The Mining industry has the potential to contribute 6-7% to National GDP but due to various reasons, the contribution has remained limited to two percent. The recent amendment in the MMDR Act has brought in reforms and transparency in the mining industry in India. However, for a sustained high growth trajectory, acceleration in the approval processes, creation of conducive fiscal regime, enabling policy framework for promoting exploration and providing proper focus on the mining technology aspects are needed.
While there has been private sector participation in mining, the government through its various public-sector companies continues to be the largest participant in the domestic mining industry.
In India, there is a dearth of technological innovation in the mining sector. The mining companies are constantly striving to implement latest, reliable and cost effective automation technologies for their mines, to ensure high productivity and safety. With the recent advancement in technology, especially with the application of IT, it is now possible to identify the variables for improving existing production of mine with reduced operational cost and ensuring higher level of safety to the miners. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is an effective tool to ensure safety in mining operations as it offers a real time tracking system during blasting and has the potential to revolutionize the mining operations. Radar technology has been widely popular for several decades globally, and can be a best tool to avert the hazards due to ground movement in surface mining.
Much of India’s potential mineral resources are yet to be fully explored. Earlier, government policies and legislation had largely focused on regulation of mines and minerals rather than on exploration and development. Taking cognizance of the stagnation of the mineral industry, various reforms have been initiated by the Indian government allowing for greater private sector participation in mineral exploration, mine development and maintenance.
In India, the focus is to establish solutions in the core mining production processes of surface mining, underground mining, strategic resource development, resource and reserves estimation and mine planning. Even with these positive steps, there is a significant technology gap in the Indian mining sector as compared to global standards, both in terms of availability and usage of technology. High tax rates and poor equipment financing support are the major challenges.
In spite of the adversities, there lies a huge scope for the technology providers to come forward and meet this huge challenge of exploration in the area of mining technology in India.
Against this background, Indian Chamber of Commerce organized the 3rd India MineTech -A Seminar on Mining Technology on 6th March 2020 at Kolkata. The conference focussed on the current status of technology deployment in the mining sector and recent global advances in technology, and explore solutions that are best suited for the industry.
Mr Sanjay Agarwal, JMD of Shyam Metalics and Energy Ltd said that mining industry has a potential to contribute 6% to GDP however the contribution hovers at 2% of GDP.He also added that productivity can be increased by slight modification in the operation and also mentioned about innovative technologies the industry is in the process of adopting. Mine uses massive electricity so technology should be such that exact amount of electricity requirement to be identified inorder to avoid misuses. However, despite adopting various technology there is still a substantial gap in the Indian mining industry as compared to global standard.
Mr M C Thomas, Chairman-ICC Odisha State Council & EIC FAMD,Tata Steel Ltd thanked ICC for organising this summit. He said that India is blessed with mineral reserve and has 95 variety of minerals in the country. However, overall import is 10times more than what is produces in the country. This situation is alarming. In steel industry 60-70% cost of production is the raw material cost. The country has good quality iron ore, coal etc yet the country need to import coal to a substantial amount. He also said that the country aims to achieve 300MT of steel in coming years which is achievable provided raw material issues are sorted out. Auction which is recently going on will definitely restructure the industry as a whole. The challenges he mentioned is mainly the logistics , the industry need to work to make the movement of material smooth . As per Mr Thomas ,future of mining industry looks good. Tata steel is also transforming the sector through including high end technology, increasing productivity of machine and people and also taking into account the safety of people. Tata steel also started journey of introducing women into mining operations to encourage more women mining engineers. Lastly, he touched upon the sustainability issue.
Mr Mukaya Simabuli,Executive Director(Asia),AAC Mining Executors Group spoke about the expectation from India’s growth story. He mainly touched upon the environmental issues . He said that mining is looked as destructive for environment. AAC uses technology considering the aspects of environmental issues. He also said a technology must be introduced for underground mining where the extraction can be made sitting in office operating the mines in far distance.Use of data is important for traffic management of underground mines. India is poised for great future in mining industry.It is important to take in to account the environment and social issues and ensure safe operation.
Mr Arun Kumar Shukla, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Ltd said the mining is one of the oldest profession.In several developing country like India,mining makes a significant contribution . Mining is the backbone of growth and the role mining technology is the most important to get the mining sector going. Globally the use of advanced technology in mining is prevalent to increase production, controlling emission, ensuring safety etc. Indian government is also adopting advanced mining practices in drilling,loading,benefication etc. However, there is still technological gap in both availability and usage. The other challenges like high taxes in the mining sector is an issue. Apart from adversities there is a huge opportunity in the mining industry. He also mentioned about some of the technology advancement like use of Artificial intelligence, digitalisation of mining operation, drone technology,robotics can replace traditional shovel and extraction process , modern drilling equipment, 3 D mapping technology. He also cited an example of mining operation in Canada where a person sitting in his office extracting the minerals which is far away from the site by using technology .So adoption of new mining technology is also desirable in India.
