The state government of Rajasthan in central India will undertake exploration of iron ore and limestone deposits in the region funded by the corpus of the mineral exploration trust, a state government official said on Friday, May 21.
The official said that the first phase of exploration will cover seven districts across the state.
The state-level mineral exploration trust has been modelled along the lines of the National Mineral Exploration Turst (NMET) of the central government wherein all mining lease holders operating in Rajasthan are required to pay two percent of the total royalty payable to the state government as a deposit into the state mineral exploration trust, which in turn will be utilized to fund the government’s exploration projects, the official said.
He said that a council has been set up comprising representatives from Rajasthan Mining Exploration Corporation, Geological Survey of India and the state’s department of geology and mining, to oversee the iron ore and limestone deposit exploration projects.