SPECIAL ISSUE 2019

Mining Engineers' Association of India

SPECIAL ISSUE 2019SPECIAL ISSUE 2019SPECIAL ISSUE 2019Brought out on the occasion of

th46 Annual General Meeting and Award Function

at PAL Heights, Jaydev Vihar, BhubaneswarJune 29, 2019

Compiled and Edited by

Dr. P.V. Rao, Editor, MEJ


SPECIAL ISSUE 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE 2019Brought out on the occasion of





Mining Engineers’ Association of India

Special iSSue 2019brought out on the occasion of

46th annual General Meeting and award Function

at PAL Heights, Jaydev Vihar, Bhubaneswar,June 29, 2019

Compiled and Edited by Dr. P.V. Rao, Editor, MEJ

Full Stops before Name

Space after Nam

th td st ....

MEAI Special Issue - 2019 3

Better Mining through Better Learning

In thIs Issue

MEAI Presidents & Secretaries / Secretary Generals 4

MEAI National Council 2017-19 5

MEAI National Council 2019-21 7

MEAI Chapters Chairmen & Secretaries - June 2019 9

Life Institutional Members 11

MEAI Fellow Members as on 17th June 2019 12

MEAI Best Chapter Award winners / Life Time Achievement Awardees 13

MEAI President’s report 2018 - 19 15

MEAI Awards 2019 18

MEAI - Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 19

MEAI - Service Excellence Award 2019 20

MEAI Annual Awards 2019 29

Message from CRIRSCO Chairperson 34

Message from SME 35

Message from Dr. Harry Parker, CRIRSCO 36

Message from Meai Former presidents and Members 37

International Initiatives Highlights SME NEWS 43 CRIRSCO NEWS 45

Indian Mining Day - 2018 Highlights 49

Meai Chapters’ news - Highlights 57

Annual Awards Function 2018 - Highlights 81



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaPresidents & Secretaries/Secretary Generals

Period President Secretary/ Secretary Generals

MINING ENGINEERS’ ASSOCIATION1957-64 B.L. Verma B.N. Kanwar

1964-67 N.S. Claire R.C. B. Srivastava

1967-68 L.A. Hill S. Chandra

1968-69 H.L. Chopra M.G. Jhingran

1969-70 S.S. Manjrekar V.S. Rao

1970-71 R.C.B. Srivastava M.G. Jhingran

1971-72 R.K. Gandhi B. Roy Chowdhury

1972-73 I.N. Marwaha D.D. Sharan

1973-75 R.S. Sastry M.S. Vig

1975-76 G.L. Tandon K.K. Biran

MINING ENGINEERS’ ASSOCIATION OF INDIA1975-76 G.L. Tandon K.K. Biran

1976-78 D.L. Patni A.K. Basu

1978-80 R.C. Mohanty S.K. De

1980-81 M.K. Batra R.C. Dutta

1981-82 D.K. Bose S.B. Mukherjee

1982-83 P.R. Merh M.K. Srivastava

1983-86 V.S. Rao L.S. Sinha

1986-88 M.A.Khan D.K. Sen

1988-90 Saligram Singh A. Panigrahi

1990-93 M. Fasihuddin B. Mishra

1993-95 K.K. Biran S. Chandrasekaran

1995-97 N.S. Malliwal Dr. P.V. Rao

1997-2001 T.V. Chowdary C.L.V.R. Anjaneyulu (S.G)

2001-2003 R.N. Singh C.L.V.R. Anjaneyulu (S.G)

2003-2007 Meda Venkataiah C.L.V.R. Anjaneyulu (S.G)

2007-2009 R.P. Gupta C.L.V.R. Anjaneyulu & A.S. Rao

2009-2011 Dr. V.D. Rajagopal A.S. Rao

2011-2013 Dr. S.K. Sarangi A.S. Rao

2013-2015 A. Bagchhi Koneru Venkateswara Rao

2015-2017 T. Victor Koneru Venkateswara Rao

2017-2019 Arun Kumar Kothari Dr.H.Sarvothaman, S. Krishnamurthy



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaNational Council 2017-19

PresidentArun Kumar Kothari

Vice President- IS.K. Pattnaik

Vice President - IIK. Madhusudhana

Vice President - IIIS.N. Mathur

Secretary GeneralS. Krishnamurthy

Jt. Sec-cum-TreasurerK. Umamaheswara Rao

Ex-officio Council Members

T. Victor A. Bagchhi Dr S.K. Sarangi Dr V.D. Rajagopal R.P. Gupta

Representatives of Life Institutional MembersThe India Cements Ltd (LIM No. 16)

The Ramco Cements Ltd (LIM No. 17)Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (LIM No. 18)

Associated Mining Company Ltd (LIM No. 19)NMDC LTD (LIM No. 20)



Council Members (Elected)

A.L. Thakor A.R. Vijay Singh C.S. Dhaveji, D.A. Hiremath Deepak Gupta D.K. Saxena D.S. Maru

Dr K. Srihari K. Umamaheswara Rao Maheem Kachhwaha Mahesh A. Bongale M.S. Raju Pankaj Kumar Satija R.H. Sawkar

Council Members (Nominated)

T.N. Gunaseelan A.K. Gupta A.K. Sinha S.M. Bothra Deep Krishna

Council Members (Co-Opted)

Dr N.K. Nanda Prof B.C. Sarkar Prof B.B. Dhar M. James Akhilesh Joshi O.P.Gupta Ravindra Kumar Sharma

Raghunath Singh Rajendra Singh Rathore Prof Sushil Bhandari S.C. Suthar S. Kumaraswamy Vilas Teggi



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaNational Council 2019-21

PresidentS.K. Pattnaik

Vice President - IK. Madhusudhana

Vice President - IIS.N. Mathur

Vice President - IIIO.P. Gupta

Secretary GeneralS. Krishnamurthy

Jt. Sec-cum-TreasurerK. Umamaheswara Rao

Ex-officio Council Members

Arun Kumar Kothari T. Victor



P.K. Satpathy D.B. Sundar Raman

A.B. Panigrahi Dr. Abani Ranjan Samal

Prof. Arvind Kumar Mishra

T.N. Gunaseelan

Pankaj Kumar Satija

Prof. B.B. Dhar Ravindra Kumar Sharma

Dileep Kumar Saxena

Rajendra Singh Rathore

Prof. (Dr) S.K.Parihar

Prof. Sushil Bhandari

Maheem Kachhawaha

L.S. Shekhawat R.H. Sawkar M.S. Raju P. Srinivasa Rao

Dr.N.K.Nanda Dr. M.S.Venkataramayya M.Sathish Kumar P.Balamadeswaran M.James

Dr. K. Srihari Dhananjay Kumar Rachappa D.R. Vaze Manish Kumar Yadav

Council Members (Elected)



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaChapters Chairmen & Secretaries - June 2019

S.No chapter chairman Secretary

1 ahmedabad

AK Garg Dr. D.A. Pancholi

2 Bailadila

T.S. Cherian C.V. Subrahmanyam

3 Bangalore

Dr.T.N. Venugopal Deepak Vidyarthi

4 Barajamda

Manish Mishra R.P. Mali

5 Belgaum

S.R. Hegde Dr. P.T. Hanamgond

6 Bellary-Hospet

B. Sahoo K. Prabhakara Reddy

7 Bhubaneswar

R.R. Satapathy Sabyasachi Mishra


8 Dhanbad

Dr. Pradeep Kumar Singh

Dr. Santosh Kumar Ray

9 Goa

Cletus T D’souza Hymakar Reddy

10 Himalayan

Shri J.L. Sud Dr. S.S. Randhawa

11 Hutti-Kalaburagi

V.D. Mali Shiojee Roy

12 Hyderabad

B.R.V. Susheel Kumar

Dr.C. Narsimulu

13 Jabalpur Nil Nil

14 Kolkata

Dr. A. Srikant Shameek Chattopadhyay

15 Mumbai

Ravi Chandran Raj Subodh Kasangottuwar




16 Nagpur

D.K. Sahni K.T. Parag

17 New Delhi

A.K. Bhandari Deepak Gupta

18 Rajasthan chapter-Jaipur

P.C. Bakliwal Dr. Sudesh Kumar Wadhawan

19 Rajasthan chapter-Jodhpur

Dr. P.C. Purohit A.K. Jaiswal

20 Rajasthan chapter-udaipur

Dr. S.S. Rathore M.S. Paliwal

21 Raipur

B.L. Bhati Dinesh Singh

22 Rayalaseema

Jayavelu A. Aneel Kumar

23 Singareni

S. Chandrasekhar K. Laxminarayana


24 Tamil Nadu

P. Ramasamy M. Mayilrajan

25 Verval porbandar

Arun Kumar Sharma

Ajay Kumar Jain

26 Visakhapatnam

Prof. C. Kasipathi K. Venkata Ramana

Fellow MeMber Pin

liFe MeMber Pin



liFe iNSTiTuTiONal MeMBeRScompany liM/iM NONational Aluminium Co. Ltd 1South India Mines & Minerals Industries 2Ambuja Cements Ltd., 3Gujarat Sidhee Cements Ltd., 4Priyadarshini Cement Ltd., 5Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., 6Tata Chemicals Ltd., 7Tata Steel Limited 8Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd. (Formerly IDL Industries Limited.) 9Ultra Tech Cement Ltd. 10Sesa Goa Ltd., 11A.P. Mineral Dev. Corp.Ltd 12W.B. Engineers International Pvt. Ltd 13M.P.L. Parts & Services Ltd., 14Shree Engineering Services 15The India Cements Ltd. 16Madras Cements Ltd., 17Gujarat Mineral Dev. Copr Ltd. 18Associated Mining Co., 19NMDC Ltd. 20Sagar Cements Ltd., 21The K.C.P. Ltd., 22Jubilee Granites India Pvt. Ltd., 23Shri Sharda Cold Retreads (P) Ltd., 24ACC Ltd 25Grasim Industries Ltd., 26Krishna Mines 27UltraTech Cement Ltd., A.P. Cement Works, 28Radials International 29MSPL Limited 30Thriveni Earthmovers (P) Ltd., 31Designer Rocks (P) Ltd., 32Kirloskar Ferrous Industries Ltd., 33V. Thirupathi Naidu 34Indian Rare Earths Ltd., 35Bharat Alloys & Energy Ltd., 36Manganese Ore (India) Ltd., 37VS Lad & Sons 38Pearl Mineral Ltd., 39South West Mining Ltd. 40Kariganur Mineral Mining Industry 41

Tungabhadra Minerals Pvt. Ltd. 42Sri Kumarswamy Mineral Exports 43Veerabhadrappa Sangappa & Company 44Mysore Minerals Limited 45Sandvik Asia Limited 46Sudarshan Group of Industries 47Aravali Minerals & Chemical Industries (P) Ltd. 48Aarvee Associates, Architects, Engineers & Consultants Pvt. Ltd. 49Rajgarhia Group of Industries 50Shree Cement Ltd. 51R.K. Marbles Pvt. Ltd 52Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals 53Obulapuram Mining Co. (P) Ltd. 54Terra Reserves Determination Technologies (P) Ltd., 55Panduronga - Timblo Industries 56Associated Soapstone Distributing Co. (P) Ltd. 57J.K. Cement Ltd 58Orient Cement 59Hindustan Zinc Ltd. 60FCI Aravali Gypsum & Minerals India Ltd. 61S.N. Mohanty 62JSW Cement Ltd. 63Belgaum Minerals 64Maheswari Minerals (Laterite Mine Owners and Traders) 65Capstone Geo Consultants (India) Pvt. Ltd. 66Transworld Garnet India Pvt. Ltd. 67V.V. Mineral 68Lafarge India Pvt. Ltd. 69My Home Industries Limited 70Dalmia Bharat (Cement) Ltd 71Shivalik Silica 72The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd 73Mangala Associates Pvt. Ltd 74Telangana State Mineral Development Corporation Limited 75National Institute of Rock Mechanics 76Mahashakti Infrastructure 77Mewara Mining 78

iNSTiTuTiONal MeMBeRCSIR - Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research,Dhanbad (April 2019-March 2020) 01

Mining Engineers’ Association of India



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaFellow Members as on 17th June 2019

Name lM.No FM.No chapterShri T.V. Chowdary 147 1 HyderabadShri P.R. Tripathi 103 2 HyderabadDr. K.K. Sharma 43 3 HyderabadShri R.N. Singh 1456 4 HyderabadShri A.D. Tripathi 607 5 HyderabadShri C L V R Anjaneyulu 57 6 HyderabadShri A. Sangameswara Rao 927 7 HyderabadShri S.P. Khullar 159 8 HyderabadShri G.S. Naidu 608 9 HyderabadShri Murali Manohar 926 10 HyderabadShri R.P. Gupta 1585 11 UdaipurShri T .R. Rajasekhar 637 12 BangaloreShri Y. Raghavendra Rao 133 13 HyderabadShri S. Chandrasekaran 262 14 TamilnaduShri G.K. Sarin 32 15 GeneralShri V.S. Rao 24 16 HyderabadShri Jawaher Singh 1562 17 HyderabadShri Ashok Pereira 813 18 TamilnaduShri Rajesh Nath 1957 19 KolkataShri Rath .B.K 217 20 BarajamdaShri Dr. K. Shanmugam 1579 21 TamilnaduShri K.K. Biran 53 22 HyderabadShri Raman Sharma 1566 23 GeneralShri K.V. Ramana 1212 24 HyderabadShri A.K. Suri 402 25 BarajamdaShri P. Narayana Rao 256 26 HyderabadShri P.A. Pancholi 1624 27 AhmedabadShri A. Eswara Rao 1078 28 VisakhapatnamShri B. Ramesh Kumar 2206 29 HyderabadShri K.P. Rao 154 30 HyderabadShri C. Radhakrishna Pillay 2189 31 BangaloreShri P.S. Upadhyaya 2214 32 HyderabadShri Y.C. Gupta 1604 33 UdaipurShri P.M. Jain 1119 34 UdaipurShri S.K. Verma 2166 35 HyderabadShri K. Shantaram 1370 36 VisakhapatnamShri Anil Dogra 2254 37 HimalayanShri K.C. Brahma 1285 38 BhubaneswarShri Ashok Kumar Gupta 2468 39 HyderabadDr. Meda Venkataiah 1232 40 Bellary - HospetShri P. Shrinivasulu 2114 41 NagpurShri S. Narayana Murthy 1218 42 TamilnaduShri D. Radhakrishna Kanth 2081 43 TamilnaduShri Brindaban Mishra 34 44 GeneralShri C.R. Muralidhar 2585 45 GeneralShri Vilas Teggi 968 46 HyderabadShri T. Victor 398 47 GoaShri K. Devendran 739 48 TamilnaduShri R. Sunder Singh 1499 49 GoaShri G. Vijay Kumar 2957 50 HyderabadShri T.D.K. Sharma 1647 51 HyderabadShri P. Manickam 2671 52 TamilnaduShri K. Ganga Raju 2371 53 VisakhapatnamDr. A.K. Patra 3842 54 GeneralShri N.S . Saigal 1034 55 RaipurShri D.A . Hiremath 88 56 BelgaumShri Kolli Umamaheswara Rao 313 57 HyderabadDr. S.S. Rathore 1998 58 UdaipurShri Daleep Sodha 2147 59 JodhpurDr. N.K. Nanda 2949 60 HyderabadShri B. Narendra Babu 2110 61 Bellary - HospetDr. Vijay Gurumurthy Iyer 2520 62 TamilnaduShri C.S. Dhaveji 5 63 GoaShri Aluvala Siva Sankar 2407 64 Hyderabad

