National Mineral Policy 2006 - Department of Mines

It can be observed from Table 7.4 that while resources as on 1 April 2000 were estimated at23.58 billion tonnes, between 1980 and 1990 iron ore reserves rose by 5.22 billion tonnes andbetween 1990 and 2000 by another 0.801 billion tonnes. In other words, despite havingmined 1.12 billion tonnes of iron ore, the resources increased from 17.56 billion tonnes in1980 to 23.58 billion tonnes in 2000. Thus, the new finds actually amounted to 7.15 billiontonnes during the 20-year period, averaging a little over 257 million tonnes a year. Theaverage production in India during 2000–01 to 2004–05 was around 100 million tonnes, andin 2004–05 it was 142.71 million tonnes, which implies that new discoveries have beengreater than production.7.28 The steel industry has argued that the figure of 23.58 billion tonnes should not be thebasis for determining the useable reserves, and instead mineable reserves should be taken intoaccount, as for a number of reasons all the reserves may not be accessible to mining.Particular mention is made by it of the fact that iron ore reserves occurring in dense andreserve forests, national parks, sanctuaries, and ecologically fragile areas (Western Ghats,Kudremukh, etc.) may not be available for mining. The industry has drawn attention to theproblem faced in Kudremukh where mining operations had to be closed down forenvironmental reasons.7.29 On the other hand, it was brought to the notice of the Committee that unlike Australiaand Brazil, in India there have been no exploration programmes undertaken for locating newadditional deposits of iron ore since the mid 1980s. The example of Australia shows thatadvances in the technology of exploration have led to increased reserves. The Australianresources in 1960 were established at 400 million tonnes. In 1966, the Australian miningsector opened up and vigorous exploration programmes were taken up. Between 1960 and2004, Australia produced 3.95 billion tonnes of iron ore and yet today Australia’s reserves areestimated at 40 billion tonnes. The reason is that in Australia more and more finds came up assuperior technology for exploration was used. In India, GSI and MECL are the main surveyand exploration agencies and the technology used by them is near obsolete. The technologiesused by resource companies for reconnaissance surveys, prospecting, drilling, andgeochemical analysis in laboratories have improved vastly. In this context, attention is alsodrawn to paragraph 1.13 where it has been stated that a number of iron ore belts are stillunexplored and no formal resource assessment has been attempted since the early 1980s.151