Govt of India contemplating star rating and satellite-based monitoring for mines

India government is planning to introduce a star rating for mines by next month. There are plans to start satellite-based monitoring of mining activities across the country, said mining secretary Balvinder Kumar at an ASSOCHAM event held in New Delhi yesterday. Mineral deposits of every type including bauxite will be monitored through satellite imaginary.

“If (mines)y don’t get 4 or 5 star rating they will get 2-3 years to comply. By end of November, we will finish first phase of star rating,” he said.

The objective of the entire programme is to check illegal mining across the country through satelite imaginary from National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).



“We are going to monitor all the mining area through the satellite imaginary. We are also going to launch mobile app where anybody can upload photo of illegal mining,” Mr. Kumar said.

Mining automation plan with the help of web portal is being used to provide real-time base data across all states in the country, said Mr. Kumar.

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“The export duty structure on iron ore shall not be change”. About the pending cases of section 10A2C, there are about 304 cases pending under this category, he said.

Mining industry in India is undergoing a phase of recovery. Many reforms, mostly in the form of regulation and technology upgrades are taking place. This is true for mining of all types of industrial minerals including bauxite. Mining as an industry provides direct employment to nearly 2.6 billion people. Production of all minerals can be recorded on real time basis across all the states.