Shri A. Bagchhi 804 65 VisakhapatnamShri N. Swamynathan 2373 66 HyderabadDr. S.K. Sarangi 693 67 BhubaneswarDr. P.T. Hanamgond 1058 68 BelgaumShri Dr. S.C. Singhal 2714 69 NagpurDr. V.D. Rajagopal 2171 70 HyderabadShri P.R. Parmar 2325 71 RaipurShri Anil Mathur 2980 72 JaipurShri Das Gour Chandra 1081 73 BhubaneswarShri Chandrakant Sitarampant Gundewar 4134 74 NagpurShri Koneru Venkateswara Rao 1190 75 HyderabadShri S. Ranganath 1826 76 HyderabadShri Y.M. Shivaprasad 1012 77 HyderabadDr Venkata Narappa Kottala 1454 78 HyderabadShri Deepak D S 257 79 New DelhiShri Reddy Degapudi Radhakrishna 371 80 HyderabadShri Michael Arputharaj 2864 81 TamilnaduShri M.S. Raju 212 82 Bellary - HospetDr. P.C. Purohit 2847 83 JodhpurShri Pasupuleti Venkata Subba Rao 5120 84 HyderabadShri K. Madhusudhana 1016 85 Bellary - HospetShri Dunde Venkatesham 5376 86 HyderabadShri K. Prabhakara Reddy 2506 87 Bellary - HospetShri Sunil Kumar Vashisth 4504 88 UdaipurShri Arun Kumar Kothari 1584 89 UdaipurShri Ravi Chandran Raj 2120 90 MumbaiShri P.V. Krishnaiah Yadav 1442 91 RayalaseemaDr. T.N. Venugopal 2163 92 BangaloreShri Cletus T. D'Souza 2243 93 GoaShri Mahesh A. Bongale 2401 94 GoaShri B. Sahoo 213 95 Bellary-HospetShri Sanjay Kumar Pattnaik 4214 96 BarajamdaShri Sohan Lal Borana 4672 97 JodhpurDr. S.K. Yadav 4673 98 JodhpurShri Rachappa M. Saradagi 592 99 BelgaumShri Deepak Vidyarthi 2286 100 BangaloreShri M.M. Krishnamurthy 3010 101 HyderabadShri R.H. Sawkar 1223 102 BangaloreShri Om Prakash Soni 2233 103 UdaipurShri Kansingh Choudhary 2376 104 UdaipurShri Maheem Kachhwaha 3226 105 UdaipurShri Sitaram Kemmannu 2645 106 Bellary - HospetDr. Pradeep Kumar Singh 5149 107 DhanbadDr. Sujit Kumar Mandal 5148 108 DhanbadDr. Santosh Kumar Ray 3074 109 DhanbadDr. Murari Prasad Roy 5145 110 DhanbadDr. Devi Prasad Mishra 5166 111 DhanbadDr. Sahendra Singh 5167 112 DhanbadShri D.S. Maru 1605 113 UdaipurShri Laxman Singh Shekhawat 4828 114 UdaipurShri Madhusudan Paliwal 1592 115 UdaipurShri Asif Mohammad Ansari 2418 116 UdaipurShri Rakesh Kumar Hirat 1620 117 UdaipurShri Y.S. Sahwal 1616 118 UdaipurShri Akhilesh Joshi 2482 119 UdaipurShri Ravindra Kumar Sharma 5477 120 New DelhiShri M.L. Bhati 1513 121 UdaipurShri Pradeep Kumar Satpathy 4368 122 HyderabadProf. M.S. Venkataramayya 1207 123 HyderabadShri S.N. Mathur 714 124 AhmedabadShri M. Fasihuddin 33 125 HyderabadShri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar 490 126 HyderabadDr. C. Narsimulu 3202 127 HyderabadShri Dhananjaya G. Reddy 2008 128 BangaloreShri N. Rajendran 4852 129 Bangalore



S.No Chapter Name AGM Held on

1 Udaipur/Hyderabad (2010 – 11) 39 13.07.2012 at Ahmedabad

2 Ahmedabad (2011-12) 40 23.06.2013 at Hyderabad

3 Udaipur (2013-14) 41 28.06.2014 at Godavarikhani

4 Ahmedabad (2014-15) 42 20.06.2015 at Jaipur

5 Jaipur/Ahmedabad/Bangalore (2015-16) 43 30.07. 2016 at Bangalore

6 Jaipur (2016-17) 44 07.07.2017 at Udaipur

7 Udaipur (2017-18) 45 30.06.2018 at Jaipur

best ChaPter award winners

S.No Name of Awardee AGM

1 Prof. (Dr), Ing M A Ramlu Former Director Incharge IIT- KGP for 2011 40 - held on 23.06.2013 at Hyderabad

2 Shri D. N. Bhargava Former Controller General, IBM for 2012 40 - held on 23.06.2013 at Hyderabad

3 Sri V.S. Rao Past President, MEAI for 2013 41 - held on 28.06.2014 at Godavarikhani

4 Sri K.K. Biran Past President, MEAI for 2014 42 - held on 20.06.2015 at Jaipur

5 Dr. Meda Venkataiah Past President, MEAI for 2015 43 - held on 30.07.2016 at Bangalore

6 Sri R.P. Gupta Past President, MEAI for 2015 43 - held on 30.07.2016 at Bangalore

7 Prof. G.S. Roonwal Past Secretary, New Delhi Chapter for 2015 43 - held on 30.07.2016 at Bangalore

8 Prof. B.B. Dhar Council Member, MEAI for 2016 44 - held on 30.07.2017 at Udaipur

9 Shri T.V. Chowdary Past President, MEAI for 2017 45 - held 30.06.2018 at Jaipur

10 Shri T. Victor Past President, MEAI for 2017 45 - held 30.06.2018 at Jaipur

liFe tiMe aChieveMent awardees



President's rePort 2018 - 19Friends, at the conclusion of my tenure as president in this prestigious organization, I gratefully recognize the invaluable support received from our Past Presidents especially Shri V.S Rao, Shri M. Fasihuddin, Shri T.V. Chowdary, Dr. Meda Venkataiah, Shri R.P. Gupta, Dr V.D. Rajagopal, Dr S.K.Sarangi and Shri T. Victor. Akbar was famous for (among other things) his Navratnas Birbal, Tansen etc. For our Association, in the past two years, I am extremely fortunate to be associated with several Ratnas and Jewels whose brilliance and efforts were instrumental in bringing a lot of positive changes and landmark achievements. My thanks to all the Council members and specially to Shri Sanjay K Pattnaik, Shri K. Madhusudhana, Shri S.N. Mathur, Dr. N.K. Nanda, Shri K. Umamaheswar Rao, Shri Vijay Singh, Shri C.S. Dhaveji, Shri D.A. Hiremath, Shri Deepak Gupta, Shri Pankaj Kumar Satija, Shri R.H. Sawkar, Prof Sushil Bhandari, Shri S. Kumaraswamy, Shri M. James, Shri T.N. Gunaseelan, Prof B.B. Dhar and Shri Ravindra Kumar Sharma for their valuable support. I appreciate and thank Dr P.V. Rao for his tremendous efforts in attracting peer reviewed quality articles and brilliant management of our Mining Engineers Journal (MEJ) during the last 24 months.

I visited Hyderabad 24 times during the last 2 years and stayed at an average of 3 days per visit. I wish to place on record my gratitude to Mr Gopinath, Vice President, India Cements Ltd for arranging my accommodation and extending hospitality in his Company’s guesthouse at Hyderabad in all these visits.

Chapters are the pillars of strength for this Association and whatever we have achieved during the last two years is the combined efforts of Chapters and Headquarter. Although all the Chapters contributed their possible best to the Association but some of the Chapters like Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Bellary-Hospet, Nagpur, Barajamda, New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Dhanbad and Goa have excelled. I thank Chairmen and Secretaries of all the 26 Chapters. My special thanks go to Shri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar, Chairman - Hyderabad Chapter for organizing many extraordinary international level events, this year.

I thank all our members who have spared their time and money in achieving the objectives of the Association

during the term 2017-19. I also thank Secretary General Shri S. Krishnamurthy, Jt. Secretary cum Treasurer Shri K. U. Rao and our HQ staff, who always cooperated with me and helped me in carrying out my work at HQ.

Finally, I wish to thank my family members who wholeheartedly supported me in discharging my duties in HQ at Hyderabad, attending events organized by Chapters throughout the country and attending meetings of various Committees. Particularly, I thank my son Dr Neeraj Kothari who gave me ideas as well as solutions; and supported and helped me in preparations of all my work. He was the key person to guide the software consultant that prepared our E-election system.

Dear Friends, It is indisputable that a strong MEAI, technically, financially and well networked, shall go a long way not only in shaping the future of our country but shall also act as a catalyst towards improving the careers of our members. We held this as our guiding principle in all the initiatives and goals pursued during the last two years. I wish to highlight the following incredible achievements of the Association during 2017-19.

1. A Strong March Towards Financial Independence: When I took over as President in July 2017 at Udaipur, just after installation ceremony I was told that HQ is not having sufficient funds to release the staff salary, bills of MEJ, payment of SME fee of Rs. 1,30,000 and other pending bills. The most significant exercise we have undertaken since July 2017 is to make MEAI HQ financially robust. This is necessary because HQ’s resources need to act both as a magnet as well as insurance for many talents and potential activities for the betterment of members of MEAI from all over India. I launched a sustained drive to create a large corpus for MEAI HQ at the start of my term by offering a personal contribution of Rs 1.0 lakh, following which our fellow members instantly contributed more than Rs 4.0 lakh, to clear the pending liabilities. My sincere thanks to all of them.

We have turned around our MEJ publication, from being a financial burden for MEAI until 2017, into a self-financed entity by securing advertisements



and reducing expenses of printing and distribution of physical copies. In addition, Chapters were not sharing the mandatory 25% of savings from their National Events when I took over. It was a big challenge before me to get this fund for HQ. However, upon sustained persuasion of our Chapters to release HQ’s share of savings as per our bylaws, I am happy to announce that now all the Chapters are following these norms. My thanks to Udaipur, Hyderabad, Barajamda, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Dhanbad and Bellary-Hospet Chapters for being the biggest contributors.

We started in July 2017 with an announced goal of creating Rs 2 crore corpus fund and I am pleased to announce that today we are having FDR of Rs 50 Lakhs with us and the interest from this is utilised to meet the day to day expenses of HQ. We are now in a position to offer short-term loan to needy Chapters, like an interest free loan of Rs. 1 lakh given to Mumbai Chapter for one year. We have also paid off the loan of Rs 15 lakh taken from Bangalore Chapter in 2016 to finance the loan to Jaipur Chapter for the construction of MWC.

2. Increased connect among members: Since July 2017, my major emphasis was to network members of MEAI up to national level by bringing in awareness in Chapters to create WhatsApp groups and adding National President and Secretary General as members of the group. Simultaneously, we also created a WhatsApp group for National Council. This green initiative also protected the environment by utilizing digital communication instead of physical movement of people or paper, while providing timely members’ outreach and knowledge exchange.

3. Effective representation of MEAI on GoI and NITI Aayog Committees: GoI has recognized MEAI and extended invitation to attend all its important committees meetings. MEAI was also nominated on a committee of NITI Aayog to develop a strategy paper aiming at creating visible employment and growth in mineral sector by 2022. I feel proud to announce that most of our suggestions found place in the National Mineral Policy 2019.

4. Revival of dormant chapters: In last two years, we are successful in reviving Delhi, Kolkata, Veraval-Porbandar, Bhubaneswar, Raipur and Himalayan Chapters.

5. Mining Engineers’ Journal (MEJ): Mining Engineers’ Journal is a crown jewel of the Association, and since last two years, we started publishing only peer reviewed technical articles in the Journal. We also made this Journal self-financed by procuring advertisements from various companies, and took a green initiative to promote digital delivery of MEJ that helped us reduce the expenses of MEJ by more than half.

6. Increase of Membership: I am happy to announce that in the last two years we have increased Life Members from 5379 to 5634, Fellow Members from 87 to 129, Life Institutional Members from 71 to 78. Apart from this we have also enrolled 01 Annual Institutional Members, 104 Student Members and 44 Annual Members across the Country.

7. Opening of New Chapter at Mumbai: It’s a great achievement for MEAI that we have opened and inaugurated on 17th of March, 2019 the much needed Chapter in Mumbai. This new 26th Chapter has the potential to boast largest number of mining professionals and fulfil our goal of a powerful presence in the financial capital of India.

8. E-election for the next Council for the term 2019-21: While conducting Association elections through physical ballot papers, we received 332 ballots in 2015 and 373 ballots in 2017, spending about Rs 75000 on conducting each election. This time we conducted E-election, and with this green initiative, more than 700 members exercised their voting rights, at an approximate expense of Rs 25000 only.

9. Setting up of Relief Fund: First time in MEAI’s history, Our Council took the decision on helping our fellow citizens, who were subjected to unprecedented flood havoc in Kerala and Karnataka; Fani Cyclone in Orissa; martyred soldiers’ families in Pulwama terrorist attack. With members’ contribution, we donated Rs 1,75,200 to CM of Karnataka, Rs 6,27,860 to Bharatkeveer Trust and ready with Rs 25,000 to present to Orissa Relief Fund.

10. Seminar by HQ, DGMS and Hyderabad Chapter on Mines Safety Management & Sustainable Mineral Development: With the efforts of Shri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar and Shri V. Laxminarayan, a successful seminar on “Mines Safety Management



& Sustainable Mineral Development” was organised at MCR-HRD Institute, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad on 20th January 2019. The Seminar was attended by more than 250 delegates, and graced by Dr G. Malsur, MD, TSMDC as Chief Guest and Shri Prithul Kumar, Director MoM, GoI as Guest of Honour.

11. Indian Mining Day Celebrations: My heartiest congratulations and thanks to all for celebrating Indian Mining Day on 1st November in a grand manner, involving other professional organizations and institutions. This year’s theme was ‘Future of Mining in India – Vision 2040’. Technical presentations, seminars, essay competition on the topic “Inevitability of minerals in our daily life”, blood donation, elocution, poster competition and quiz programs were organized all over India. Coverage of the events by both the print and electronic media throughout the Country was also excellent this year and helped fostering awareness on benefits of mining to public at large. We have dedicated a cash prize of Rs 10,000 to the best Chapter in organisation of Indian Mining Day.

12. Partnership with SME: MEAI became an ‘Association Member’ of SME USA in 2017, whereby all MEAI members gained free access to the publications and content available on the website of SME. This has also opened avenues of hosting large-scale expositions and high-level technical conferences in India jointly with SME. A delegation under the leadership of Past President Shri K.K. Biran and Dr. Abani Samal attended the SME Annual Conference on 26th February 2019 at Denver, Colorado, USA and discussed with SME leadership on exchange of mining technology, student/ professional delegations and further strengthening the relationship between SME & MEAI. I am happy to announce that the Board of Directors of SME has extended SME-MEAI agreement for another two years.

