Under the new Mining Policy the government proposes to provide for single licence for gold and diamond exploration.  “The government is of the view that a separate leasing licence will not be needed for explorers of gold and diamond as it adds to bureaucratic delays in exploration of mineral wealth,”  the Minister of State for Mines, T Subbarami Reddy said at an interactive session with the ASSOCHAM.
“The single licence concept is going to be included in the new Mining Policy, which is likely to be tabled during Winter Session of Parliament,” he indicated. Reddy also revealed that his Ministry had already given instructions to the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to explore additional reserves of  gold and diamonds in states of Andhra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar and Chattisgarh in a bid to reduce India’s dependence on imported bullion.
The minimum time limit given to GSI is for three years and country currently is estimated to have 14,000 of gold and diamond reserves which need to be accelerated.