Govt seeks views on amending offshore mineral auction rules

The government today said it has sought views of various stakeholders on the proposed bill to amend the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act 2002, aimed at introducing transparent and effective mineral auction rules in offshore areas.
The draft Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2017 seeks to amend the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act 2002.
"As part of the pre-legislative consultation policy, the draft bill along with an explanatory note explaining the provisions of the proposed draft bill are available on the website of the ministry...," the mines ministry said in a statement.
Comments or suggestions are invited from the general public, governments of states and union territories, mining industry, stake holders, industry associations, and other persons and entities concerned, on the draft Bill, it said adding that the last date for receipt of the comments/ suggestions is September 30.

The bill is designed to put in place mechanisms for grant of composite licence 'exploration licence-cum-production lease' or 'production lease' on the basis of auction through competitive bidding for the sake of introducing a transparent and non-discriminatory regime for grant of operating rights in the offshore areas, the statement said.
The scheme of composite licence envisages that the successful bidder will conduct the exploration work at his own cost and risk, to establish mineralisation required for grant of production lease. On successful completion of exploration, the licencee will have a right to get a production lease.

The bill is designed to put in place mechanisms for "easy transferability of 'production lease' and 'exploration licence-cum-production lease' to encourage and attract private investment and induction of the state-of-art technology in offshore production."

The mines ministry has also invited suggestions on draft Mineral (Auction) (Amendment) Rules, 2017 seeking to amend the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015.
"As part of the pre-legislative consultation policy, the draft amendment rules along with an explanatory note explaining the provisions of the proposed draft amendment rules are available on the website of the ministry...
"Suggestions are invited from the general public, governments of states and union territories, mining industry, stakeholders, industry associations, and other persons and entities concerned, on the draft amendment rules," it said.
The last date for receipt of the comments/ suggestions is by the end of this month.

Last month, the government had said that in a bid to make mineral block auction more effective, the mines ministry will come out with proposed draft amendments in the mineral auction rules, 2015, in September.
"And I hope in the forthcoming month, we will be able to bring out a draft amendment notification on which formal comments will come in and we will be able to notify the amendments as acceptable to the government," the secretary had said.