13. Progress of MOU with CRIRSCO: We held two meetings with FIMI members and also with the whole time Director of SEBI at Mumbai last year. We were also successful in influencing the MoM committee to include adoption of internationally accepted reporting system of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves in the National Mineral Policy, 2019.

14. Council Meetings: For increased involvement of Chapters and connect within members, we conducted 5 out of 8 Council Meetings outside Hyderabad HQ at Dhanbad, Jaipur, Hospet, Jodhpur, and last meeting today at Bhubaneswar, coinciding with national events they organized.

15. National Level Annual Award Function: Our Annual Award Function has been turned into a National Event since it was held at MWC Jaipur in a grand scale for the first time with Shri Vikram Singh Gaur, Jt. Secretary, NITI Aayog as Chief Guest, on 30th June 2018. There we also recognized, for the first time, the extraordinary services of 16 of our members in the field of mineral sector as well as bringing the activities of MEAI to a new heights through ‘Service Excellence Awards’. This year, we are honouring 18 such members.

16. MEAI Special Annual Issue: Coinciding with the Award function at Jaipur in 2018, we brought out a Special Annual Issue for the first time covering highlights of the activities of MEAI during 2017-18 undertaken by all the Chapters. We are bringing it out this year also and we hope the Association emulates this tradition in the years to come.

Friends, all that I mentioned above are the highlights of the efforts that I was personally involved. However, there were a lot more events and efforts managed by our members all over the country that enabled MEAI to further its goodwill with mining communities and local populace. I salute all the unsung heroes of MEAI who have made, however small, invaluable contributions.Again, I wish to thank all the MEAI members for giving me this great opportunity to serve as I walk away with fond memories and invaluable friendship that I will cherish forever. Here on, we pass the baton to the next Council to lead the MEAI to further golory…

Arun Kumar Kothari(President 2017 – 19)



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaAwards 2019

MEAI Annual AwardsMEAI - Sitaram Rungta Memorial Award Shri Ashok KumarMEAI - NMDC Award Dr. Danda Srinivas RaoMEAI - SIMMINDS AWARD Shri Syed Maqbool AhmedMEAI - Smt. Bala Tandon Memorial Award Shri Swagat RayMEAI - Abheraj Baldota Memorial Gold Medal Award (Mining Engineer of the year) Shri Umesh SinghMEAI - Abheraj Baldota Memorial Gold Medal Award (Young Mining Engineer of the year) Dr.I.Sreenivasa RaoMEAI - SRG Information Technology Award Prof. Bhabesh C. SarkarMEAI - Smt. Gullapalli Sarala Devi Memorial Award (Lifetime achievement by a Mining Engineer) Shri Kansingh ChoudharyMEAI - Master Tanay Chadha Memorial Geologist Award Shri Ajay Kumar JainMEAI - Dr M.L.Jhanwar Award for Best Article in MEJ Shri B.S.ChoudharyMEAI - SCCL Coal Award - Mining Engineer Shri K.Laxminarayana

MEAI Best Chapter AwardsMEAI - BEST CHAPTER AWARD Rajasthan Chapter - UdaipurMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD Hyderabad ChapterMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD Bellary-Hospet ChapterMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD Ahmedabad ChapterMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD Rajasthan Chapter-JaipurMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD Rajasthan Chapter-JodhpurMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD Bangalore ChapterMEAI - ACTIVE CHAPTER AWARD New Delhi ChapterSpecial Award for Celebration of Indian Mining Day Tamilnadu ChapterSpecial Award for Plantation Activity Rajasthan Chapter - UdaipurSpecial Award for Diamond Jubilee Celebration Barajamda ChapterSpecial award for hosting council meeting Bellary-Hospet Chapter Special award for hosting council meeting Rajasthan Chapter -JodhpurSpecial Award for organizing best seminar Hyderabad ChapterSpecial Award for organizing best seminar Rajasthan Chapter-JaipurSpecial Award for organizing best seminar Nagpur ChapterMEAI - Life/Institutional membership Development Award Shri BRV Susheel KumarSpecial award for enrolling maximum life members Bellary- Hospet ChapterSpecial award for launching/reviving Mumbai Chapter Shri Ravi Chandran RajSpecial Award for hosting Bhubaneswar Council Meeting,AGM, Award Function and Installation Ceremony Bhubaneswar Chapter

MEAI-Lifetime Achievement AwardDr. S.K. Sarangi, Past President, MEAIShri R.H. Sawkar, Former Chairman, Bangalore Chapter

MEAI- Service Excellence AwardShri Ravindra K. Sharma, Managing Director, BMRCShri Ravi Chandran Raj, Chairman Mumbai ChapterDr. Abani R. Samal, Principal, GeoGlobal, LLC, USAShri B. Sahoo, Chairman, Bellary-Hospet ChapterDr. N.K.Nanda, Director, Technical, NMDC, HyderabadShri P.C. Bakliwal, Chairman, Jaipur ChapterDr. P.C. Purohit, Chairman, Rajasthan Chapter - JodhpurShri M.S. Paliwal, Add. Director Mines & Secretary, Udaipur ChapterDr. T.N. Venugopal, Chairman, Bangalore ChapterShri S.Kumaraswamy, Council Member, Tamilnadu ChapterShri Cletus T D’souza, Chairman, Goa ChapterShri D.K. Sahani, Chairman, Nagpur ChapterDr. Santosh K. Ray, Secretary, Dhanbad ChapterShri A.K. Bhandari, Chairman, Delhi ChapterShri Sunil Vashisth, AGM, Hindustan Zinc Limited, Udaipur ChapterShri K.S. Rao, Hyderabad ChapterShri Suresh Chandra Jhagrawat, Ahemdabad ChapterShri Deepak Vidyarthi, Secretary, Banglore Chapter



Meai - liFetiMe aChieveMent award 2019

Dr. S.K. SarangiPast President (2011-13)

The author Dr. Surendra Kumar Sarangi, a professional geoscientist is the first recipient of Ph.D. in Geology from Utkal University in 1973. Pursued his career as a geologist in Govt. of Odisha, a faculty

member in Marine Geology of Berhampur University, Manager – Mining & Geology in Indian Metals and Ferro Alloys, before he started his own mining consultancy firm in 1990 and continuing as its Managing Director.

He has travelled widely in India and other overseas countries such as Indonesia, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, Turkey, Zambia, Zimbabwe etc. to take up his professional activities. He has been conferred with several awards in recognition of his professional acumen. He has published more than 80 research publications in various national and international journals.

Being a geoscientist, he was elected as National President of Mining Engineers’ Association of India (MEAI) for the term 2011-13 and is also currently the President of Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT). He is associated with various professional societies and is the Cobalt Fellow of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

He is qualified to prepare Mineral Resoruce reports as per JORC norms.

R.H. SawkarShri R.H. Sawkar was born on 29th March 1934. He entered the Karnataka State Department of Mines and Geology in the year 1959 and subsequently served in the National Mineral Development Corporation, Mysore Minerals, Chitradurga Copper Company,

Hutti Gold Mines Ltd., and in the investigation of raw materials for Vijayanagar Steel plant, which was renamed as JSW.

He has served as Agent of Mysore Minerals, Deputy Managing Director of Chitradurga Copper Company and Director of Hutti Gold Mines Ltd. He was involved in Mine Development Exploration and in the preparation of Bankable document on Gold along with Prof. Viljoen of South Africa. He modified the Chitradurga Copper Beneficiation plant to Gold beneficiation plant to treat gold ore associated with BIF of Ajjanahalli.

He was trained in photo interpretation by Prof. Roopke and subsequently in the satellite imagery interpretation. He has undergone a training programme in Prospecting and Mine Development in Australia under Colombo plan.

He is associated with all the leading earth science associations in India and abroad and he is currently the Secretary of the Geological Society of India, Publisher of the Journal of the Geological Society of India and former Treasurer of the Journal of International Union Geological Sciences Episodes. He is also active in Mining and Metallurgical field and former Chairman of the MEAI Bangalore Chapter and working President, Karnataka Jalbiradari, on water. He is a Member of Dam Safety Committee since a long time and represents Geological Society of India in World Water Council.

He is associated with the State and Central Geological Programming Boards since a long time. He represents Geological Society of India on Policy matters of the Karnataka State.



Ravindra SharmaManaging Director, BMRCOman : UAE : India

Shri Ravi “Ravindra” Sharma, is a geologist, and an entrepreneur with 28 years of global experience at senior positions with major international mining companies likes Barrick Gold and Vedanta. His wide range of expertise includes, JORC/NI-43-101 Resource Estimation, Exploration, Mining operation, mine planning, financial modeling and Database programing. He is internationally recognized as a Qualified and Competent Person as defined by Canadian enforced NI 43-101 and Australian JORC compliance.

After postgraduation from Lucknow University, he began his career with ACC and moved out of India in 2000. In 2011, he founded BMRC (Bedrock Mineral Resource Consulting), a mining consulting firm based in UAE. Under his leadership, BMRC is now a leading mining consulting group in the GCC and Asia regions, with offices in Dubai, Oman and India. BMRC has completed projects in more than 25 commodities (from Gold, Uranium to Diamonds) in over 26 countries. Besides consulting, Ravi also founded ManajemMajan LLC, a mining company in Oman, where he is Director and CEO.

He has lived by the principle of ‘constant and continuous improvement’, not only for himself, but also for those around him. To bridge the gap between conventional teaching at universities and applied requirements of the mining industry, Ravi has shared his expertise by training students in Slovakia, Armenia, Oman and India. Taking this a step further, BMRC launcheda Post Graduate diploma program in mining and mineral resources at the ONGC Centre for Advance Studies at Lucknow University. His firm, BMRC, undertook the complete responsibility for this course and also took responsibility for all the costs associated with it for international faculties and Resource - mine planning software .

Meai - serviCe exCellenCe award 2019

His vision is to develop young talent in India on technological advancement in mining sector.

Ravi Chandran RajChairman Mumbai Chapter & MD, Arrows Mining Technologies Pvt Ltd

Shri Ravi Chandran Raj, Managing Director of Arrows Mining Technologies Pvt Ltd ., is a Mining Engineer from School Of Mines, Kolar Gold Fields [an Entrepreneur–explosives and rock technology expert, Inventor&Economist] has traits of innovative, effective, efficient & 'quality work' standards.

He worked with companies like Anil Chemicals & Industries Ltd, VBC Industries Ltd, Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation, Tamil Nadu Industrial Explosives Ltd [State Government], Bharat Gold Mines Ltd [Central Government Projects & Contracts] etc.

Ravi since 1986, first employed by his first & only boss ever Mr. William Edward Machado, founder of MACWIN Explosives & Accessories Pvt Ltd [SUA Explosives] inspired by his ‘quality’ work credo, amassed technical expertise in Ammonium Nitrate & Explosives application in Mining & Construction Industries, excelled in products launch, projects management dealing with Mining, Explosive, Coal, Quarry, Construction, and Cement Industries.

Founded 'ARROWS' in 1998, he is recipient of Safety Award for International standard of quarry- rock blasting operation at Break water project of BESIX –KIER at Dabhol power Project. Operated various projects of rock excavation, breakwater projects, quarry, controlled and cautious blasting, blast engineered breaking 10.5 + Million cu.m rock with technically superlative standards of controlled and cautious rock blasting.



Dr Abani R SamalPrincipal, GeoGlobal,LLC Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

Dr Abani R Samal holds M. Tech. degree from IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, DIC & MS from Imperial College, London and PhD from SIU, Carbondale, USA. He started his professional career at the Boula Chromite mines, Odisha in January 1996. Since then he has been active in the mining industry. Previously he worked for a reputed mining engineering consulting firm in Denver, USA and later as a Principal Advisor with RioTinto at their then USA regional head-quarters. Currently he the owner and Principal of GeoGlobal LLC. Dr Samal specializes in mineral deposit studies, resource estimation, mine to mill reconciliation and geostatistics. He provides services to exploration and mining companies throughout the world.

Dr Samal is a very active member of major national and international professional associations including MEAI, MGMI, GSI in and SME, CIM, IAMG and GSA outside India. He is an honorary representative of CRIRSCO in India.

B. SahooExecutive Director,NMDC LimitedChairman, BH Chapter

Shri B. Sahoo is a Graduate in Mining Engineering with MBA in Operation Management and working in NMDC Limited since last 28 years in various capacities. He is a Life-Member as well as Fellow-Member of MEAI and also Fellow-member of Institution of Engineers (I)-Kolkata.

He has worked as Head of Projects in various highly mechanized mines of NMDC at Bailadila Complex (Chhatisgarh) and Donimalai Complex (Karnataka), each producing around 12 Million tonnes of Iron Ore per annum and also as Head of its Palletization Plant having capacity of 1.2 Million tonnes per annum. Now

he is posted at NMDC Head-office as ED (Production Co-ordination). He has vast experience in Mine Planning, Scheduling and Designing of new Projects involving Mining activities and also undergone various training programmes in Germany, France, Australia, Netherland and Belgium.

Dr Narendra Kumar NandaDirector Technical, NMDC, Hyderabad

Dr Nanda joined the NMDC in 1989 and became Director (Technical) on NMDC in 2008 after 19 years of continuous service in NMDC in Production and Maintenance oriented activities. He acquired experience in different mines of copper and limestone, prior to joining NMDC. He has over 30 years of vast experience and specialisation in mine operations, mine development and production related activity. He is proficient in project planning and execution, mineral processing, mineral exploration and development, and in diversification activities including construction of Steel Plants.

He was a non-executive Chairman of Legacy Iron Ore, a Perth based junior exploration company listed at ASX. He was Chairman from 2012 to 2017 and then very recently as Director until November 2018.

He was Chairman Cum Managing Director (CMD) of NMDC from January to May in 2012.

P.C. BakliwalChairman, Rajasthan Chapter - Jaipur

Shri P.C. Bakliwal born on 6th July 1945 and did M.Sc. Tech Applied Geology in 1968 from University of Roorkee ( IIT, Roorkee). After a short spell of exploration fin mica mines, he joined Geological Survey of India



as Geologist in January, 1970. He has over 36 years experience in various fields of Geology till he retired as Deputy Director General Geological Survey of India in July 2005. During this period, he mapped complex terrain of NE Himalayas and Pre Cambrian Geology of Western India, mineral exploration of base metals, Remote sensing studies related to regional basement tectonics, lineaments, geomorphology, geohydrology projects and its applications in mineral & hydrocarbon targeting. Supervised various projects related to Base Metals, Potash, lignite, limestone, clay, desert environmental studies, environmental impact studies & overall formulation and execution of programs and projects of Geological Survey of India in the capacity of Head of Department, Deputy Director General. He published over 100 scientific papers in Indian and International Journals. GSI Publication on Potash in India, Lineament Map, Geomorphological Map of Rajasthan & Gujarat, and the paleo courses of Lost Saraswati River.

After 2005, he is engaged in geological consulting and providing services to MEAI Jaipur Chapter as Secretary during 2012 to 2018 and as Chairman from 2018.

Dr. P. C. PUROHITChairman, Rajasthan Chap-ter - Jodhpur

Dr Purohit passed Bachelor Degree in Mining Engineering from M B M Engineering College, Jodhpur in 1977. Acquired Ist Class Manager’s Competency Certificate from Govt. of India. Passed Bachelor of Laws from Jai Narayan Vyas University, Jodhpur in 2000. Obtained Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Kota Open University in 2002. Obtained Master of Science Degree in Ecology & Environment from Sikkim Manipal University in 2004. Acquired PhD in Mining Engineering from Jai Narayan Vyas University in 2012.

