad granted her conditional bail, and after completing the formalities, she was out of the jail by the evening.
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