Govt invites proposals from institutes for research in mines, mineral sector

Science and technology projects are funded through grant-in-aid by the mines ministry through the process of evaluation by project evaluation and review committee (PERC) and recommended projects are approved by the Standing Scientific Advisory Group (SSAG) constituted by the Ministry.

The Centre on Monday said it has invited science and technology proposals from various research and academic institutions for exploration and development in the mining and mineral sector. The mines ministry in a statement said that the broad thrust areas for supporting research in mining are "prospecting/exploration for strategic rare and rare earth minerals and development of new technology for mineral exploration and mining on land and deep sea to locate and exploit new mineral resources". Other key areas included research in metallurgy and mineral beneficiation techniques to utilise lower grade and finer size ores, evolving low capital and energy saving processing systems, production of materials of high purity and extraction of value-added products from mine waste, plant tailings etc.

The ministry invites proposals from "academic institutions, universities, national institutes and R&D institution recognised by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, for up to three years duration in the following thrust areas which have direct bearing on mineral sector, applied and sustainable aspect of mining and industrial applications," the statement added. Science and technology projects are funded through grant-in-aid by the mines ministry through the process of evaluation by project evaluation and review committee (PERC) and recommended projects are approved by the Standing Scientific Advisory Group (SSAG) constituted by the Ministry.