Dr Purohit was Awarded “SIMMINDS Award” by MEAI for outstanding contribution in the field of limestone mining, “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Baba Ramdeo Samaj Seva Samiti for outstanding contribution in the field of Mining & Environment, “Veer Durga Dass

Award” by “Veer Durga Dass Rathore Memorial Trust” for outstanding contribution in the field of Mining & Mine Environment and “Outstanding Leadership Award” by MEAI for outstanding contribution in the field of limestone mining in India.

He worked in the various mines of Rajasthan State mines & Minerals Ltd. in different capacities from March, 1978 to March, 2014; and retired in March, 2014 as Group General Manager (Highest Technical Post). He prepared Mine Plan and Environment Management Plan, and involved in getting Environment Clearances for gypsum and limestone mines of RSMML from Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India. He is also working as Guest faculty in Engineering, Jainarayan Vyas University and also in Jodhpur National University, in Jodhpur School Of Public Health (Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur).

He is Charted Engineer with Institute of Engineers (India), Charted Mining Engineer with Mining Engineer’s Association of India, and Member of MMGI. At present, he is elected President, MEAI Rajasthan Chapter -Jodhpur and President, MBM Engineering College Alumni Association.

Madhu Sudan PaliwalAdd. Director Mines &Secretary, Rajasthan Chapter - Udaipur

Shri Paliwal was born on 11th Nov. 1960 at Udaipur, Rajasthan. He had completed Diploma in Mining and Mine Surveying in 1982. The then joined M/S Aravali Construction Company at Rajpura Dariba Mines of HZL in 1983 where he served for one and half years. Since 1984, he is working for the Department of Mines and Geology, Govt of Rajasthan.

During his service at DMG Rajasthan, he passed AMIE (Mining) from The Institution of Engineers (I), Calcutta in the year 1986. He did MBA (Marketing) from Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi in 1992.

Due to achieving higher education of AMIE, he received early promotion to the post of Asst. Mining Engineer in



1995, Mining Engineer in 2002 and finally to the post of superintending Mining Engineer in 2014. He was involved in preparing “Rajasthan Mineral Policy 2015” and “Rajasthan Minor Mineral Concession Rules 2017”.

He is a member of many national level committees of Government of India. He represented Govt of Rajasthan in the committee constituted by GoI for preparing “Sand Mining Guidelines 2016”. He worked as Officer-in-charge for many important cases of Govt of Rajasthan related to Environment & Mining in Hon'ble High Court, Hon'ble Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal.

At present, he is holding the position of Secretary, MEAI, Rajasthan Chapter - Udaipur.

Dr. T.N. VenugopalChairman, Bangalore Chapter

Dr T.N. Venugopal did his M.Sc. in Geology with Distinction from University of Mysore during the year 1972. He pursued his studies further and did his M.Tech from the University of Roorkee (Now IIT, Roorkee) and Ph D from the University of Mysore. He received training at NRSA, Hyderabad and Baba Atomic Research Centre, Trombay.

After completing his Masters’ Degree in Geology, Dr Venugopal joined the Department of Mines & Geology, Government of Karnataka in the year 1972 as Assistant Geologist. He worked in different positions like Geologist, Senior Geologist, Deputy Director & Joint Director in the Department. He was also holding the Charge of Additional Director (Ground Water) for a period of three years. During his tenure in the Department, he carried out Ground Water investigations, Mineral investigations and Mineral Administration. He was the Nodal Officer for World Bank assisted Hydrology Project and successfully implemented the Project. He has published his investigation reports as Geological Studies of the Department of Mines & Geology. He has participated in several National and International Seminars and presented papers. He has more than 50 technical papers to his credit.

After his superannuation from DMG, he was Consultant to JSW Steel Ltd., ACC Ltd., and Federation of Granite & Stone Industry.

He is the Fellow of Geological Society of India, Fellow of Mining Engineers’ Association of India and Fellow of Institution of Engineers’, India; Chairman of MEAI, Bengaluru Chapter and National Council Member of MEAI.

S. KumaraswamyExecutive Director/Mines, NLC India Ltd, Neyveli (Retd)Tamilnadu Chapter

Shri Kumaraswamy, after graduation in Physics from Madurai University in1973, also graduated in Automobile Eng. from Madras Institute of Technology, Chennai (currently a campus of Anna University) in 1976. After a brief stint in Automobile industry in Chennai, he joined Neyveli Lignite Corporation as a Graduate Trainee Engineer in June 1977. After working in the Lignite Mine, from 1981 to 1983, he joined Indian school of mines, Dhanbad to complete M.Tech in Opencast Mining and then passed FCC Metal (R) in 1984.

After climbing carrier ladder in NLC, he occupied the position of Chief General Manager (Mines) and retired as Executive Director (Mines) in 2012. He has undergone training in West Germany Lignite mines and continuous mining machinery manufacturing companies in 1983 for about 11 months. Has visited and studied the operation of opencast lignite mines in Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Macedonia and Ukraine in Europe and Philippines Thailand in Southeast Asia and Australia.

He was organising committee Chairman of MINEFEST 2014 and was in the Advisory committee of MINEFEST 2017. Has published over 27 papers on Mining subjects. As Vice Chairman of Tamilnadu and Kerala Mine Safety Association from 2003 to 2013, he served the mining Industry in promoting the safety standard of mines and



training needs of miners in Tamilnadu and Kerala. He is visiting faculty of NLC India ltd for training Executives of mines on Safety management.

At present, he is a member of CRIRSCO National core committee NACRI and National Council Member of MEAI. He is also Fellow of Institution of Engineers India (mining).

Cletus D’SouzaChairman, Goa Chapter

Shri D’Souza has passed Diploma in Mining & Mine Surveying from Government Polytechnic, Panjim, Goa. He was awarded the Sesa Goa Award for standing first in Diploma in Mining & Mine Surveying in the year 1987. He holds a First Class Mines Manager’s Certificate of Competency and a Surveyor’s Certificate of Competency. He has over 30 years of varied experience in mining operations, technical services, environment & forest matters, liaison & business facilitation and regulatory affairs.

He has worked as a Mines Manager for Sesa Goa / Vedanta and as a Sr. Manager (Technical Services) for the Minescape Group. At present, he is working as General Manager (Mining Operations) for Dolomite Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. He is the current Chairman of MEAI Goa Chapter.

Shri D.K. SahaniChairman, Nagpur Chapter

Mr. Sahni has over 57 years of rich experience in mining specializing in underground mining in difficult soft rocks conditions. He retired from MOIL the largest manganese mining company in India after serving for 10 years as CMD with outstanding performance.

He guided a number of prestigious projects which resulted in increased production capacity, modernization, mechanization and diversification which resulted in close to 100% increase in production and productivity. Some landmark achievement included the development of Crushing & Screening Plant, Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide Plant, High Intensity Magnetic Separation Plant, Integrated Mineral Processing Plant, Ferro Alloy Plant. During his tenure MOIL was awarded the prestigious Economic Times – Harvard Business School Associates of India Corporate Performance Award and MINIRATNA PSU status by GoI. Some key personal achievements of Mr. Sahni included being awarded the Eminent Engineer of The State (Maharashtra) award by Institution of Engineers India and the Coggin Brown Memorial Gold Medal by the MMGI.

Mr. Sahni also worked as President Mining in IMFA group and developed their greenfield mines. He also serves as an Independent Director for MSTC and Bharat Coking Coal. He is currently working as Independent director with NECO and as a freelance mining consultant.

Dr. Santosh Kumar RayPrincipal Scientist CIM&FRSecretary, Dhanbad Chapter

Dr. Ray is a Principal Scien-tist at CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Barwa Road, Dhan-bad. Before joining in CIMFR, Dhanbad as Scientist in 1995, he served as a Lecturer in Nagpur University for four years. He did his B.Sc Engg. (Mining) from National Institute of Technology (erstwhile REC), Rourkela, M.Tech (Mine Planning and Design) from Indian In-stitute of Technology (erstwhile IT), Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and Ph. D (Mining Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad.

He has 24 years of experience in R&D in mining and allied industries with additional exposure to HRD and academics, apart from 4 years’ experience in teaching to undergraduate mining engineering. He investigated



several S&T projects funded by Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India on mine fire and explosions. Presently, he is engaged with an S&T project on Coal Dust Explosion costing Rs 8 crores funded by CIL R&D board, Kol-kata.

He is the recipient of many national level awards in-cluding National Geoscience Award - 2016. He has to his credit 83 research publications in journals and conference proceedings including 19 in International journals and five patents including one International patent. His current research interests include Mine fire and explosion and mine ventilation.

Apart from holding life membership in MGMI, IME Journal Readers’ Forum, ISCA, CSI, SGAT and ISRM, he is a Fellow Member of The Institution of Engineers (India) and MEAI.

A K BhandariChairman, Delhi Chapter

Shri Bhandari, Chairman Delhi Chapter, MEAI has been associated with the mineral & mining sector for over 48 years in various capacities with government of India and Industry.

He retired as Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India where he guided and executed various regional mapping and mineral exploration projects. As Director Technical and Advisor Technical in the Ministry of Mines, he had close interaction with the state governments on matters related to exploration and mining projects. He also coordinated work of Science & Technology projects and Technical Planning Programming Committee of Ministry of Mines.

He was Director, Centre for Techno Economic mineral policy option, set up under the aegis of Ministry of Mines, as a think tank to evolve policy options and help address technology and management gaps for non-ferrous minerals, prepare and present non-binding techno economic advice on various issues related to minerals and mining sector.

He served as CEO of Skill Council for Mining sector promoted by Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, setup by NSDC, where he facilitated and managed various activities to improve the skilling ecosystem for mining sector in India. Currently he is working as a Mining Service Expert with Price Waterhouse Coopers, and an alumnus of Punjab University, Chandigarh.

Sunil Kumar VashisthAssociate GM (Geology), HZLUdaipur Chapter

Shri SK Vashisth is presently working as an Assoc. General Manager (Geology) & leading “Strategic Business Development Group” of Hindustan Zinc Limited. He has meritorious achievement in academics & profession alike with several outstanding contributions in the areas of Exploration (both Brown as well as Green-fields, spreading over 3 decades in HZL (1991-2019) and MECL (1989-91). He is currently heading HZL’s tenement management & liaison, with pan-India jurisdiction.

He has significantly contributed to HZL’s phenomenal organic growth, especially post disinvestment, in their World-class exploration & highly-mechanized UG Metal-Mining Operations through introduction of high-speed, Deeper, Faster exploration techniques & equipment, leading to phenomenal organic growth of > 4X in HZL’s in-situ R&R Portfolio.

He has also rendered services, being Jt organizing secretary / core member in organizing committees, in conducting number of seminars/ workshops organized across India under the banner of IGC, GSR, GSI, MEAI, ISTD and other allied professional bodies, successfully.

He has presented his research findings at various National Seminars, workshops/ Symposia, Trade-shows and published 13 technical papers. Upon invitation from Govt of Nepal, he visited for assessment



of its base metal assets for exploration/ exploitation potential.

KS RaoFormer Chief Mining Engineer, KGFHyderabad Chapter

Shri K S Rao, 78, has a Diploma in Mining Engineering and First Class Manager Certificate.

He joined The Kolar Gold Fields and rose to the post of Chief Mining Engineer and retired in 1993. During his service, he excelled in Shaft sinking, Stoping and other activities. He was an expert in mine track laying.

After retirement, he has held posts like “Agent” in Orient Cement for over 5 years, and presently he is a Consultant for Granite, Road Metal, etc. In every post he held, Mr Rao distinguished himself and earned laurels. He also worked as Chief Engineer in a Highway Project. He is perhaps the only Mining Engineer to serve in the Police Department. He worked as Traffic Engineer and advisor to Hyderabad City police for some years and introduced new ideas in to Traffic Management.

During his spare time, he took interest in a brain game called “Sudoku” and developed his own innovative methods. He has been awarded “WORLDRECORD” by THE LIMCA BOOK of RECORDS “For Solving Highest Number of ‘Very Hard’ Puzzles”. He has uploaded over 20 tutorial videos on YouTube. He has a following of nearly 10,00,000. He has published a Book “Sudoku Made Easy”, which gives easy methods of solving Sudoku puzzles.

He also authored a book “Some Miracles Shown by God” which narrates the wonderful manner in which God directly rescued him several times from trying situations, also in mines.

Suresh Chandra JhagrawatSr Manager (Mines) GMDC Ltd Ahemdabad Chapter

Born in 1972, Shri Suresh Chandra Jhagrawat obtained Diploma in Mining and Mine Surveying in the year 1995 from College of Technology and Agriculture Engineering Udaipur (CTAE). Later on, he completed AMIE in Mining Engineering from Institution of Engineers (I) Kolkata. He holds First Class Managers Certificate of competency (COAL). Initially he worked with a Mining consultancy group M/S Paramount Geomin Consultant at Udaipur as Mining Engineer. After that, he joined Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (GMDC) in the year 1996. At present, he is posted at Lignite Project Bhavnagar of GMDC LTD as Senior Manager (Mines).

Shri Jhagrawat imparted his services as treasurer of MEAI Bhavnagar Local centre for the last two terms. He also motivated many young mining engineers to become Life members of MEAI.

He is a recipient of Gold Medal from Board of Technical Education Jodhpur for securing first position in the year 1995, Bhamashah Award from Maharana Mewad Foundation Udaipur, Best Member of the Chapter award from Ahmedabad Chapter, twice in 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Deepak VidyarthiSecretary, Banglore Chapter

Shri Deepak Vidyarthi, is a graduate Mining Engineer from the Indian School of Mines (IIT) from 1972 batch and holds First Class Mine Managers’ Certificate of Competency (Unrestricted) to manage a Metalliferous Mine. Presently, he is the Secretary, Bangalore Chapter, MEAI.



He is backed with +45 years of practical experience in Underground as well as Opencast Mines in the renowned Kolar Gold Mines at ultra - depths of 3219m, Kudremukh Iron Ore Mines and NMDC where he attained the position of Executive Director before superannuation.

Post retirement, he has been working as a Consultant to a number of mining organizations like SEML, GEOMYSORE, DGML, JSW, OMC, SUA Explosives, KELSATEK etc. He had carried out life-saving Rescue operation at a site of civil disaster in Bangalore in 1983 and was awarded “Yeoman Service Medal”for having saved three lives. He is recipient of “NMDC Gold Medal” presented by MEAI (2006), “Emeritus Engineer” by John Taylor III Technical Education Trust at KGF (2017), Award of Excellence for Mine Planning & Design by Geominetech (2016), “Rungta Memorial Award” by MEAI (2017), and “Award of Excellence” for Mine Safety & Risk Management, by GEOMINETECH(2013).

Widely travelled, he participated in the Advanced International Training Program in Mining Technology”, atLuleâ, SWEDEN(1984);Visited Poland, West Germany, UK, Switzerland, Canada & Japan(1988) for Collaboration Arrangements for diversification activities of BGML and Led a joint delegation to the erstwhile USSR(1989) for execution of a mining project for High Speed Shaft Sinking.

He has presented over 100 technical papers at various National and International Seminars and authored a book titled, “Indian Iron Ore Mining” published in 2006.

