NATIONAL MINERAL POLICY-CONSERVATION OF

MINERAL RESOURCES AND NECESSITY FOR BENEFICIATION

T HE mineral resources of a country are itsnon-replenishable assets. A well planned

programme for their systematic and optimumutilisation is the basic requirement for its steadyindustrial growth and economy. Prior to theattainment of national independence to India, thepolicy of the then existing Government in regardto ores and minerals was to encourage privateenterprise to explore and exploit mineral wealthaccording to their own right, without any inter-ference from the Government except, in so faras safety and welfare of workers are concerned,through the medium of Indian Mines Act 1903and 1923. As such most of the mineral exploita-tion was largely in the hands of foreign capitaland Indian minerals were primarily meant forexport and international trade as feeders toforeign industries. If this were continued forsome more years most of the nation's mineralassets would have been depleted. But thispolicy was found too arbitrary, and harmful tocope with the situation of developing economyafter independence to regulate the developmentof nation's mineral resources for conservationand proper utilisation resulting in rapid economicgrowth, employment potential and national secu-rity. This has been timely realised soon, andthe national Government has codified the newpolicy in regard to the regulation and controlof mines and minerals, by enunciating the firstIndustrial Policy Resolution of 1948, which wassubsequently replaced by the second IndustrialPolicy Resolution of 1956, with a number ofenactments and orders issued subsequently.According to this the proprietory rights of mineralvest with the Central Government, and all newindustrial units for minerals in the FirstSchedule (A) of the Resolution will be developedexclusively by the State (Public Sector), which

included the development of coal and lignite,mineral oil (petroleum and natural gas), iron ore,manganese ore : chrome ore, gypsum, sulphur,gold, diamonds copper, lead, zinc, tin, molyb-denum, wolfram and atomic energy minerals.Atomic energy minerals are those whichare used for development and control ofatomic energy, such as graphite, uraniumminerals, thorium, radium, beryllium andlithium, deuterium, plutonium and neptuniumminerals which contain the above metals asaccessories such as uraniferous allanite, triplite,columbite, tantalite, pitchblende, samarskite,monazite and uranium-bearing tailings left overfrom ores after extraction of copper, gold,ilmenite, zircon, rutile or beryl. It permitted theexpansion of the existing private units within theareas to be demarcated. All other mineralsexcept the "minor minerals" and minerals ofSchedule (A) given above are included in thesecond Schedule (B) and their exploration andexploitation are to be progressively operated byState (Public Sector). The private sector is leftwith the minor minerals and minerals excludedfrom the State operation and their industrialdevelopment as indicated in the thirdSchedule (C). At the same time the StateGovernment may associate itself individually orin joint venture with this group of minerals alsowhenever felt necessary. The minerals includedin the list of "minor minerals" are minerals oflocal importance which can be developed onsmall or cottage scale for benefit of local peoplesuch as building stone, marble, shingle, gravel,chalcedony, pebble, limesheli, kankar, limestonefor limeburning, murram, brick earth, fuller'searth, bentonite, ordinary clay, ordinary sandused for non-industrial purposes, road metal,rehmatti, slate and shale.

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The Mines and Minerals (Regulation andDevelopment) Act of 1957 and the Mineral Con-cession Rules 1960, framed thereunder are theinstruments through which the Government isimplementing the provisions of the IndustrialPolicy Resolution regarding minerals. Accor-dingly the Central Government has entered thefield of mineral exploitation as Public Sectorundertakings of copper and lead (HindustanCopper Ltd.-1967), Zinc (Hindustan Zinc Ltd.,1966), Manganese. (Manganese Ores (India)Ltd.-1962-a joint sector), Iron ores (NationalMineral Development Corpn.-1958, HindustanSteel Ltd.-1953), Gold (Bharat Gold Mines Ltd.),Coal (National Coal Development Corpn., Ltd.-1956), Fertilizers (Fertilizer Corporation of India-1961 ; Fertilizers & Chemicals (Travancore)Ltd.,-1960 Joint Sector), Madras Fertilizers Ltd.-1966), Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Ltd. ;Aluminium (Bharat Aluminium Co. Ltd.-1965),etc.

