Diamond Reserves and Extraction in the Country

As per National Mineral Inventory, the State wise details of reserves and remaining resources of Diamond (in both freehold and lease hold area) in the country are as follows:

(Unit: In Carats)

State	Reserves		Remaining Resources		Total Resources
	Free hold	Lease hold	Free hold	Lease hold	Free hold	Lease hold
Andhra Pradesh	0	0	1822955	0	1822955	0
Chhattisgarh	0	0	1304000	0	1304000	0
Madhya Pradesh	0	959659	27749477	0	27749477	959659
All India: Total	0	959659	30876432	0	30876432	959659

 

The government has taken various steps to increase extraction of minerals including diamond in the country. The Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation Act [MMDR] has been comprehensively amended through MMDR Amendment Act 2015 and Mineral Laws Amendment Act, 2020 to boost mineral sector, ease of doing business, enhanced exploration and exploitation, etc. In order to give further impetus to mineral production, the Central Government has further amended the MMDR Act in 2021 and undertaken other reforms. Some of the major reforms brought in 2021 are as under:

(i) Mineral Blocks for Composite Licence can be auctioned at G4 level of exploration instead of G3 level as per the earlier standard.

(ii) Private entities may be notified under Section 4(1) of the MMDR Act for conducting exploration.

Since the enactment of MMDR Act in 2015, GSI has handed over one G3 report and five G4 reports of Diamond to the State Government for auctioning. The State-wise and Block-wise details are as follows:

S.No.	Name of the Block	State	Mineral	Stage	Date of Handing over
1	Penna Ahobilam kimberlite pipe-17, Anantpur	Andhra Pradesh	Diamond	G3	31.03.2021
2	CR_MP_07_Harsa_1	Madhya Pradesh	Diamond	G4	08.09.2021
3	CR_MP_07_Harsa_2	Madhya Pradesh	Diamond	G4	08.09.2021
4	CR_MP_26_Kauhari_III	Madhya Pradesh	Diamond	G4	24.03.2022
5	SR_AP_02-Upparapalle	Andhra Pradesh	Diamond	G4	08.09.2021
6	CR_CH_12-Basna_II	Chhattisgarh	Diamond	G4	23.11.2021

 

The State-wise production and average daily employment in the Diamond mines, as per returns submitted under Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 2017, from 2018-19 to 2020-21, are as follows:

	State	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21(P)
Production (in Carat)	Madhya Pradesh	38437	28816	13917
	All India: Total	38437	28816	13917
Average daily employment (in Numbers)	Madhya Pradesh	131	161	137
	All India: Total	131	161	137

Provisional Data

This information was given by the Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in  Rajya Sabha today.

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MV/ RKP