He is a Fellow member of MEAI, Life member of World Mining Tech Society, Sweden, and a Member of MGMI.

FeliCitation to President Meai by Meai hQ, hyderabad

MEAI President Mr Arun Kumar Kothari and Mrs Kothari were felicitated at 1:00 p.m on June 15, 2019 by members of Headquarters, Hyderabad. MEAI office bearers and members of Headquarters attended the felicitation function. The felicitation was followed by Lunch in Royalton Hotel.

Mr Arun Kothari receiving token gift

Mrs Kothari receiving token gift

Mrs & Mr Aurn Kothari flanked by affectionate members of Headquarters





Meai annual awards 2019MEAI-Sitaram Rungta Memorial Award

Ashok KumarDhanbad Chapter

Shri. Ashok Kumar is work-ing as a Scientist in Strata Mechanics and Geomechan-ics Section at CSIR-CIMFR, Dhanbad since April, 2016. He did B.Tech. in Mining Engi-neering from IIT(BHU), Vara-nasi in 2013. After completing graduation, he joined CSIR-CIMFR as Trainee Scientist and completed M.Tech. in Mine Safety Engineering from AcSIR, CSIR-CIMFR, Dhanbad in 2015. He did his M.Tech. thesis on “De-sign of rib/snook for mechanised depillaring”. After completing his masters, he joined NIRM, Bengaluru as Scientist-I in 2015. The understanding of rock mechan-ics and its application helped him to get selected as Scientist at CSIR-CIMFR in 2016 and continuing here thereafter. He has visited USA and Czech Republic to present technical papers in conferences. He has pub-lished 7 papers in reputed journals, prepared 8 techni-cal reports on various referred issues of underground coal mines and presented 11 papers in different na-tional/international conferences. He is also pursuing part-time PhD from IIT(ISM), Dhanbad.

MEAI-NMDC Award

Dr. Danda Srinivas RaoChief Scientist, CSIR-IMMT

Dr. Danda Srinivas Rao completed his Master’s Degree in Geology (in 1986) from Berhampur University, Odisha with two Gold Medals. Then he carried out his Ph.D. at CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar as a CSIR Research Fellow on Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Nishikhal manganese ore deposit, Odisha. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he joined the same Institute as

a Fellow Scientist and worked for 3 years and thereafter worked as a geologist for a short time at Geomin Consultants Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar. In June 1997, he joined as Scientist-C at CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur and subsequently moved to NML- Madras Centre, Chennai and worked there until December 2007. He then moved to CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar and rose to Chief Scientist position since June 2015. His area of specialisation is Applied Mineralogy and Mineral Beneficiation. He has worked around 100 research projects sponsored by central as well as state Government/ Public/Private sectors. Dr. Rao has published 120 Research papers in various International and National Journals.

Dr. Rao has been honoured with (i) National Geoscience Award-2018 by the Ministry of Mines (selected to receive) (ii) SGAT Award of Excellence-2018 & Sitaram Rungta Memorial Award-2015 from SGAT (iii) Lala Ramkishore Singhal Award-2018 & R.P. Bhatnagar Award-2017 from MGMI (iv) Mineral Beneficiation Award-2018 from IIME (v) Technology Award-2017 (as a team member) from CSIR, New Delhi and (vi) Altekar Award-2006 (as a team member) from CSIR-NML, Jamshedpur. In addition to these, he has also received 9 best paper publication/presentation awards.

He is life member of various scientific and professional societies like IIME, IIM, ISAG, SGAT, SAAEG, IGC, IIChE, MGMI, OBA, MEAI, EMSI and GSI. He was the Secretary of IIME Bhubaneswar Chapter and presently the EC member of SGAT.

MEAI-SIMMINDS AWARD

Syed Maqbool Ahmed Rajasthan Chapter - Udaipur Er. Syed Maqbool Ahmed is an eminent Mining Engineer and Life Member of MEAI since 1998. He passed out Diploma in Mining Engineer-ing in 1977 and holding First Class Manager Certificate of competency (Restricted) un-



He has been felicitated with the “Best Manager” Award during the celebration of “Gujarat Lignite Mines Safety Week” in 2015 and 2018 for his outstanding accomplishments in Mine Production and Safety. He was also the convener of South Gujarat Local Centre of MEAI- Ahmedabad Chapter in 2018.

MEAI- Abheraj Baldota Memorial Gold Medal Award (Mining Engineer of the year)

Umesh SinghAhmedabad Chapter

Shri Umesh Singh com-pleted his B.Tech in Mining Engineering in 1993 from the Indian Institute of Tech-nology, Kharagpur. Obtained First Class Mine Manager’s Competency Certificate from DGMS in the year 2002. He Joined in GMDC Limited in 1993 and worked at Guja-rat in Mining activities for more than 13 Years. He con-tributed in mine operation of Bucket wheel excavator, shovel-dumper combination, planning, budgeting & es-timation, mining equipment, operation & maintenance. He worked as Shift Manager, Production Manager, Safety Officer, and Mine Manager. Developed new Lig-nite Mine at Tadkeshwar (Surat – State : Gujarat) .

In the year 2007, he joined in Thiess Contractor Indo-nesia (a subsidiary of Thiess Pty Ltd Australian Com-pany) and was Involved in review & introduction of new initiative for Health & Safety like Risk Management Plan, Fatigue Management , Permit to work etc. He worked in Abhijeet Group from May 2008 to August 2009 and was involved in clearances for new coal min-ing Block development including financing of mining project. In the Sep’ 2009, he joined in Pakri Barwadih Coal Mining Project, Jharkhand (First Captive Coal Block of NTPC Limited) as a Manager (Mining). He was involved in development of coal block (i.e. Govt. & For-est land acquisition activities, statutory permissions of DGMS, Coal Controller, CGWB, JSPCB , MoEF, etc., ) and successfully commencing coal production from

der MMR 1961 since 1990. He is having 41 Years ex-perience in conventional and non-conventional open-cast mining. After 8 years association with RSMM, he joined Birla Corporation Ltd, at their unit Birla Cement Works Chittorgarh in 1986 and worked for 32 years in various statutory capacities & superannuated in April 2018 as Asst. Vice President (Mines). At present he is holding the position of Agent of Mines.

He was associated with experts from Terrock Con-sultant, Australia, CBRI and IBM for conducting Blast induced vibration study in surrounding mines of Chit-torgarh, Rajasthan.

As per directives of BCL management, he was fully associated and made outstanding contribution to-wards successfully conducting blast free mining by de-ployment of Surface Miner, Ripper, Terminator, Rock Breaker, Hydraulic Splitter etc.

Visited Maynmar limestone deposit to explore the pos-sibility of establishment of cement plant. Also visited Indonesia to study Trencor Surface Miner for excava-tion of limestone without blasting.

MEAI- Smt. Bala Tandon Memorial Award

Swagat RayAhmedabad, Chapter

Shri Swagat Ray is a Life Member of MEAI- Ahmedabad Chapter. He is currently posted at Amod (G-19 Extn.) Lignite Mine of M/S GMDC Ltd; Bharuch, Gujarat as General Manager (Project). He is 44 years old, having a Diploma in Mining Engineering from OSME, Keonjhar in 1994; graduated from the Institution of Engineers (India)-Kolkata in 2001 and passed 1st Class Manager’s Certificate of competency in 2004.

He belongs to Cuttack District of Odisha and has 20 years of experience in Mining Field. From 2006, he is with GMDC Ltd. and prior to that, he worked with Talcher Coal Fields of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).



the Coal Block and within two years, them mine is pro-ducing more than 6.81 MTPA with Av SR of 3.973 . For the first time, NTPC has implemented Mine Developer cum Operator model in development and operation of coal block. This mine is being showcased as model mine in Jharkhand with state of art facility (i.e Com-plete mine has been covered with installation of CCTV cameras, GPS and geofencing, control room, access of mine view from anywhere through App, introduction of 280 t dump trucks, Environment Management sys-tem one of the best in coal industry etc). He worked as Mine Manager and presently working as Addl General Manager & Agent under Mines act.

MEAI- Abheraj Baldota Memorial Gold Medal Award (Young Mining Engineer of the year)

Dr. Islavath Sreenivasa RaoSingareni Chapter

Dr. Islavath Sreenivasa Rao is presently working as Assistant Professor and Head, Depart-ment of Mining Engineeing, Kakatiya University, Univer-sity College of Engineering, Kothagudem. He is also Chairperson, Board of Stud-ies in Mining Engineering, Kakatiya University. He has completed B.Tech (Mining Engineering) with 82.73% from University College of Engineering, Kakatiya Uni-versity, Kothagudem in 2019 and was awarded SCCL GOLD MEDAL for the university topper in B.Tech. He did M.Tech (Mining Engineering) with 9.38 CGPA from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur in 2012 and was topper of the M.Tech. He also received PhD de-gree from Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad in 2018.

His areas of research are Rock Mechanics, Longwall Mining, Mine Ground Control and Numerical Model-ing. He is also handling the industrial or consultancy projects worth Rs 30 lakhs. He published more than 15 technical papers in National and International Journals and Conferences.

MEAI-SRG Information Technology Award

Prof. Bhabesh Chandra SarkarDhanbad Chapter

Prof. Bhabesh C. Sarkar, in the Department of Applied Geology at IIT(ISM) Dhan-bad, is a renowned Geostat-istician having 39 years of professional experience with a strong blend of industry and academics. He obtained his five-year Integrated M.Sc. degree in Applied Geology from IIT Kharagpur in 1980 and PhD & DIC in Mining Geostatistics from Imperial College of Science and Technology, London in 1988. He had served MECL (1980-81) and HZL (1981-1989) as Geologist and Senior Geologist. He joined ISM as faculty member in December 1989 in the Department of Applied Geology. He also served as Director AICTE, New Delhi during 1997-98 on deputation and contrib-uted towards planning and policy formulation for tech-nical education in the country. Prof. Sarkar represents various committees as expert member both in India (including NMET and GAC of Ministry of Mines) and abroad and has over 109 research publications to his credit in journals of repute.

MEAI- Smt. Gullapalli Sarala Devi Memorial Award (Lifetime achievement by a

Mining Engineer)

Kansingh Choudhary Udaipur ChapterProfessional Qualification• BE (Mining Engineering),

1969, MBM Engineering Collage Jodhpur, India

• Manager'sFirst-classCer-tificate of Competency –Unrestricted

• Manager's Second-classCertificate of Competency –Restricted

• Memberof–LifeMember&FellowMemberMEAI.IE (India), EIZ, ISTD



International Exposure

• WorkingMineexperience–India,Zambia:Lead,Zinc, copper, Iron, Rock Phosphate, Coal, Gold

• Visiting mines exposure: to Australia, Sweden,UK, Poland, China, South Africa, Zambia, India for Lead, Zinc, Copper, Gold, Iron, Tin, platinum & coal mines in various countries

• Travelling Visit to US, Canada, Finland,Singapore

Professional Competency, Strength and experience (Mostly In Hindustan Zinc Ltd, India and Konkola Copper Mines Zambia)

• Highleveloftechnicalknowledgeforbasemetaland gold exploration, mine feasibility, due diligence, Mine project Construction, and Operation of Open pit and underground mines

• GrassRootProjectconstructionandoperationofRampura Aguch Lead Zinc open pit mine (HZL) with associated beneficiation plant, power, cross-country water pipeline, DG sets power etc. This included construction of tailing dam, waste dump , short and long term mine development and environment management plan of mine

• ExecutionandcontrolofKonkolaMinesZambia’sKDMP 1505m deep Shaft sinking, Equipping, headgear, winding systems& new mine infrastructure development like Decline (about 3000m), 3 ventilation shafts, High Speed &High Tonnage Tramming, high capacity Crushing, Pumping Systems. high level of focus on safety, KPI, project schedule &cost.project worth around 1 billion USD

• Construction, installation commissioning andoperation of 1505m deep 8.25 Mtpa cu ore production,5.5Mtpa high speed tramming,180,000 cu.m pumping, 1150 cu.m /sec vent fans, backfill system etc.

• Examiner of First Class Manager’s certificateMetal Unrestricted for 4-5 years

• Held various Positions; last positionVP (MD)/ (ED) till July 2005 in Hindustan zinc ltd India, prior to AED, GM, CM at corporate, Unit head at various mines and other various position since 1971

MEAI- Master Tanay Chadha Memorial Geologist Award

Ajay Kumar Jain,Verval Porbandar Chapter

Shri Ajay Kumar Jain is a geologist from Dr Harisingh Gour Vishwavidhalaya, Sa-gar ( Formerly University of Saugor, MP) . He completed M.Tech (Applied Geology) with First Division in 1987. Merit Scholarship was grant-ed to him for his M.Tech Study by UGC. He obtained his First Class Manager Certificate of Competency ( Restricted to Opencast Mining) in 2001. He obtained a PG Di-ploma in Yogic Science from University of Saugor, MP and Diploma in Marketing Management from IGNOU.

He has 31 years of experience in the fields of geol-ogy and mining, from mineral exploration to mineral exploitation in granite, limestone, laterite, clay and coal in India and Nepal, in different capacities in MPMPL, Digvijay Cement, Sanghi Cement, Anjan Cement, Murli Cement, KJS Cement etc. He has rich experience of green field cement projects for resources identification, site selection, various clearances, erection, commis-sioning etc. At present, he is working as Head-Mineral Resources in Ambuja Cements Limited (a member of Lafarge Holcim), CMU-Ambujanagar, Gujarat.

His credit goes for assessment of resources and use of low grade limestone and his expertise extends in the fields of resource estimation and development, mineral conservation, and limestone production for ce-ment industries. He has published papers on polished stone, quality control of limestone, responsible mining, sustainable Mining surface rights matter, mining law, mine safety, and mine environment in various souve-nirs, journals and National and International Semi-nars. Also presented about e-mineral auction, surface rights matter, various amendment in mineral and min-ing laws through MEAI Chapters of Nagpur and Ve-raval- Porbandar.

He worked as Joint Secretary for MEAI Nagpur Chap-ter. He played a key role for revival of Veraval-Porban-dar Chapter and presently, he is extending services as its Secretary.



MEAI- SCCL Coal Award – Mining Engineer

Kandukuri Laxminarayana Singareni Chapter

Shri Kandukuri Laxminaraya-na was born on 10th Janu-ary 1961. He was graduated in Mining Engineering from Kothagudem School of Mines, Osmania University in 1984. He did his Post Graduation in Ecology and Environment from IGNOU, New Delhi in 1989, and got top rank in India. He has put in 35 years of experience as an eminent Mining Engineer, now working as General Manager, Srirampur Area in SCCL (A Govt. Company).

He got ‘Rashtriya Gouraw Award’ from Indian Inter-national Friendship Society, New Delhi in 2014 and got Best Officer award from Telangana Government in 2016. He was selected for the ‘Gollapalli Sarala Devi award’ for the year 2017 from MEAI. As Dy. General Manager, Human Resources Develop-ment (HRD), he has translated Coal Mines Regulations 1957 into Telugu version and received appreciation from the then C&MD Sri APVN Sharma, IAS. He has worked as Official Spokesman in SCCL during 1998 and got appreciation from Sri GSG Iyyangar, the then Director (PA&W). He was also pivot in writing about the different gases and their precautionary measures in underground mines and got appreciation from Sri M.K. Benjamin, the then Director (Project Planning). He got appreciation letters from Sri P. Chandrakanth Sharma, Chief General Manager (HRD) for rendering excellent service while working in HRD Department.

