India’s proposed amendments to the Mines, Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 2015 envisages higher royalty payment by government-run iron ore miners for securing direct allocation of iron ore blocks, a government official has said.
Under the proposed amendment to the laws, any government iron ore miner will have to pay 1.5 times additional royalty as such government mining companies are directly granted mining leases of iron ore without participation in auctions. This will translate to an effective royalty rate of 22.5 percent.
It has also been proposed in amendments that captive iron ore miners will be permitted commercial sale of 50 percent of production from mines after additional payment of 1.5 times the royalty rate prevalent.
The Ministry of Mines has put out the amendments for public circulation and is seeking comments from industry stakeholders until February 24, 2021.