'Over 80 bn ton of India's mineral reserves yet to be tapped'

Notwithstanding a huge resource base, over 80 billion tonnes of India's mineral reserves are yet to be tapped even as the country's mining sector grapples with issues related to infrastructure and regulatory bottlenecks, according to an Assocham study.
"Though the domestic mining sector holds huge growth potential in India's economy, it is currently saddled with various economic, bureaucratic, environmental and capacity issues," Assocham President Rana Kapoor said.
"With China ramping up its domestic production, India is facing stiff competition as it seems very difficult for it to match the scale and cost of production with its counterparts," Kapoor added.
"Over 80 billion tonne of India's mineral reserves are yet to be tapped as the domestic mining sector has been waiting for exploitation of its full potential despite a huge resource base and geological advantages, primarily because of myriad interconnected infrastructure, social and regulatory bottlenecks," the Assocham study said.

Taking into account India's substantial reserves of natural resources, the study suggests the country to embark upon sustainable best practices in mining through stringent enforcement of laws related to the sector.
"There is an urgent need for improving operational efficiency of mining companies in India as issues like rampant over-extraction from mines and illegal possession of land have become major concerns for the sector," Kapoor said.

He further emphasised upon the need to formulate a public policy in mining which enables inclusive sustainable development by sharing the benefits derived from mineral resources with the community at large as it would positively affect the growth outlook of the sector.

The study also talked about the need to correct regulatory anomalies to build an environment conducive for commercially viable mining.
Mining companies need to explore adoption of innovative strategies such as automation, investment in logistics, increasing use of technology in mine designing, sharing of infrastructure and other resources, it said.