He has received appreciation from Sri RH Khwaza, IAS, the then C&MD for producing the Telefilm “Suryo-dayam”.

In recognition of his outstanding contributions in Coal mines, The Institution of Engineers (India), Telangana Centre, Hyderabad has presented the” ENGINEER OF THE YEAR AWARD”.

MEAI-Dr M.L.Jhanwar Award for Best Article in MEJ

Dr. B.S. ChoudharyDhanbad Chapter

Dr. Bhanwar Singh Choud-hary graduated from M.B.M. Engineering College Jodh-pur in 1998 and completed M.Tech. and Ph.D. from In-dian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu Unviversity), Varanasi in 2001 and 2011 respectively with Mine Planning and Design and Rock Blasting as specializations.

Dr. Choudhary is presently working as Assistant Pro-fessor in the Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines) Dhan-bad.

He has more than 6 years industrial experience in sur-face and underground metal mining and more than 9 years experience in teaching and research. His areas of expertise include mine planning, drilling and blast-ing technology and underground metal mining. He has published more than 65 technical research papers in various international/ national journals including pro-ceedings of seminars/symposiums.

He has guided 4 PhD scholars and 31 M.Tech stu-dents. He is handling R& D projects sponsored by Min-istry of Mines and Coal S&T and completed more than 50 Industry sponsored projects.



Message FroM CrirsCo ChairPerson



Message FroM sMe



Message FroM dr. harry Parker



Message FroM Meai ForMer Presidents and MeMbersMohammad Fasihuddin(1990 - 93)

I was impressed by the installation ceremony of MEAI Council with Mr. Arun Kothari as its President held at Udaipur. The enthusiasm shown by the members of three Rajasthan chapters was energetic with participation of all members. I had attended the new president’s installation after almost after 15 years as I was mostly outside India during these years.

The acceptance address by Mr. Kothari was very apt laying down some immediate goals for his Council.• ToimprovefinancesofMEAIasthecashbalance

was low at that time. The previous council headed by Mr. T Victor had undertaken a lot of activities including organizing seminars, workshops, training programmers etc., thereby the cash balance was weak at the time of handing over. I understand the cash balance is healthy now.

• To energize Chapters’ working. Succeeded inenergizing Kolkata & Delhi Chapters and opening of new Chapters at Dhanbad & Mumbai.

• To achieve 6,000 members enrolment. Iunderstand this is almost done.

• To organize Council meetings on time and toinvolve all Council members, Past Presidents and Institutional members. He did well in involving all in MEAI activities.

• To make MEJ financially self-sustaining byorganizing Advertisements. This is done.

The above are some of the impressions I can recall. Mr. Arun Kothari has done exceedingly well on the above. I was impressed by his total commitment to attend and organize all council meetings. He took lead in having new Secretary General.

I am sure, he will continue to help and take part in MEAI activities under next President Mr. Sanjay Patnaik. Well done Mr. Arun Kothari & council members & thank you all for your energetic contributions.

I will not be able to attend the next AGM scheduled at Bhubaneswar on June 29 for installation of Next Council with Mr. Sanjay Pattnaik as president as we will be travelling to USA in the last week of June.

Wish you & your family all the best and like to meet you in all MEAI activities in future.

Dr. Meda Venkataiah(2003 - 07)Executive DirectorMSPL Limited

It gives me immense pleasure to learn that Mining Engineers’ Association of India (MEAI) is bringing out the Special Issue 2019 of Mining Engineers’ Journal, which is being published on the occasion of “Annual Award Function and Installation Ceremony” of New Council Members on 29th June 2019.

MEAI, over a period, could achieve importance in the Mineral/Mining Industry and well recognized by State/Central Governments. The quality of our Journal has also improved. Mining Engineers’ responsibility in society is very vital though recognition from the society is not up to our satisfaction. Let us work to educate the society on the importance of Mining.

“There is nothing in the world which is not made out of the rocks”

At the same time, it is our endeavor to give back to the nature. It is necessary to promote environmental friendly Mining. We are proud as Geoscientists to be part of Industrial development of the country. Let us work towards better recognition and welfare of MEAI.

I appreciate outgoing Office Bearers, and congratulate incoming Office bearers and Council Members.

I wish a great future for MEAI.



Dr VD Rajagopal(2009 - 11)Director of Mines & Geology (Retd.), Govt. of Andhra Pradesh

I am glad to know that MEAI is bringing out a special issue of MEJ to mark the occasion of the new council taking over the governance of our MEAI. We are all aware that positive improvements in all spheres of activities of the Association, especially internet based communications are brought about, year after year. We are able to know the views of our members in no time on any issue. Mining is one of the growth engines for the development of any Nation. We need to have very effective mining policies to achieve the objective of growth in GDP in this sector. Unfortunately, due to recent amendments made to MMDR Act, mining is facing a setback. However, it is heartening to note that our Association is doing its utmost by communicating its views to the policy makers most effectively. All successive presidents have contributed to the growth of MEAI. The contributions of the outgoing President Shri AK Kotari need a special mention. He has made full use of his vast experience as Mineral Administrator in the Government of Rajasthan. He has encouraged and also directly engaged himself in conducting technical seminars frequently across the country. Being a retired senior officer, he has become a role model to the future presidents. I am certain that our incoming President Shri SK Pattnaik Ji is the most able person to take over the mantle and contribute for the growth in the challenging times ahead. It is known that the Mining Industry is viewed by some quarters as the main culprit in Environmental Pollution, mainly due to their lack of understanding. As experts with ground knowledge, we need to counter this misconceived attitude. We have to equip ourselves with legal armory to fight the vexatious public interest Litigations against mining. I am confident that Shri Pattnaik will lead ably.

I extend my whole hearted greetings to all the members, the outgoing and incoming Presidents and Council members on this occasion.

T Victor(2015 - 17)Compliments from Immediate Past President……

I am delighted to see the excellent performance of President Shri Arun Kumar Kothari to whom I handed over the baton of the Association – in July 2017- to continue run even faster, climb higher; do bigger and think bolder to go far beyond……..to make the MEAI’s Flag fly to greater height! He has done it far beyond anyone’s expectation!! My best compliments to him!!!

I had the privilege of leading this Association as its 30th National President during 2015-17. Existence of Mining Engineers’ Association of India with a 5000 membership base in 23 Chapters, spread across the country was made known to the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India for the first time, on 3rd July 2015. MEAI was introduced in its proper perspective, its strength, its objects and its commitment towards ‘Nation Building’ and as the largest ‘Mining Professional Body’ in the country. Impressed upon the details furnished, both the Secretaries have assured to involve MEAI in all the consultative mechanism – policymaking bodies / committees connected with mining industry, at both the State and Central level. This was the beginning of exposure of MEAI to Central Ministries at New Delhi.

After signing a collaborative Joint Agreement with SME, USA and an MOU with CRIRSCO in February 2016, the Association has received the International recognition as “India’s Premier Mining Professional Body”. Besides several milestone achievements during 2015-17 have gone in to the history of MEAI. On these strong hold, I had handed over the realm of the Association to Shri Arun Kothari, who has fulfilled his promise of taking MEAI to greater height. We have witnessed rapid evolution in the functioning of our Association during 2017-19. The Digital Technology enabled the President to establish a close connect between the Headquarters and the Chapters; between President and the Council Members; and even every member of the Association have been made to be



connected. The latest achievement being the Election for the New Council for the term 2019-21, through ‘E-Voting’, which has been successfully conducted this year.

It is my earnest desire and hope that MEAI should very soon emerge as a well recognized international professional organization and attain the leadership role in ‘South East Asia Mining’. I would advise the incoming Presidents of MEAI, to make use of the collaborative relationship already established with SME and CRIRSCO to achieve the above goal.

While MEAI is on growth path, our redefined objects should be ‘Enabling, Engaging and Empowering’ the professionals in the Indian mineral Industry for fulfilling the country’s “Vision 2030” to make India an empowered country in the committee of nations of the world.

Best wishes.

Dr. Abani R. Samal

Dear Mr Kothari,

I joined the MEAI in 1997-98. However, since last five years I am more actively involved in MEAI affairs. I had opportunity to work with senior members of MEAI including yourself. I have seen constant positive changes in MEAI over last few years: the new headquarters being complete and functional, the improvements of the magazine (MEJ) etc. However, I have observed substantial improvements in multiple fronts in last two years.

First of all, I congratulate you for taking the bold step of decentralizing the tasks and power to various committees. Thanks for nominating me to serve in two such committees. This was the right first step towards good and effective governance. The results of this step are being felt by members.

As a member of the editorial board, I had opportunity to work with Dr PV Rao. The earlier improvements made in the print quality could not be sustainable without improving quality of the papers and support

of corporates in the form of advertisements. If I take a 2019 May issue of the MEJ I can easily see the improvements made in both areas which makes the publication sustainable.

You fully supported the activities of NACRI (National Core Committee for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Reserves in India) by providing support of MEAI and representing NACRI in various high-level meetings with FIMI and Ministry of Mines. I thank you for the same.

Further, your support in making changes in the bylaws to accommodate a competent person category is the first ever step taken by any professional society in India. I hope, MEAI will be recognized as a leading professional organization in the world with comparable status as other CRIRSCO member countries.

Your leadership and support has resulted in strengthening partnership of MEAI with SME. The SME is the largest and most recognized professional society for mining industry professionals based in the USA. I am positive that the partnership will take MEAI to another direction.

You faced various challenges at the beginning of the term; but you handled them efficiently which resulted in stability in the functioning of the MEAI. Congratulations on completing a successful tenure of two years as the President of the MEAI.

Today we face various challenges in the industry, which needs smart people like you to provide leadership to address them. I hope you will continue to provide leadership to the industry in carving the most suitable path for making our industry serve to the society in a sustainable manner.

Prof. BB Dhar

I am pleased to learn that the Mining Engineers’ Association of India (MEAI) is publishing a special issue of MEAI Journal in June 2019 to commemorate conclusion of the Presidency of Mr. Arun Kumar Kothari.



Under the Presidency of Mr. Kothari, the Association has witnessed rapid evolution and has made all out efforts to address the mounting challenges being faced by the Mining Sector. The Association under his Presidency has concentrated on connecting members through local and national WhatsApp Groups with a vision of quick and maximum reach for everyone, restructuring the administrative procedures, strengthening finance and improving general administration.

The Association has organized a number of National and International Seminars and Workshops on the relevant issues and challenges being faced by the Mining Sector. The Association has been in close interaction with the various Ministries and Government Departments. The Association is representing the Mining Sector before the Government of India.

I am sure the members will contribute immensely to make the Special Issue of the MEAI Journal a grand success and a valuable document for the Mining Sector.

I am sure the Association will continue to improve its activities through its various Chapters under the next Presidency. I am happy that the Association has established a new Chapter i.e. the MEAI, Mumbai Chapter which will be contributing a lot to further strengthen the Association.

I wish all the best for the grand success of the Journal.

Kolli Umamaheswara RaoJt. Sec-cum-Treasurer, MEAI

Positive & Exemplary Contribution of Shri A.K. Kothari

I would like to place on record the valuable contributions and support extended by our President Shri A.K. Kothari ji. His guidance in development of MEAI is memorable and will be cherished as valuable memoirs and may even be preserved by all Chapters in their rich Archives I would like to enumerate a few of the milestones as below:

1. A pointed and steep upward growth of Life members, Fellow members, Life Institutional Members, Annual members, Corporate and Student members

2. Timely and fast communication amongst different chapters by forming suitable WhatsApp groups

3. The new building of MEAI (HQ) was suitably furnished, refurbished and necessary face lift was given to make it look like a modern corporate office, wherein workstations with all facilities such as Wifi, internet with Xeroxing, color printing etc. were provided

4. Pursued several Chapters which were dormant have been reactivated. His dynamism resulted in the formation of new Chapters like Dhanbad and Mumbai

5. Due to his coordinated and consistent efforts, the financial position of MEAI (HQ) and chapters improved considerably

6. He was instrumental in implementing e-Elections, which were organized in a befitting manner, getting the fullest co-operation of all members.

7. Improved the quality of Mining Engineers’ Journal by getting maximum advertisements

8. He was successful in organizing various activities such as Seminars, Workshops, Exhibitions, and Meetings (with government). Celebration of Indian Mining Day used to adore itself, with a lot of pomp and show.

9. Contributed suggestions on draft National Mineral Policy, framing implementable Rules and Regulations by amending MMDR Act. He revived Raipur Chapter and also inaugurated Dhanbad and Mumbai Chapters. In spite of all his efforts Visakhapatnam, Singareni, and Himalayan Chapters did not conducted Elections as per bylaws. Hutti-Kalaburagi, Raipur, Jabalpur, Rayalaseema , Singareni, and Visakhapatnam have not conducted any Workshops, Technical paper meetings, Seminars etc.

10. Through your Leadership, MEAI has got International recognition by signing MOU with Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) and signed a joint agreement with SME, USA.

11. He inspired members to donate for different Disaster Relief Funds, such as Flood Relief Fund of Kerala & Karnataka, Bharatkeveer Fund (Pulwama) and Odisha Cyclone Fund etc.

The tenure of Shri A.K. Kothari has been a golden era in the history of MEAI. I hope that the New Council will carry forward this rich heritage and legacy of this great organization in future.



Dr. T.N. Venugopal

Chairman,Bangalore Chapter

Innovative Ways of our President, Mr. Arun Kumar Kothari

I had the privilege of seeing working style of Presidents of MEAI since late 90’s. Every President, with whomever I interacted, starting from Dr. Meda Venkataiah to Mr. Arun Kumar Kothari, had his own style of functioning and has contributed for the development of MEAI in his own way. When Mr. Kothari took charge as President, the financial position of MEAI was not sound. There were efforts to improve standard of the Journal. Though there were three Secretary Generals for different periods during the tenure of Mr. Kothari, he was able to manage the administration very smoothly. He, a soft spoken person, did not allow much scope for ill will or bitterness in administering the Association. He has many credits in taking forward the MEAI, at the State level and the National level. He took the initiative in reviving many Chapters to take up activities in a manner as though they were competing among themselves for better performance. He took pains along with his team in improving the standards of the Journal of MEAI. He made the Journal self-sustaining, through advertisements.

To improve the financial position of MEAI, he found several innovative methods. Some of the noteworthy ways are following up with the Chapters to transfer 25% of profit made of any event to MEAI Headquarters by making appropriate provision in the byelaws; pursuing Life Members to become Fellows by paying Rs.10,000, introducing Gold plated Pin to Fellows and Life Members at a cost; introducing postal charges for hard copy of the Journal, etc. He also took the initiative to open new chapters, wherever interest was shown. There was good attendance in most of the Council meetings. Thus, he made every effort to increase membership strength of MEAI and their activities.

To connect members, many WhatsApp Groups like Chapter group, NC group, CMSLR group etc., were created. This fast connectivity helped members to express their views freely. Issues were deliberated instantly. He also raised MEAI status at the National level by inviting and interacting with NITI Aayog Members. Through his leadership, MEAI was able to reach, represent and convince NITI Aayog on issues

relevant to mining industry; and MEAI became member in the National Committees.