The Government of India has recently classifiedcertain strategic minerals of national importanceas "Specified minerals ", in the matter of grantingprospecting licence and mining lease of whichthe prior sanction of the Central Government isessential . No State can work any such mineraldepartmentally without Centre ' s approval. Thelist of "Specified minerals" includes accordingto the Mines and Minerals ( Regulation andDevelopment ) Act, 1957, apatite and phosphaticores, beryl , chrome ore , coal and lignite , colum-bite, samarskite and other rare earth group mine-rals, copper , gold, gypsum , iron ore, lead,manganese ore, molybdenum , nickel ores,platinum and other precious metals and theirores , pitchblende and other uranium ores,precious stones , rutile, silver , sulphur and itsores , tin, tungsten ores , uraniferous allanite,monazite and other thorium minerals , uraniumbearing tailings left over from ores after extrac-tion of copper and gold, ilmenite and othertitanium ores, vanadium ores , zinc and zircon.

The Mineral Conservation and DevelopmentRules, 1958, framed under Section 18 of theMines and Minerals (Regulation and Develop-ment) Act, 1957, become effective from 1st June1958, in supersession to the Mineral Conservationand Development Rules, 1955. These rules donot apply to petroleum and natural gas, coal,minor minerals and any minerals described asprescribed substance for the purposes of theAtomic Energy Act. 1962 (Act No. of 1962).

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According to these rules all private mine ownersare required to follow the directions issued fromtime to time by the Controller of Mines, IBM forconservation and systematic development ofminerals.

Import and Export Policies

According to the Imports and Exports (Control)

Act, 1947, which has been extended and amendedfrom time to time by the Government of India,imports or exports of minerals, ores, concen-trates, metals and alloys are guided and appli-cable to the whole of India. The Minerals andMetals Trading Corporation Ltd., (MMTC) ownedby Govt. of India looks after the exports andimports of ores, minerals, metals, alloys etc.with the collaboration of the railways, the porttrust, and public and private sector miningentrepreneurs.

The import policy of Govt. of India pertainingto minerals, ores, metals and alloys has been

restrictive owing to foreign exchange difficulties,and only those minerals, ores, metals and alloysof standard qualities which are not available inthe country in sufficient quantities, vitally re-quired for industries, are permitted to beimported.

In the same way the export policy has alsobeen restrictive and only those minerals, ores,metals and alloys which are available in thecountry in excess of indigenous demands areallowed to be exported. These are subject torevision from time to time.

The exploration activities in general have beentaken up by Geological Survey of India, the diffe-rent Directorates of Mining and Geology in thevarious States and the Mineral ExplorationCorporation Ltd.

Most of the exploitation now-a-days is beingdone by the Public Sector undertakings in caseof minerals of the first schedule (a) and thesecond schedule (b) as already stated earlier,even though some captive mines have beenallowed to continue in the hands of PrivateSector.

With all the above rigid State control andrestrictions to meet the increasing demand inquantity of ores and minerals and the rigid

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quality specifications both of physical andchemical nature for meeting the expandingdomestic needs as well as the export market,mechanised mining is adopted particularly in thefields of iron ore etc. in place of selective hand-mining to achieve higher ore production. Thishas consequently created several problems whichneed careful studies. Mechanized mining cannot distinguish between poor and good grade ofthe ore, with the result that the run-of-mine orewill be of poorer quality and higher in ganguethan the selected hand-mined ore. Furtherduring mining of lump ores and powdery andsoft ores a sizeable quantity of ore fines result.More fines are generated due to fragmentationduring mining (in zones from where lump oresare obtained) and also due to crushing andsizing.

