4.The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill,
•2025, inter alia, provides for the following, namely:—
(i)to widen the scope and territorial domain of t he National Mineral
•Exploration Trust to enable use of the funds accrued to the Trust within India,
•including the offshore areas, and outside India for the purposes of exploration
•and development of mines and minerals;
•(ii) to rename the Trust as the Natio nal Mineral Exploration and
•Development Trust to reflect its enlarged scope and increase the amount of
•payment to the Trust by the lessees from present two per cent. of the royalty
•payable to three per cent. of the royalty payable;
•(iii) to enable the inclusion of any new mineral in a mining lease subject to
•the conditions prescribed by the Central Government and the additional amount
•payable as specified in the proposed Eighth Schedule to the Act. No additional
•amount is applicable on inclusion of critical and strategic mineral or minerals
•specified in the Seventh Schedule to the Act to incentivise production of these
•minerals which are found in small quantity and are difficult to mine and process;
•(iv) to enable one -time extension of the area under a mining lease or
•composite licence to include therein a contiguous area not exceeding ten per
cent.or thirty per cent., respectively, of the existing area under the lease or
•licence subject to such terms and conditions and additional payment as may be
•prescribed in rules by the Central Government. This will promote optimal
•mining of deep-seated minerals which are locked up in contiguous areas and
•may not be economically viable to be extracted under a separa te lease or
•licence;
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(v)to empower the Central Government to promote development of
•market, including trading, of minerals, its concentrate or its processed forms
•(including metals) through mineral exchanges. With the increased availability
•and demand of minerals in the country, there is need to provide a dynamic
•market mechanism for minerals backed by a robust regulatory regime. Setting
•up of mineral exchanges will help miners and end -users of minerals in
•determining fair and transparent market prices bas ed on supply and demand
•dynamics, stabilise markets and aid in budgeting and planning. This will
•promote investment in mining sector and infrastructure related to transport and
•storage;
•(vi) to remove the limit on sale of minerals from the captive mines so that
•miners can sell minerals after meeting the requirement of the end use plant
•linked with the mine and on payment of additional amount specified in the Act;
•(vii) to allow sale of dumps which have been stacked up to such date as
•may be specified by the Central Government in captive leases which cannot be
•captively utilised to reduce environment hazards and increase safety in mine
•workings, bring more minerals in the market and provide additional revenue to
•the States.
