KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – The Indian government will spend $530-million over seven years to conduct aerial surveys across 800 000 km² of “obvious geological potential”.

The Mines Ministry in March 2016 appointed an advisory consultant and based on its report, it is seeking an international agency to conduct the aero-geological survey and mapping of deep-seated minerals across the demarcated areas.

While a consultant has been appointed to select an agency with the requisite technical ability, the survey exercise is part of the government’s action plan to ramp up the mining industry’s contribution to its gross domestic product (GDP) to 3.3% by 2019, up from 2.3% at present.

According to a government official, the appointment of a specialised agency and subsequent start of the aerial survey is expected by January 2017.

As part of the “holistic” action plan, the Ministry has also identified 60 offshore blocks for mining. The official said that the government will announce rules for the award of these mines for domestic and international exploration within the next two to three months.

Towards this, the Offshore Areas Mineral Development and Regulation Act 2002 will be amended and will be brought in line with the Mines, Minerals Development and Regulation Act 2015, which will provide the legal framework for putting offshore blocks up for auction as in the case of other onshore mineral assets.

The official cited the statement of newly appointed Minister of Mines, Piyush Goyal, who recently said, “we will work towards a growth rate of 30% to 35% per annum of volume of minerals mined in the country, which would enable increasing the mining sector’s share of GDP by 1% over the next two to three years.”

India’s mineral production during 2015/16 recorded growth of 9% at 495-million tons, although mineral value produced decreased by 11%, reflecting the meltdown in global commodity prices.

With the target to increase mineral production, the Ministry, in the meantime, has invited tenders for the auction of 33 blocks comprising gold, diamond, iron-ore and limestone assets to domestic and international miners.

As for debottlenecking to get mines into production, it was pointed out that about 70 to 80 mines had been awarded to various miners, but that these were not operational in the absence of mandatory environmental clearances. The Mines Ministry has set up a specific task force to interact with the Ministry of Forest and Environment to expedite securing of such approvals for these mines.

Various Indian provinces are expected to put up at least another 80 mineral blocks for auction before the end of current financial year, the official added.