NEW DELHI, Jan 25: In a bid to expedite exploration activities in the country, the Centre on Monday said Geological Survey of India (GSI) has embarked upon an ambitious scheme to complete some major national-level surveys by 2024.
GSI has also initiated its flagship initiative of National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) for collation of all the geoscience data of the country involving GSI and other national organizations with geoscience as a focused activity.
“It aims at integrating the collected data by GSI and similar organisations to build a repository on the digital medium entailing multiple user access,” the mines ministry said in a statement.
GSI is in consultation with BISAG-N, a national institute under Ministry of Information & Technology, for development of NGDR.
GSI envisages completion of National Geochemical Mapping (NGCM) programme by 2024 by extensive outsourcing and engaging private agencies. A total of 11.72 lakh sq km has been completed by NGCM Programme till March 2020.
It is an all-India programme to cover the entire surface area of the country by geochemical sampling.
The NGCM work will generate distribution pattern of 62 elements for use in managing and developing natural resources; for application in environmental, agricultural, human health, other social concerns and to search for hidden mineral deposits.
The planned Baseline Geoscience Data Collection campaign would also lead to a huge database, which will be the primary input for future exploration programs.
It is planned that all the stakeholders from India and across the globe who are willing to participate in the current auction regime for allocation of mineral acreages will be able to use the NGDR, the statement said.
The collation, assimilation and integration of the data generated from the above projects and further interpretation will lead to identification of more areas for mineral exploration in the country.
The increased investment in mineral exploration will build a robust pipeline of prospective mineral blocks for auction. This will ensure long-term viability and continuity of mining in the country taking India towards the cherished goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, the statement added. (PTI)
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