India’s Ministry of Mines has amended rules that will ensure seamless transfer of all regulatory approvals to new operators of 36 iron ore mines where mining leases will expire on March 31, 2020, a government official said on Friday, January 10.
The official said that fresh auctions would be conducted to grant new mining leases for iron ore mines where existing leases will expire and, under the new rules, all regulatory approvals already secured by the mines would stand to be automatically transferred to new operators to ensure uninterrupted production from these mines.
Following the amendment of the rules, altogether 20 regulatory approvals, including environmental clearances and approved mining plans, would pass only from the erstwhile mining lease holders to new operators who secure new mining leases through the auction route, the official said.
Of the 36 iron ore mines where existing mining leases will expire on March 31, the Ministry of Mines has already commenced auction of new mining leases for 15 mines with reports suggesting that large domestic steel mills like Tata Steel, Vedanta, JSW Limited, Essar Steel and Jindal Steel and Power Limited have put in technical bids, sources said.