Ajoy K Das reports that India has awoken to the need to allow junior miners to play a greater role in mineral exploration and drive much-needed foreign investments in the sector. The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries - FIMI - has urged the government to frame a policy to promote junior exploration companies to attract foreign and domestic investment into the industry.
FIMI president Hukam Chand Daga said that mineral-rich countries like Canada, Australia, Brazil or Chile do not spend taxpayer money on mineral exploration which was fraught with risk. These countries with highly developed mining industries encouraged junior miners to undertake exploration at their own cost and India should follow the model, Daga said. He added that the Geological Survey of India, a government-owned mineral explorer, should only be limited to areas where the private sector was averse to go. In any resource-rich country, the principle of first come, first served was cardinal in generating investor confidence in putting in money into exploration activities and Indian legislation should, therefore, ensure seamless transitions between prospecting and exploration to mineral concessions, Daga said. On the contrary, in many cases the lessees have been deprived of mining licences or prospecting licences even after completion of a reconnaissance licence, FIMI observed. It was pointed out that the share of juniors in mineral exploratory activities across the world had increased from 30 per cent to 50 per cent over the last decade.
This is important because India may have uranium, thorium, and rare-earth deposits below 100 meters - 300 feet.
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