As the Union mines ministrycontemplates relaxing the Mineral Auctions Rules, 2015, the standalone mining companies are suggesting restricting the reservation of mineral blocks for captive consumption. They have demanded that the reservation for captive use should not exceed 25 per cent in any state for a particular mineral.
The merchant mining companies feel that reservation is against the principle of mineral conservation as all grades and sizes of ore cannot be used by a single end-use plant due to technology constraints.
R K Sharma, secretary general with the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) said, “Reserving blocks of iron ore,
