KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – After recently launching the Mining Surveillance System (MSS), India’s Mines Ministry has directed provincial governments to extend the technology-driven platform to monitor illegal mining of minor minerals.

The MSS is currently checking illegal mining of major minerals, but provincial governments have to adapt the platform to curb illegal mining of minor minerals, which fall under the administration of local governments.

The MSS uses technology to monitor illegal mining. Cadastral maps of mining leases for all major minerals have been digitised and superimposed on the latest satellite remote sensing scenes obtained from the National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC). The system checks an area of 500 m around the existing mining lease boundaries to search for any activity beyond the lease hold area that could indicate illegal mining operations. Should suspicious activity be detected, the zone is flagged, triggers are sent to the NRSC and local authorities are informed to initiate action against illegal mining.

According to a communication from the Mines Ministry, getting the provinces to extend MSS is critical in the fight against illegal mining, as the practice is more widespread among minor minerals. There are also more minerals mining leases for minor minerals than major minerals.

However, an official in the Mines Ministry has acknowledged that getting provinces on board to use the MSS will be more challenging than using the system to check for illegal mining of major minerals. It was pointed out that mining of minor minerals is largely unorganised and involves numerous small operators. At the same time, much of the mining lease areas for minor minerals are not mapped and far fewer are digitised.

The Mines Ministry has offered to assist the provinces to leverage MSS and directed each province to designate an official from their respective directorate of mines to be trained through agencies, such as the NRSC.

Some provinces, like Telengana, Chhattisgarh and Haryana, have already committed to launch pilot projects for digitising maps of minor mineral leasehold areas, while others have been directed to launch such projects with the Ministry before the end of December.

The involvement of provinces and authorities at the local level will also be the key to incorporate whistleblowing into the MSS.

The MSS platform has a built-in mobile phone-based application (app), which officials can use to file compliance reports. The app uses an open platform, which is accessible to every individual to alert authorities of illegal mining activity.