The policy has been gazetted on 13-Sep-2023. This is after the Policy on mineral rejects/Sub grade ore/
By-product which were generated during the course of mining which were below the threshold value at that point in time, as stipulated in the amended Rule 12(1)(k) of the Minerals (Other than Atomic and Hydro Carbons Energy Mineral) Concession Rules, 2016 notified on 02-11-2021, notified on 6-Jan-2022 was challenged in the Bombay HC at Goa.
After this, the Supreme Court approved the handling of dumps in consonance with the report of the Expert Committee (set up in Goa Foundation I) and specifically the recommendations in section 6.
What does this new policy provide for?
It covers all dumps, whether inside or outside the lease, except for dumps in the 9 mineral leases already auctioned.
Under Section 2.2, dumps that are (a) outside the lease, (b) on private land, (c) shown in the mining plan, (d) conversion fees, fines, charges paid under the Policy for regulating the mining dumps on Government and private lands, and related issues notified on 03-Sep-2013, and (e) contain saleable ore, the erstwhile leaseholder will be allowed to handle the dumps upon payment of royalty, GIOPF, DMF, NMET and restore the land within a period of 5 years.
All other dumps containing saleable ore, whether inside or outside leases, whether on private, government or even forest lands, will be auctioned off. It is likely that some of these dumps form part of the 29th e-auction to be held on 4th to 6th October. A detailed auction procedure is set out in the policy.
Interestingly, the Policy sets an ad-hoc limit of 25 million tons of dump transportation on public roads has been imposed pending the report from NEERI on the optimum quantity of fresh extraction. This report was commissioned in 2013, and the NEERI website suggests it is complete.
Finally, the policy cancels all existing provisions in the Goa Mineral Policy 2013 that relate to dumps and dump handling, as well as modifies and cancels the 2013 policy for regulating dumps to the extent it is inconsistent with this policy.