ANNOUNCEMENTS
“The real wealth of the Nation lies in the resources of the earth – soil, water, forests, minerals, and wildlife.” ---Rachel Carson
Mining is the most spoken and controversial topic all around the world. The importance mining and minerals is such that it is sine qua non for our everyday life. The life of a mine goes through many stages starting from exploration, prospecting, approvals, mine development and infrastructure put up, actual mining operations, building social infrastructure and linking infrastructure, renewal of leases, expansion, and finally to closure of mines. Generally, the term ‘mining’ brings to our notice only the adverse impacts caused by the mining during the operation stage of life of the mine. Nevertheless, it is the end which is more troublesome and often remains out of the eyes of the public. The laws and rules governing mining activities in India mandates post mining clean-up to be undertaken either in phased progressive manner or as a whole. These clean-up activities must reclaim, rehabilitate and restore the mined out area in order to make it environmentally and socially as safe as possible. However, undertaking reclamation and rehabilitation activities are financially expensive which in turn causes mine owners to abandon the mines and abscond to avoid responsibility and liability. Moreover, there is legacy of abandoned mines spread across the country prior to the enactment of mandatory closure of mines. This paper discusses the legal mandate of mine closure and issues arising because abandonment of mines. It states the impacts of abandoned mines and analyses the adequacy of financial assurance furnished as a deterrent to prevent abandonment of mines. The paper also brings out the issue of illegal mining in abandoned or orphaned mines with specific reference to the status of artisanal miners in India.
Keywords- Mine Closure, Abandoned Mines, Orphaned Mines, Financial Assurance, Illegal Mining, Artisanal Mining, inventory of abandoned mines, single window system.