These fines, which are being accumulated atthe mine sites into enormous reserves, cannot beleft out as such as they would hamper the deve-lopment programmes of the mines and the oreproduction in future years firstly as a huge wasteof natural resource and would also increase themining and production cost if they are not pro-perly and timely utilised by adopting suitablebeneficiation methods such as agglomerationtechniques as pelletising and sintering which canbe adopted to fines of iron ores, chrome ores,manganese ores, etc.

Although mining activity in India is practisedvigorously since the last nearly 80 to 100 yearsin various fields like iron ores, manganese ore,chromite etc. no commensurate effort to conservethe high grade ores and utilize low grade oreshave seriously been made by most of the privatemining lease holders and to some extent evenby the public sector undertakings. This is dueto the natural tendency of aspiring for quickreturns with minimum effort and expense parti-cularly with the small mine owners to exploit therich high deposits by adopting haphazardly non-systematic mining methods leaving huge lowgrade deposits behind untouched and with noaccount. The Government of India also couldnot do much to adopt strict measures in thisregard. As much development has beenachieved in the field of research on beneficiationof low grade ores and minerals in the countryduring the last 25 years or more in the variousresearch organisations like the N.M.L., B.A.R.C.,I.B.M., Regional Research Laboratories ofC.S.I.R. etc., situated in the different States in

the country, it is high time that a techno-economicstudy of this aspect of the ores must be startedand strict measures enforced to mine both thehigh grade and low grade ores as well, andadopting beneficiation methods for treating thelow grade ores. It is suggested that Governmentshould provide common custom mills/concentra-tors to be useful for the small mine owners whocan treat their low grade ores economically.

All the non-ferrous base-metal deposits and thestrategic minerals deposits in the country are ofvery low grade variety and need concentrationby adopting suitable beneficiation methods tomake them suitable as feed raw material productsfor further metallurgical processing of the ores.Thus all the copper ores, lead and zinc ores,nickel ores, molybdenum, graphite and tungstenores present in India are of low grade in theirnatural state of occurrence and have to be sub-jected to beneficiation treatment to make themuseful for their further usage in metallurgicalindustry.

A good number of non-metallic and refractoryores and minerals and fertilizer mineral depositsin the country are also of low-grade in natureand are to be up-graded to the desired limits byadopting suitable beneficiation methods to makethem useful as raw material in their various res-pective mineral based industries,

Summing up, the mineral exploitation beforeindependence was largely in the hands of foreigncapital, and most of the Indian minerals wereprimarily meant for international trade andindustry. Immediately after independence thissuicidal policy of bulk export of minerals hasbeen virtually stopped by the enunciation of theNational Mineral Policy in 1947 by the Govern-ment of India, in the first Industrial Policy Resolu-tion of 1948 which was subsequently replacedby the second Industrial Policy Resolution of1956. According to this all the mineral exploita-tion in the country is now mostly in the publicsector and some in the private sector and partlyin joint public sectors with foreign capital parti-cipation.

This development of mineral resources, theirassessment and economic exploitation for thegrowth of mineral based industries is in progressphase-wise through the successive five year plansin the country. Except in the case of iron ore

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and mica the identified resources are of low tomedium grade quality which need and demandore beneficiation as a necessity to make themsuitable for further metallurgical processing.Thus some ore-dressing plants are effectivelyup-grading limestone, graphite, copper ore, goldore etc. in the country but exploitation of lowgrade deposits still remains by and largeneglected. Beneficiation of low grade ores playsa vital part in the conservation and utilisation of

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the mineral resources. Utilisation of ore fines,which are being accumulated in very huge ton-nages at the mine sites during mechanised min-ing operations and subsequent crushing andscreening operations, can also be done byadopting the beneficiation process of agglomera-tion like pelletisation and sintering and thus con-serve the nation's mineral wealth and at the sametime solving of their disposal from the miningand plant sites in the best way possible.