MINES AND MINERALS
(DEVELOPMENT AND REGULATION) ACT, 1957
(No. 67 of 1957)
(As ammended up to 20th December, 1999)
List Of Amending Act
An Act to provide for the regulation of mines and the development of minerals under the control of the
Union.BE it enacted by Parliament in the Eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows:
•• Preliminary (Section 1 - 3)
•• General Restrictions On Undertaking Reconnais-
sance, Prospecting And Mining Operations (Section 4 - 9A)
•• Procedure For Obtaining Reconnaissance Permits,
Prospecting Licences Or Mining Leases in Respect of Land in
Which the Minerals Vest in the Government (Section 10 - 12)
•• Rules For Regulating The Grant of Reconnaissance
Permits, Prospecting Licences And Mining Leases (Section 13 - 16)
•• Special Powers of Central Government to undertake
Reconnaissance, Prospecting or Mining Operations in Certain
Cases (Section 17 - 17A)
•• Development of Minerals (Section 18 - 18A)
•• Miscellaneous (Section 19 - 33)
•• The First Schedule - Specified Minerals
•• The Second Schedule - Rates Of Royalty
•• The Third Schedule - Rates of Dead Rent
______________________________________________________________
LIST OF AMENDING ACTS
The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 1958 (15 of 1958).
The Repealing and Amending Act, 1960 (58 of 1960).
The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 1972 (56 of 1972).
The Repealing and Amending Act, 1978 (38 of 1978).
The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 1986 (37 of 1986).
The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 1994 (25 of 1994).
The Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Amendment Act, 1999 (38 of 1999).
____________________________________________________________________________
PRELIMINARYShort title, extent and commencement
1 (1) This Act may be called the Mines and Minerals [Development and Regulation] Act, 1957.
(2) It extends to the whole of India.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, appoint.
Declaration as to the expediency of Union control
2 It is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that the Union should take under its control
the regulation of mines and the development of minerals to the extent herein after provided.
Definitions
3. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
“minerals” includes all minerals except minerals oils;
“minerals oils” includes natural gas and petroleum;
“mining lease” means a lease granted for the purpose of undertaking mining operations, and includes
a sub-lease granted for such purpose;
“mining operations” means any operations undertaken for the purpose of wining any mineral;
“minor minerals” means building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand other than sand used
for prescribed purposes, and any other mineral which the Central Government may, by notifica-
tion in the Official Gazette, declare to be a minor mineral;
“prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
“prospecting licence” means a licence granted for the purpose of undertaking prospecting opera-
tions;
“prospecting operations” means any operations undertaken for the purpose of exploring, locating or
proving mineral deposits;
[(ha) “reconnaissance operations” means any operations undertaken for preliminary prospecting
of a mineral through regional, aerial, geophysical or geochemical surveys and geological mapping,
but does not include pitting, trenching, drilling (except drilling of boreholes on a grid specified from
time to time by the Central Government) or sub-surface excavation;
(hb) “reconnaissance permit” means a permit granted for the purpose of undertaking reconnais-
sance operations; and].
(i) the expressions, “mine” and “owner”, have the meanings assigned to them in the Mines Act,
1952.

Download PDF