Minerals and metals industry urges government to introduce urban mining in India

Urban mining is the process of removing non-ferrous metals, like aluminium, copper, lead, and zinc, from electronic trash and other wastes that are primarily produced in urban areas. To make deep-seated minerals such as zinc, lead, and copper more accessible, the minerals and metals industry is urging the government to create a new urban mining policy and add a specific clause to the current regulations.

“We have to introduce in India a concept called urban mining. We sell around 4 million tonne of aluminium. Out of this, more than 60% is recycled aluminium. In fact, most of the big companies in the world today, including us, are investing heavily into recycling, which is the whole concept of urban mining,” said Satish Pai, managing director of Hindalco.

The government should promote urban mining, according to Pai, who was recently named the new chairman of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), the only international organisation representing producers of primary aluminium. The second-largest producer of primary aluminium in India is Hindalco.

As per Arun Misra, CEO of Hindustan Zinc, since the mining methods of deep-seated minerals like gold and platinum differ from those of bulk minerals like iron ore and bauxite, the former must have a particular provision in the governing regulations. According to Misra, deep-seated minerals are exceedingly difficult to find, identify, and mine, whereas bulk minerals can be found, investigated, and extracted with ease.

90 per cent of a 100-hectare iron ore leasing area would typically constitute resource-bearing land. However, there is nothing to be found in the remaining seven hectares of deep-seated mineral stuff. Only a small portion of the minerals that are mined may be utilised to make metal.

According to Sumit Deb, CMD of NMDC, various structural adjustments are necessary for the nation to provide the industry with the proper push, including the "one Bharat-one pricing" strategy for electricity and single-window approvals. As per Tata Steel Mining MD Pankaj Satija, the nation has to increase investment in exploratory efforts.