KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – India’s Ministry of Forests and Environment (MoEF) is rushing to grant forest and environment clearances to mining leases set to expire next year.

In the first tranche, the MoEF will grant mandatory environmental approvals to 69 leases before January 11, a senior official has said.

He said that the government was “extremely concerned” that the expiry of mining leases would open up the floodgates for legal challenges, as the lease holders have been unable to operationalise their leases largely owing to delays in the granting of mandatory approvals by the various provincial governments.

Prior to the Mines, Minerals Development and Regulation Act 2015, which made auction the mandatory route for granting mining leases, state governments granted 137 leases on preferential basis. The major holders of these leases are from the steel and cement sectors.

The Mines Ministry, along with the MoEF, will be holding a series of meetings with representatives of various provincial governments, starting next week, to ensure that local governments speed up approvals and avoid the risks of mining leases expiring.

“Mining lease application, if not executed by January 11, 2017, would suo moto lapse. That is why their expeditious processing is important, as not only will it affect the mining sector, but also have an impact on downstream and allied industries. Moreover, lapsing of these applications, which are in the process of acquiring clearance, is likely to result in litigation, if not expedited,” a Mines Ministry note stated.

Cement makers Ultratech, ACC and Ramco Cements are some of the major companies that are waiting for the granting of environmental clearances for limestone mines.

Iron-ore producers NMDC, Jindal Steel and Power, Monnet Ispat and Energy and Odisha Mining require clearances for their iron-ore mines. Forest clearances have been pending for over two years.

The Mines Ministry is considering the possibility of granting “provisional approvals” for the pending mining leases. However, some officials are wary of such approvals, cautioning such provisional approvals could aggravate the problem if leaseholders commit to production investments but later fail to gain full approval.