By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: While delivering his welcome address at the 2-days long Sustainable Mining Summit -2022 here, RL Mohanty, President, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), on Thursday said, currently the Indian mining sector is at cross-roads and going through the paradigm shift in terms of the sustainability of the raw materials.
“Even after 7 years of auction regime, all the greenfield projects are far from being operational. Auction has made mineral deposits unviable to mine with unsustainably high bids, high cost of production leading to supply constraints to domestic metal and other downstream industries, loss of State’s revenues and no local area development as most of the auctioned greenfield leases are not coming into operation,” FIMI President Mohanty said,
D.K Singh, Odisha Principal Secretary, Ministry of Steel and Mines, and Chairman, Odisha Mining Corporation Limited, Arun Mishra, Chairman of Governing Council, FIMI-SMI and CEO, Hindustan Zinc Limited, Abhinav Bhatia, Senior Trade and Investment Commissioner (South Asia), International Operations, Trade and Investment, Queensland, Shantesh Gureddi, Vice President, FIMI, Sumit Deb, Vice-President, FIMI and Chairman-cum-Managing Director, NMDC and among others attending the Summit here. It may be noted here that Sustainable Mining Summit is being held after a span of 3 years in ‘Bhubaneswar.
“The Star Rating Scheme introduced by the Ministry of Mines and IBM has been successful in incorporating sustainability at individual mine level, through its bottom-up approach and has led to a healthy competition among mines in terms of improving their sustainability performance. It is noteworthy that SMI-FIMI was closely associated in formulation and finalization of the SDF evaluation template for Star Rating of Mines. SMI-FIMI continues to support the industry through its sustainability review for mines and capacity-building initiatives,” FIMI President said.
“The growth of the mining sector is crucial for India not just to sustain high economic growth rate set for the country, but also to generate the much needed employment and help the population improve its standard of living. Mining plays a pivotal role in a sustainable world – to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. 5 out of 8 core sectors of the Indian economy, i.e., coal, steel, cement, electricity and fertilizers are primarily dependent on raw material supply from mines,” Mohanty said.
For ensuring sustainable mining with adequate environmental and social responsiveness, the National Mineral Policy 2019 has envisaged sustainable mining as financially viable; socially responsible; environmentally, technically and scientifically sound mining practices with a long term view of development; optimal use of mineral resources and ensuring sustainable post-closure land uses, he said.
“The Government of India has also articulated its ambitious target of 500 Giga- watt of non-fossil energy at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Glasgow, United Kingdom. It also envisioned reduction of total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now till 2030, reduction of the carbon intensity of the economy by 45 per cent by 2030, over 2005 levels and achieving the target of net zero emissions by 2070,” Mohanty said.
“With a view to achieve this ambitious target in such a dynamic and intense situation, it is imperative for all mining stakeholders, including policymakers and industry to adopt a holistic approach for incorporating long-term sustainability in the mining sector. I am glad to share that most of the mining companies both large and small have integrated sustainable mining practices and community development, leading to inclusive and responsible growth of the mining sector. It is crucial to adopt global best practices and latest technologies while operating the mines to achieve higher productivity, operational excellence and high health and safety standards,” he said.
“Sustainable development can be achieved when industry, government and communities work together. FIMI has long recognised the need and essence of sustainable mining in India and has been organizing the Sustainable Mining Summit annually for bringing together various stakeholders at one platform to deliberate, brainstorm and focus on how to make sustainable mining a widely adopted practice in India and learn from each other’s experiences,” FIMI President , Mohanty, also a leading Odia mines owner added.
