BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Government will soon carry out a comprehensive mapping of all mineral resources with focus on gemstone deposits in the State, Additional Chief Secretary of Steel and Mines department RK Sharma said here on Friday.
Speaking at a workshop on ‘Gemstones in Odisha - Exploration and Exploitation Strategy’ he said new technology and policy guidelines can shape the unorganised gemstone sector which has the potential to add substantial revenue and boost local economy.
Sharma said the state will be a model in the country to have the comprehensive mineral mapping which will be an aeromagnetic survey.
“We want to locate the areas where the gemstones are available so that funds can be mobilised for exploration and mining,” he said.
The Government plans to rope in international agencies along with eminent geoscientists for mapping natural resources with an objective to start mining of all minerals available in the State.
“We will encourage investment in exploration and mining of gemstones. Once we explore the locations, mining will start. We will also go for their processing to add more revenue. We would like the locals, instead of smugglers, to gain from gemstones which are available in their localities through legitimate business,” Sharma said.
The workshop was organised by Odisha Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (OMECL), a newly-formed State PSU, to explore new technologies and discuss policy matters.
OMC and OMECL Managing Director R Vineel Krishna said gemstone sector has huge employment potential. Exploration and exploitation of gemstones will be upscaled in the State, he added.
Describing the possibilities, GM (Exploration) OMECL Sailendra Sinha said the existing policy is being fine-tuned to check revenue loss in the unorganised sector.
Experts from countries like Zambia, Columbia, Mozambique and Madagascar, where large scale gemstone mining is being carried out, participated.
9 mines auction in March
Director of Mines Deepak Kumar Mohanty said after the auction process of 20 mines for which tenders have already been floated this month, the State will auction nine virgin mines, including seven iron ore, one manganese and another iron ore and manganese in March.