Long standing issue of amending byelaws of MEAI were also resolved with the help of a Committee comprising of senior and experienced members. Now we have comprehensive bylaws/ rules to administer the Association. He personally appealed to all members to contribute their might to help the affected people due to unprecedented floods in Kerala and Kodagu district in Karnataka. He is also trying to mobilize resources to help people devastated by cyclone in Odisha. Some time back suggestion of starting a fund to support needy members of MEAI was also approved. His successors will have to take this forward.

Another outstanding achievement is E-voting for Council elections. I learnt that the number of members who voted this time to the Council Election is larger than what it used to be through postal ballot. In fact, he personally addressed grievances while e-voting was in progress and attended to each and every complaint personally.

He is leaving the post of President after making MEAI vibrant, financially and technically. Hope his successors will continue his efforts and with more and more innovative ways. I, on behalf of Bangalore Chapter, and myself convey our Best Wishes for all his efforts and achievements. We also wish Mr. Kothari and his family all the best and good health.

R.B. Mathur

Dear Mr. Kothari,

Greetings and best wishes.

Congratulations to you for an exceptional glorious innings as President of Mining Engineers’ Association of India (MEAI). It is really great on your part that you have asked for a message from us at this juncture.

The fact of the matter is that neither MEAI nor Mining Engineers’ Journal has adequate representation from Coal sector. Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. is also not adequately represented in MEAI despite the fact that it is closely located to Hyderabad. None from Coal sector has ever been President of MEAI or a Hon. General Secretary.

You are a person with broad vision and whenever I have met you in Delhi or Hyderabad in a Seminar, you impressed me. Hence, this message is in response to your desire published in Mining Engineers’ Journal on page 4 (Issue: May 2019).



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international initiatives highlights

In Attendance:• Mr.Biran

• Dr.AbaniSamal

• Ms. Barb Arnold: Current (Outgoing President) SMEPresident

• Prof. Hugh Miller: SME President Elect (& IncomingPresident)

• Mr.JohnMansanti:SMEImmediatePast

• Mr.BobSchafer:SMEPresidentElect

• Mr.DaveKanagy:SMEExecutiveDirector

• Ms. Melanie J. Penoyar-Perez: SME Director ofOperations and MEAI Relationship Manager

Topics Covered:• IT/AssociationManagementSystems

o SME has partnered with Personify, an Association Management System (AMS) provider for the management of SME membership data and ecommerce functions.

o SME would be happy to provide guidance to MEAI in selecting a technology provider; however, the SME systems is not readily available for use by SME affiliate organizations.

o MEAI should look first to outline requirements for its AMS.

o At this time, SME does have an alternative technology to connect MEAI members with SME membership.

• ConferencePartnershipOpportunities

o SME is open to further discover on how MEAI and SME might partner on a future conference in India.

o SME is open to collaborating on educational content.

o MEAI needs to outline what is needed from SME to further this conversation.

• PublishingOpportunities

o MEAI Mining Engineers Journal ( MEJ)

sMe/Meai PartnershiP Meeting notesFebruary 27, 2018

Hyatt Denver Convention Center - SME would be happy to cross-promote the MEAI

publication on the SME Community, an online collaborative platform for members.

- Industry professionals may submit articles for consideration in:

• MiningEngineering(ME)• Mining,Metallurgy&Exploration(MME)• AccesstoMining,Metallurgy&Exploration(MME) o All SME members now have access to a new

online journal called Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (MME).

o Access to the journal is provided through the SME website.

o Members need to login to the SME website to access the link to the journal

o Visit https://www.smenet.org/publications-resources/publications/mining,-metallurgy-exploration-(mme) for more information.

• Actions o Please add Melanie Penoyar-Perez (penoyar-

[email protected]) to MEAI member communications to keep SME in the loop about developments with MEAI.

o Please send links to MEJ to Melanie to post in the SME Community.

o Abani to set up meeting with SME staff and Mr. Sanjay Pattnaik

Following this meeting, the SME Board of Directors approved to extend the MEAI Association Membership Partnership through 2021.

The above high level meeting was also attended by distinguished members of the SME of Indian origin: Dr. Vishal Gupta (Minerals Processing Engineer, EP Minerals), Rajesh Raitani (Process Engineers, USG), Prof. (Dr.) Manoj K. Mohanty, (Chair-Department of Mining & Metallurgical Engineering, University of Reno), Arun Rai (Manager -Technology & Engineering / Genesis Alkali) and Dr. SA. Ravishankar (Saint-Gobain Research North America).

sMe news



Standing: (L to R): Ms Barbara Arnold (now, past president, she was the sitting president during conference), Vishal Gupta (Minerals Processing Engineer, EP Minerals), Rajesh Raitani (Process Engineers, USG), Bob Shafer (Incoming President (2020-2021), Prof. (Dr.) Manoj K. Mohanty, (Chair-Department of Mining & Metallurgical Engineering, University of Reno), Arun Rai .,MS., MBA., (Manager -Technology & Engineering / Genesis Alkali)Sitting (L to R): Dave Kanagy (Executive Director, SME), Mr Biran, Dr Abani Samal and Dr. SA. Ravishankar (Saint-Gobain Research North America) Later joined but not in picture: Mr John Mansanti (Past President of SME) and Prof Hugh Miller (Current President of SME)

Meai viCe President Meets sMe leaders

On May 15, 2019, Mr Sanjay Pattnaik, the Vice President III of the Association met with Mr Dave Kanagy, the Executive Director of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME). The meeting was held at the Headquarters of the SME at Denver, USA. Mrs. Melanie J. Penoyar-Perez, Director of Operations and Mr. Bret Wichert, Director of Finance of SME were present with Dave. Dr Abani Samal coordinated the meeting.

Mr Pattnaik, in his introductory remark, said that MEAI is keen in taking the current partnership between MEAI and SME to the next level. Mr Pattnaik suggested that MEAI can benefit from SME advice on improving IT infrastructure and digital presence of the MEAI. Mrs. Melanie suggested that MEAI should come back to SME on its specific needs so that SME could provide necessary guidance to MEAI on the Association’s Management System (AMS). SME also agreed to cooperate on a joint technical conference to be held in India; however SME suggested that MEAI should be specific on the expected level of cooperation that SME might provide. SME agreed to distribute the MEAI’s mining Engineering Journal (MEJ) to its membership. Amongst other topics, Mr Patnaik explored possibility of SME’s publications and services such as onemine.org (world’s largest online library of mining industry literatures) be available to the mining

engineering professionals in India. A more detailed report on SME and MEAI partnership meeting will be available in the subsequent issue of the MEJ.

Mr Pattnaik and Dr Samal with SME executives (L to R): Dr Abani Samal, Mrs. Melanie, Mr Sanjay Pattnaik and Mr Dave Kanagy

SME executives exchanging gifts with Mr Pattnaik. (L to R): Mrs. Melanie J. Penoyar-Perez, Mr Dave Kanagy Mr Sanjay Pattnaik and Mr Bret Wichert



CrirsCo newsMEAI & NACRI participated in FIMI Annual General MeetingMr. Arun Kothari, President and Mr. T Victor, Immediate Past President of MEAI; and Dr PV Rao, NACRI Co-Chair attended FIMI’s Management Committee Meeting (MCM) and Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at FIMI House, New Delhi on 13th and 14th August 2018 respectively, on the invitation of Mr. RK Sharma, FIMI Secretary General and Mr. Sanjay Pattnaik, FIMI President. Mr. Sanjay Pattnaik has kindly agreed to offer FIMI platform for a presentation on ‘CRIRSCO compliant Indian Code: Overview’ by Dr PV Rao. The presentation was aimed at bringing awareness amongst the FIMI members, clarifying the need for India to have its own internationally recognized code for public reporting of Mineral Resources and Reserves and attracting the much needed private investments in exploration and development of mineral deposits.

A special brochure was brought out by National Core Committee for Reporting Mineral Resources and Reserves in India (NACRI) on “CRIRSCO initiative in India: An update” for sharing with all the FIMI members present in both the MCM and AGM.

(Front row: R to L) Mr Arun Kothari, Mr T Victor and Dr PV Rao participating in FIMI Management Committee Meeting The presentation lasted for over 50 minutes. It reflected on the salient features of other internationally recognized reporting standards in the world such as JORC, NI-43-101, SAMREC etc., which follow CRIRSCO template. It also enlightened the Indian mining industry captains on the necessity of developing a similar ‘Make In India’ code for public reporting of Mineral Resources and Reserves to serve the paramount interest of the Indian mineral industry. Dr Rao narrated the process adopted by NACRI in developing the IMIC (Indian Mineral Industry Code) and informed the house that the IMIC is under active consideration by CRIRSCO

for its approval. Mr. Sanjay Pattnaik and Mr. RK Sharma effectively intervened in the lively discussion and generously supported the NACRI initiative, while wholeheartedly appealing the mineral industry leaders to endorse the initiative. Our NACRI team, both during the presentation and later during the dinnertime, diligently tried to address the apprehensions articulated by some members on developing a new reporting system.

MGMI President Dr NK Nanda, who also joined the MCM, voiced his support to the initiative. Similarly, Dr Gopal Dhawan, former CMD, MECL also spoke in support of the initiative. Mr. TV Chowdary, former President of MEAI, deserves appreciation for taking initiative in approaching Mr. RK Sharma to facilitate NACRI presentation to MCM.

Mr. RK Sharma assured us of reaching Secretary, Ministry of Mines and mineral industry leaders with an appeal to pen letters of endorsement for IMIC and NACRI, soon.

NACRI meeting with SEBI On 4th September 2018, a meeting of NACRI team, represented by Mr Arun Kothari, President MEAI, Dr NK Nanda, President, MGMi and Dr PV Rao, Co-Chair, NACRI, with Mr SK Mohanty, Whole Time member of SEBI was held in SEBI office, MUMBAI. This was the maiden opportunity offered to NACRI to formally meet SEBI management to discuss about CRIRSCO initiative promoted by NACRI in India. The meeting went on for nearly an hour where the NACRI viewpoint on India adopting international reporting standards for public reporting of Exploration results, Mineral Resources and Reserves. The meeting was indeed conducted in a free and frank atmosphere and Mr Mohanty was candid in his response to all the points raised by us. The suggestions made by Mr Mohanty include:

1. First, get the NACRI Charter and Indian Code ‘IMIC’ recognized by CRIRSCO.

2. Approach and convince government to adopt Make in India ‘IMIC’ as national standard for public reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and reserves, which would be at par with other international reporting CRIRSCO compliant standards, such as JORC, NI43-101 etc which were being used in India.



3. SEBI may then consider prescribing IMIC as the reporting standard for disclosure of mineral resources and reserves in the prospectus for listing of mining companies in the Indian stock exchanges

We assured Mr Mohanty of keeping in touch with him and update SEBI on the progress being made and the new developments in this area. We, on behalf NACRI, thanked Mr Mohanty for sparing his valuable time, advice and holding the meeting effectively.

Report on NACRI participation in CRIRSCO Annual meeting held at London, 2018

BackgroundSince Dr Abani Samal and Dr PV Rao were appointed by CRIRSCO as its representatives in India, it is their obligation to represent NACRI at the CRIRSCO Annual meeting. This is a voluntary responsibility assumed by both of them since their appointment by CRIRSCO in 2015. This year, the CRIRSCO Annual meeting was held at London.

As a part of the preparation process to attend the Annual meeting, an annual report was sent to CRIRSCO and a teleconference was arranged between Dr Rao, Dr Samal and Dr Harry Parker, the sponsor of India matters at CRIRSCO. During this teleconference, Dr Parker stressed on attendance of Dr Rao and Dr Samal at the CRIRSCO Annual meeting. He also revealed that due to his declining health conditions, he proposed to appoint Mr Edson Rebiero, Brazil to lead the India matters in CRIRSCO, who will be assisted by Mr Ian Goddard on matters related to IMIC and Mr Roger Dixon related to NACRI Charter and related documents. Mr Roger Dixon worked with Dr PV Rao in bringing the NACRI Charter to a form that will be acceptable to the CRIRSCO subcommittee that is reviewing the India documents. Mr Ian Goddard and other members of this subcommittee also continued the review process of the IMIC.

Due to family health issues, Dr Rao could not attend the CRIRSCO meeting. Dr Samal consulted with Dr Rao and Dr Parker in the final preparation for the meeting and made last minute arrangements for representing NACRI at the CRIRSCO annual meeting.

Presentations madeIn all two presentations were made.1. Dr Harry Parker proposed a special meeting

prior to the very first meeting of the executives of CRIRSCO; which was accepted by the CRIRSCO executive body.

This meeting was held on the 16th September afternoon at the Radisson Blue Grafton hotel. This was the opportunity for NACRI to draw attention of the CRIRSCO executive body and make the case for India’s membership with CRIRSCO.

The following points were made in the presentation:

• NACRI is a functional group existingfor over three years with its Charter document ready

• IMICisnowready • Documents are ready to recognize

(MEAI) as the first RPO o Bylaws amended o RCP category introduced in the

bylaws o Formation of Ethics and disciplinary

action committees ready any time • IMICiswidelyaccepted o Endorsed by FIMI, MEAI,

Geological Society of India, MGMI and ASSOCHAM

o Companies are now considering

The CRIRSCO executive body was also informed about the delay in MGMI’s decision to act on promised tasks for becoming another PO in the country, however given the progress made by MGMI, there was no certainty or assurance could be given regarding MGMI’s future path towards becoming a PO in the country.

Dr Samal appealed to CRIRSCO executive for recognition of NACRI Management Committee as the NRO and approval of IMIC as the Reporting Code for India. Following CRIRSCO’s approval, NACRI will recognize MEAI as the PO in the country. The NACRI will continue to engage with Mining Companies and Govt entities.

2. The second presentation was made during the open session of Annual meeting. This was a lengthy presentation made for the benefit of new members of CRIRSCO and path forward for India.



Dr Samal clarified several questions raised by the members.

Two major points were discussed in detail: i. Path Forward: It was clarified that after

the CRIRSCO Annual meeting, the latest documentation will be delivered to Mr Edson Ribeiro who will lead the subcommittee on India matters in CRIRSCO. Before the subcommittees’ final endorsement of the documentation, the comments if any from the subcommittee need to be addressed by NACRI. After that, Mr Edson will move the documents to the CRIRSCO executive for accomplishing the review within six weeks. Following this successful review process, if the CRIRSCO executives approve, the NACRI will propose the Indian Mineral Industry to join CRIRSCO.

ii. Role of MEAI and MGMI: The CRIRSCO members were updated on the latest status of the preparedness of both these organizations to be recognized as the Professional Organizations in India.

Mr Tom Butler of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), made a presentation on role of ICMM and its relationship with CRIRSCO. It should be noted that ICMM is a strategic partner of CRIRSCO.

Final ThoughtsAt the end of the CRIRSCO Annual meeting, NACRI was set with the following agenda to work and achieve the goal of making India as a member of CRIRSCO. i. Work with CRIRSCO to make sure that all

required documents are with CRIRSCO sub-committee for India for its final review

ii. Continue to work with FIMI and mining companies to enlist support for NACRI and IMIC

iii. When CRIRSCO issues a formal approval letter of NACRI’s application to join CRIRSCO, NACRI will organize the joining ceremony

iv. Post joining process will include the Reciprocity process through CRIRSCO

CRIRSCO appreciated the progress made by NACRI and its sponsor MEAI in India and assured of all the support in enabling India join as a member of CRIRSCO.

