New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Thursday urged Geological Survey of India to reduce timeframe for the submission of mineral exploration reports.
The minister asked Geological Survey of India (GSI) to complete survey and preparation of report in a year using latest technologies, the Mines Ministry said in a release.
Joshi urged the GSI to “reduce the time taken in completing field survey and submission of reports on potential mineral resource deposits in the country”, the release said.
Addressing the 61st meeting of Central Geological Programming Board (CGPB) here on Thursday, Joshi said that the GSI having a legacy of 175 years of existence as a prestigious institution is expected to contribute to the recent efforts of the Ministry of Mines to attain self-sufficiency in mineral resources.
Joshi said that efforts of GSI and the private sector can contribute considerably towards this.
The Minister pointed out that India is having vast deposits of minerals. “However, we are importing different types of minerals in big quantities. This is true in the case of fertilizers also.” Joshi called upon the scientists of GSI to analyse global trends in preparing potential mineral deposit reports.
Stressing upon the importance of latest technology in mining exploration, Joshi promised all kinds of assistance to GSI from the Ministry of Mines.
Joshi handed over seven resource bearing geological reports (G2 & G3 stage) of commodities like copper, bauxite, potash, limestone and iron & manganese to the representatives of the respective state DGMs of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
Potential G4 mineral blocks, for auction as Composite License (CL) have been handed over to the respective state representatives of 11 states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Rajasthan.
These potential blocks consist of mineral commodities like base metal, bauxite, phosphorite, gypsum, limestone, graphite, gold, nickel, chromium, iron, manganese, PGE and diamond.
A few publications and a video on “Marine Mineral Exploration by GSI” were also released during the meeting.
Earlier, addressing the meeting during the concluding session Secretary, Ministry of Mines Alok Tondon said that a number of new projects are being taken up by GSI based on the request from state governments.
He said that India is at par with any other rich nation as far as mineral resources are concerned.
Senior officers of Ministry of Mines, Geological Survey of India (GSI), members from other Central Ministries, State Directorates of Mining and Geology, representatives from private mining industry, PSUs, Mining associations and other stakeholders attended the meeting.
The GSI has formulated about 983 scientific programmes for the year 2022-23, which includes 250 programmes under mineral exploration including 14 marine mineral investigation programmes.
Thrust has been given on the exploration of strategic – critical and fertilizer minerals.
A total of 106 projects on strategic and critical minerals including 20 projects on fertiliser minerals have been proposed for the year 2022-23.
About 100 programmes having high socio-economic impact have been proposed under Public Good Geosciences.
During 2021-22, GSI implemented 979 programmes, which included 251 programs under mineral exploration including 11 marine mineral investigation programs and 106 programs under Public Good Geosciences.
During the year 2022-23, out of 983 projects, GSI will be taking up 32 programmes at the request of State Governments; 12 programmes in collaboration with national institutes, organisations and IITs. PTI KKS MR
