National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) Completes 162 Projects; Ongoing Exploration Projects comes to 108
The National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) was established by the Government of India vide Gazette Notification G.S.R.633(E) of 14th August 2015, in pursuance of subsection (1) of Section 9C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, with the objective to boost the regional and detailed mineral exploration activities.
Since inception NMET has funded 270 mineral exploration projects, out of which 162 projects have been completed and remaining 108 projects are ongoing. The details of completed projects and ongoing projects are placed at Annexure – I and Annexure – II, respectively. Out of 162 completed projects 11 projects have been auctioned by the respective state governments and 06 projects are in pipeline. The details are as follow:
| Successful Auctioned NMET Funded Mineral Blocks | |||||
| Sl. No | State | Commodity | No of Block | Total Quantity in MT | Revenue collection in Cr |
| 1 | Madhya Pradesh | Limetone | 1 | 209.77 | 7310 |
| 2 | Uttar Pradesh | Phosphorite | 1 | 16.52 | 3193 |
| 3 | Rajasthan | Limetone | 2 | 321.55 | 29704 |
| 4 | Chhattisgarh | Limetone | 1 | 77.84 | 4180 |
| 5 | Karnataka | Limetone | 1 | 812.67 | 2666 |
| 6 | Maharashtra | Manganese | 2 | 0.283 | 93 |
| 7 | Odisha | Iron | 3 | 234.15 | 122509 |
| Total | 11 | 1672.783 | 169655 | ||
| NMET Block under Auction Process | |||||
| Sl. No | State | Commodity | No of Block | Total Quantity in MT | |
| 1 | Karnataka | Limestone | 1 | 459 | |
| 2 | Tamil Nadu | Limestone | 5 | 432 | |
| Total | 6 | 891 | |||
NMET receives proposals from Exploration Agencies and the proposals are sanctioned by the Executive Committee, which meets regularly. At present, no proposal is pending.
Location wise details of mineral exploration projects funded by NMET
Annexure- I
| Sl.no. | State | No. of Projects Completed | No. of Project Successful | Remarks/Commodities |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 12 | 8 | Basemetal, Coal, Diamond,Limestone, |
| 2 | Assam | 1 | 0 | Sillimanite |
| 3 | Chhattisgarh | 18 | 11 | Nickle, Copper, Gold, Coal, Limestone, Bauxite & Associated minerals |
| 4 | Jharkhand | 10 | 2 | Bauxite, Copper, Limestone, Iron Ore, Gold & Basemetal, Andalusite, Tin, Lead, Zinc |
| 5 | Karnataka | 14 | 4 | Basemetal, Kyanite, Limestone, Iron Ore, Gold, Copper, Lead, Zinc, Nickle, Graphite |
| 6 | Kerala | 2 | 0 | Gold, Bauxite |
| 7 | Madhya Pradesh | 14 | 7 | Limestone, Basemetals, Gold, Manganese Phosphorite, Graphite, Coal |
| 8 | Maharashtra | 7 | 1 | Manganese,Iron Ore Nickel Chromium & Gold, PGE Mineralization, Barium Gold Lead Copper & Tungsten |
| 9 | Nagaland | 2 | 2 | Limestone, Magnetite/Ni-Co-Cr |
| 10 | Odisha | 30 | 21 | Iron, Copper, Manganese, Limestone, Bauxite, Graphite |
| 11 | Rajasthan | 23 | 8 | Manganese, Iron , Copper, Basemetal & Silver, Potash, Magnesite, Molybdenum, Emerald, Gold & REE |
| 12 | Tamilnadu | 11 | 10 | Lignite, Dunite, Nickle, Chromium & PGE, Limestone, Magnesite |
| 13 | Telangana | 14 | 11 | Limestone, Molybdenum, Manganese, Copper |
| 14 | Uttar Pradesh | 3 | 2 | Phosphorite, Copper, Lead-Zinc |
| 15 | West Bengal | 1 | 1 | Coal |
| Total | 162 | 88 |
Details of ongoing projects
Annexure- II
| Sl.no. | State/UT | No. of ongoing Projects |
| 1 | Gujarat | 06 |
| 2 | Assam | 03 |
| 3 | Chhattisgarh | 09 |
| 4 | Jharkhand | 12 |
| 5 | Karnataka | 12 |
| 6 | Jammu & Kashmir | 01 |
| 7 | Madhya Pradesh | 22 |
| 8 | Maharashtra | 12 |
| 9 | Ladakh | 01 |
| 10 | Odisha | 21 |
| 11 | Rajasthan | 03 |
| 12 | Tamilnadu | 01 |
| 13 | Telangana | 01 |
| 14 | Manipur | 01 |
| 15 | Sikkim | 01 |
| 16 | Uttarakhand | 02 |
| Total | 108 |