The much-awaited National Mineral Policy is unlikely to address the contentious issue of banning iron ore exports with the Mines Ministry putting the onus of taking a decision on finance and commerce ministries. “The issue of exports is not part of the NMP. It is a totally separate issue which would be decided by the finance and commerce ministries along with the Prime Minister’s Office,” minister of state for mines T Subbarami Reddy said.The issue was also raised by chief ministers of five mineral-rich states during their meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 19. In their memorandum, they had said: “We strongly advocate that the export of minerals should be phased out since minerals are non-renewable and finite resources.”While the steel industry has demanded a ban on exports to use the mineral for their expansion plans, the Anwarul Hoda Committee, in its recommendations for the mineral policy, had favoured removing quantitative restrictions on overseas sales. It had, however, said the issue could be reviewed after a certain period. Reddy also said the ministry would consider the demand of mineral-rich states to bar foreign direct investment in mining of iron ore, chromite and bauxite. “We have taken note of this issue and assured them that their concerns would be addressed,” he said. The chief ministers of Orissa, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh had opposed FDI in prospecting of iron ore, bauxite and chromite as a lot of local entrepreneurs are undertaking operations of these minerals. Reddy also said the issue of passing on the cess collected from mining activities and constitution of a task force for finalising the amendments to the applicable law would not be a part of the Policy. “We have told them that these issues will be looked into afterward as they are not part of the NMP.”The minister, however, said the states’ demand seeking compensation for the use of minerals through an automatic ad-valorem based royalty structure, has been accepted.
