Indian Government Clears Mining Proposals by Rio Tinto, Tata Steel and De Beers

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--India's Ministry of Mines recently cleared several proposals submitted by Indian and international companies in areas of prospecting, exploration and ore mining. The ministry has forwarded the proposals by Tata Steel Limited (BSE:500470) (Mumbai, India) and global diamond giant De Beers (Johannesburg, South Africa) to Andhra Pradesh's government for further action.

De Beers has applied for a prospecting license for diamond and other allied minerals in the Kurnool and Gooty reserve forests in Andhra Pradesh covering an area of over 60 square kilometers. Tata Steel has applied for 35 square kilometers of mining leases for rutile, manganese ore and illemenite in the Vizainagram and Srikakulam areas. In December 2008, Tata Steel also received a prospecting license for iron ore mining in Maharashtra. An area of 172 square kilometers has been approved for this operation. Tata Steel will apply for the mining leases after completing prospecting and identifying the available iron ore reserves. As per the mining policy, though Tata Steel has received a prospecting license, the company does not own the mine. The company will be given priority, but the mining lease can be awarded to another company.

Adi Gold Mining Private Limited (New Delhi, India) has been granted approvals to mine lead, zinc, antimony, copper, silver, cadmium, iron ore, cobalt and other minerals more than 3,504.39 square kilometers in the Seoni Narsingpur and Hoshangabad districts of Madhya Pradesh. Adi Gold Mining is a fully owned subsidiary of mining firm Pebble Creek Resources (Vancouver, Canada). NAD Private Limited's proposal for a prospecting license for nickel, iron ore, vanadium, manganese ore and titanium in the Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh has also been cleared. The company has been allotted 2,458 square kilometers for this operation.

ACC Rio Tinto Exploration Company (New Delhi, India), a joint venture between Associated Cement Companies Limited (BSE:500410) (Mumbai, India) and Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RTP) (London), has received a reconnaissance license to explore gold, copper, diamond and zinc in Andhra Pradesh. The Ministry of Mines issues reconnaissance permits to conduct initial mineral prospecting using geological mapping as well as geophysical, regional, geochemical and aerial surveys. The survey will be carried out in the Nalgonda region of Andhra Pradesh over an area covering 8,350 square kilometers.

The Ministry of Mines has cleared prospecting proposals submitted between 2000 and December 2008. Almost 280 companies have received approvals covering an area of more than 390,308 square kilometers. This move is seen as a step by India's government to clear out backlog of proposals and expedite the operations of mining projects in the country.

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