Page 16 - Mines and Minerals Reporter eMagazine - Volume October 2021

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

with regard to boosting mining production in India:
a. Some auctioned leases were surrendered, even before min-
ing operations could begin.
b. Some others, who started production, failed to meet their
agreed-upon production outputs per their Mine Development
and Product Plans (MDPA).
c. This will adversely impact the government’s estimates of
earnings, and the availability of mineral resources for further
processing.
5. Furthermore, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic—
while global iron-ore prices are rising due to increasing de-
mand from a recovering China (Mining.com, 2021)—iron-ore
production in India has been doubly hampered: first by the
pandemic, and secondly by the delay in continuing, or start-
ing, operations of mines successfully auctioned over a year
ago.
6. It is unlikely that the auction mechanism will be reverted to
the first-come, first-serve system used in India earlier, which is
still used in other mineral-rich countries. However, it may be
worth considering a policy that differentiates the allocation
mechanism between bulk and deepseated minerals. It is not

14 MINES & MINERALS REPORTER / OCTOBER 2021