FeliCitation to President Meai by hyderabad ChaPter

MEAI President Mr Arun Kumar Kothari and Mrs Kothari were felicitated at 11:00 a.m on June 16, 2019 by Hyderabad Chapter at Golkonda Hotel. Office bearers and members of Hyderabad Chapter and Past Presidents of MEAI residing at Hyderabad attended the felicitation function.

Mrs & Mr Aurn Kothari exchanging garlands

Mr VS Rao felicitating Mr Arun Kothari

Mrs & Mr Aurn Kothari flanked by Past Presidents of MEAI and Office bearers of Hyderabad Chapter





indian Mining day - 2018 highlightsBAILADILA CHAPTERIndian Mining day was celebrated by Bailadila Chapter on 1st November 2018 at Training Institute, Bacheli Complex. Over 50 members of Kirandul Complex & Bacheli Complex of Bailadila Chapter and also other executives of NMDC limited, including S/Shri T.S. Cherian – ED, Bacheli Complex; A.K. Prajapati – GM, Kirandul Complex; H.N. Singh – GM, Bacheli Complex participated in the program.

Shri. T. S. Cherian, Chairman, Bailadila Chapter started the programme by hoisting the National flag at 3: 30 PM. Shri. A. K. Prajapati, Vice Chairman, Bailadila Chapter administered the pledge to the members for following the best practices and adoption of scientific mining methods for mineral conservation.

Shri. C. V. Subrahmanyam, Secretary, Bailadila Chapter, in his welcome address, discussed on necessity of minerals in our dialy life by giving an example of usage of mineral in manufacturing of mobile phones. He also informed members about the theme chosen for this year was ‘National Mining Objective-Vision 2040’. Dr. Arvind Pande (Dy CMO) and Shri. Prashant Raut, JM (Min) introduced themselves, joining as new members of the Bailadila Chapter. Shri. Saurabh Chandra, AGM (Min), Bacheli presented a technical paper on ‘Mining, Mineral and Innovation (vision 2040)’.

Shri. T.S. Cherian presented the mementoes to Kum. Muskan Jain for 1st position and Nilankee for 2nd position in essay competition on the topic ‘Inevitability of Minerals in Our Daily Life’ conducted for NMDC DAV Polytechnic, Dantewada students at their college on 31-10-2018. Both the winners were invited to express their views on the essay subject.

Shri. A. K. Prajapati presented a memento to the principal, NMDC CSR Polytechnic, Dantewada as a token of love. He also presented a memento to Shri Sourabh Chandra for his technical presentation.

Shri. A K Prajapati, while greeting everyone present on the occasion of Indian Mining day said mining profession is not a white collar job & surrounding communities are not having good feeling about our profession. Therefore, we should take care of the people living in mining areas. He also expressed that minerals are valuable and contributing for the development of the nation, of which iron ore is very essential mineral for infrastructure development. Hence, we should mine it very economically, environment friendly and human friendly. Everybody should obey the pledge and adopt best practices and scientific mining for mineral conservation and sustainable mining.

Shri. T. S. Cherian, in his concluding remarks said that mining is the backbone of the nation and its progress. He also said that instead of exploiting the minerals of our mother earth we should think of recycling the scrap. He also suggested that we should adopt suitable and best technology to suppress the dust, generating due to blasting at mines. We should think of sustainable mining and environment pollution caused due to mining but unfortunately everyone run behind production, he observed.

Shri. Randhir Kumar, Joint Secretary, Bailadila Chapter proposed Vote of thanks to the dignitaries, members and executives for their presence and also thanked the secretary of Bailadiala Chapter and Training Institute, Bacheli Complex for organising the programme successfully. The programme ended with High Tea.

Members participating in the IMD celebrations

BANGALORE CHAPTERThe Bangalore Chapter of Mining Engineers’ Association of India observed the Indian Mining Day with full vigour on the 1st November 2018 at the office of the Geological Society of India, Bangalore.

INDIAN MINING DAY PLEDGE“…..We the Members of the

Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaSalute our National Flag and pledge,

While observing 1st November, every year as‘Indian Mining Day’

That it will be our endeavour to uphold and follow,With all sincerity and integrity,

the best scientific methodsTo PROSPECT, PRODUCE, and to PRESERVE

The MINERAL RESOURCESFor the PROSPERITY of our Nation…..”

Dr. T.N. Venugopal, Chairman, Bangalore Chapter welcomed the gathering.



Activities Organized by Bangalore Chapter for Observance of Indian Mining Day-2018:1. The day was marked by multifarious activities beginning

with a solemn Pledge taken by all the members to uphold and follow, with all sincerity and integrity, the best scientific methods to prospect, produce and preserve the Mineral Resources for the prosperity of our Nation.

2. Release of Technical Bulletin – (On 01st November 2018)

The “Technical Bulletin”, introduced for the first time by the chapter, features the recent technical presentations made at the periodical one-day seminar and the deliberations that took place between the authors and the delegates.

It was released by the Chief Guest Mr. David Pichamuthu, former President of the “Federation of Indian Mineral Industries” and the Guest of Honour Dr. Meda Venkataiah, Executive Director, MSPL Ltd.

Henceforth, it would be a regular feature and would be published periodically by Bangalore Chapter. It will be made available on the web site for the benefit of all the members of MEAI.

3. Debate Competition was organized on 1st November 2018 (Indian Mining Day) for students of Engineering colleges on the topic “Inevitability of minerals in our daily life” and the honourable judges were Mr. D.V. Pichamuthu, and Dr. Meda Venkataiah.

4. Essay Competition was organized during October 2018 and the prizes were presented to the winners on the Indian Mining Day.

- Copies of two best essays are attached. Subject for the essay competition was “Inevitability

of Minerals in our daily life”. Sri Cyriac Joseph, EC member and Sri D. Vidyarthi, Secretary, MEAI, Bangalore Chapter evaluated and judged the essays.

5. Quiz Competition – Mining Quiz was conducted by the Secretary, MEAI, BC for students of Engineering colleges on 29th October 2018 at the Pellet Auditorium, KIOCL, Bangalore. Prizes were distributed to the winners on the Indian Mining Day.

Following institutions participated in the Essay competition, Quiz competition as well as in the Debate competition with lot of zeal & enthusiasm: a) Dr T. Thimmaiah Institute of Technology, Kolar

Gold Fields b) School of Mines, Kolar Gold Fields c) Acharya Institute of Technology, Bangalore d) Acharya Polytechnic, Bangalore e) National Institute of Technology, Karnataka,

Surathkal, Mangalore

Dr. Meda Venkataiah addressed the gathering, emphasizing on the significance of Indian Mining Day and wishing

the industry a bright future with due regard to safety and protection of environment.

Mr. D.V. Pichamuthu while addressing the gathering, congratulated the participants of the debate competition held on the day and encouraged students to participate in all the activities with the same zeal. While speaking on the Vision 2040, he observed that the mining industry in the country is facing a tough time as many leases are going to expire by 2020 itself, it poses a big question mark and gives rise to uncertainties to the operators!

He brought out certain deficiencies in the present Act / Rules and hoped that the authorities will have a re-look at them and amend the regulations to provide relief to the miners.

Attendance: The event was well attended by the delegates, students and faculty members from institutions numbering to about 50.

Media coverage: The event was well covered by print and electronic media. Few clippings are attached for ready reference.

Vote of ThanksMr N. Rajendran, Jt. Secretary cum Treasurer proposed a Vote of Thanks.

Welcome : Dr. T.N. Venugopal

BELGAUM CHAPTERThe Mining Engineers’ Association of India, Belgaum Chapter celebrated the Indian Mining Day on1st November 2018 at Geology Department, GSS College, Belgaum at 11.30AM. Chairman Shri. D.S. MalkaiDr.B.K.Pur, Vice-Chairman Dr. B.K. Purandara, MEAI Member and Guest Speaker Dr. J.T. Gudagur and Secreatry Dr. P.T. Hanamgond occupied the dais. Shri. D.S. Malkai welcomed the gathering and briefed about the MEAI activities and presided over the function.

At the outset, the winners of the essay competition were awarded with memento and certificates. The essay competition on “Global Warming and Hazards” was held on 25th October 2018 at Geology Department of GSS College, Belgaum on behalf of MEAI Belgaum Chapter for



the BSc Final Year students. The essays were evaluated by Prof. (Mrs) Reshma Saple, English Department (she was student of Geology in her B.Sc degree). The mementos and certificates were given to first and second winners. Three students, who were adjudged for 3rd place, were also given mementos and certificates. Certificates were given to all the other participants.

At the outset, Dr. B.K. Purandara, who has instituted a cash prize of Rs.2000/- and a certificate on his mother’s name to Geology student who has scored highest marks and is continuing MSc in Geology. This is the third year in continuation and gave a cash prize and certificate to Ms. Shradha Nikkam, who had scored highest marks in Geology and pursuing her Masters at Mysore University.

Dr. J.T. Gudagur gave a talk on “Global Warming and Hazards”, and thereafter a group discussion was held on the topic.

Mr. Yogesh Kutre conducted the function. Dr. Hanamgond introduced the Guest. Shri. Kamlesh Patel briefed about the importance of Indian Mining Day. Mr. Sagar Waghmare (Treasurer) proposed a Vote of thanks.

View of audience

BELLARY-HOSPET CHAPTERMining Engineers' Association of India, Bellary-Hospet (BH) Chapter organized 6th consecutive year celebrations of INDIAN MINING DAY & KARNATAKA RAJYOSTAVA on 01.11.2018 under the valuable guidance and participation Sri. K. Madhuudhana, Vice-President-II, MEAI & Vice President (Mines), M/s MSPL Limited, Sri. B. Sahoo, Chairman-BH Chapter & Executive Director, M/s NMDC Ltd., Sri. T.L. Yoganan, Vice-Chairman, BH Chapter and Sri. K. Prabhakara Reddy, Secretary, BH Chapter at The T.M.A.E.S. Polytechnic, Hosapete in association with T.M.A.E. Society, Hosapete. The Celebrations were followed by a BLOOD DONATION CAMP, organized by Mining Engineers' Association of India at Smt. Vasantidevi Baldota Blood Bank, Hosapete. All Students of Mining and Metallurgical Diploma, Lecturers and Members of MEAI attended the celebrations.

The T.M.A.E. Society, Hosapete hosted celebration of Indian Mining Day and Karnataka Rajyostava with all arrangements in a grand manner under the direction of by Sri. T.L. Yoganand, HOD (Mining & Metallurgy), T.M.A.E.S. Polytechnic, Hosapete with the support of Sri. T.M.

Vijaykumar, Principal of T.M.A.E.S. Polytechnic, Hosapete. Sri. K. Madhuudhana, Sri. B. Sahoo, Sri. T.L. Yoganand, Sri. K. Prabhakara Reddy along with the Guests of Honor Sri. K. Ganapathi, Mine Owner, and Sri. T.M. Renukaprasad (attended on behalf of Sri. T.M. Vijaykumar, Principal of T.M.A.E.S. Polytechnic) shared the dais. After the welcome speech by Sri. T.L. Yoganand, the dignitaries on the dais spoke briefly on the importance and need for celebrating the Indian Mining Day. The celebration was mainly aimed at creating and nurturing favorable impression in the general public on mining and its allied activities. They also spoke on the latest developments that are taking place in technology, software, higher education, professional development of mining personnel in the mining field.

Mementoes were presented to the winners of Essay writing competition and Quiz during the celebrations. 30 MEAI members and the representatives of mining companies in Ballary-Hospet Chapter have voluntarily donated the blood at the Smt. Vasantidevi Baldota Blood Bank, Hosapete.

Lighting The Lamp By Dignitaries

Group Photograph taken on the occasion

GOA CHAPTERGoa Chapter celebrated the Indian Mining Day on 1st No-vember 2018 at Mining Engineering Department, Goa Engi-neering College (GEC), Farmagudi. The dignitaries present on dais were Chief Guest Shri. Malay Tikader, Director of Mines Safety (Goa), Guest of Honour Dr. Ulhas Sawaikar - HOD (Mining)- GEC, Shri. T. Victor, Immediate Past Presi-dent - MEAI, Shri. Joseph Coelho, Chief Operating Officer - M/s Vedanta (Goa) and Shri. E Hymakar Reddy – Secretary, Goa Chapter.

Shri. T Victor welcomed the dignitaries and spoke on the purpose of MEAI celebrating Indian Mining Day for the last 5 years. He administered the Indian Mining Day pledge by all



the members present. The Guest of Honour Dr. Sawaikar has spoken about the long association of Goa Engineering Col-lege with the MEAI. He also presented a glimpse regarding the national seminar that would be organised by the depart-ment in association with MEAI Goa Chapter and Institution of Engineers (India) on 21st December 2018. Guest Speaker Shri. Joseph Coelho spoke on “Future of Goan Mining – Vi-sion 2040”. He presented as to how there would be an expo-nential growth of mining sector provided all the bottlenecks are removed. He mentioned about the new technologies that the goan mining has to adopt and also highlighted the contribution of Goan mining to the State’s economy.

The Chief Guest of the program, Shri. Malay Tikader in his address presented the vision of the DGMS with regard to safety, health & welfare of the workers as well as mines. He highlighted some of the changes that are expected to be bought out in CMR/ MMR. He has nicely presented the vision with regard to safety, which is in tune with this year’s theme National Mining Objective – Vision 2040. He congrat-ulated the Goa chapter for conducting a technical session and also the students for participating in the competitions.

The chapter conducted Poster Competition “Prevention of Health Hazards in Mines” wherein six students of degree in Mining Engineeing have participated. Shri T Victor, Shri. D Kishore Kumar, Dy. Director of Mines Safety and Shri. Raju Salgaonkar judged the competition. The winners declared were Shri. Saif Ahmed Khan (I Prize- Third Year) and Ms. Disha R Khade (II Prize – Final Year). An essay competition was also conducted on “Inevitability of minerals in daily life” wherein around 22 students participated. The winners were Shri. Abhijeet R Thakre (Ist Prize - Final Year) and Reylon Costa (II Prize- Third Year). Shri. Malay Tikader gave away the prizes to the winners. The essay competition winners were given a chance to showcase their work in front of the audience.

The programme was successfully conducted with the sup-port of all the members of the Chapter. Shri D Kishore Ku-mar and Shri Deepak Baghat, Asst Professor (GEC) have immensely contributed to the success of the programme.

Ms. Yogita Kharkhanis, Asst Professor (Geology) conducted the entire programme. Over 70 MEAI members, faculty & students of GEC attended the programme. Shri. Hymakar Reddy proposed a Vote of Thanks.

L-R: Shri. Joseph Coelho, Shri. Malay Tikader, Shri. T Victor, Dr. Ulhas Sawaikar, Shri H. Reddy

HYDERABAD CHAPTER & MEAI HEADQUARTERSMEAI – Headquarters, Hyderabad had set an example by conducting various programmes on Indian Mining Day 2018, in a simple, yet grand and purposeful manner. The Hydera-bad chapter and MEAI Headquarters jointly organized the Indian Mining Day 2018 programs in close coordination with each other, at MEAI Conference hall.

Elocution, Quiz, Essay Writing & Poster competitions for the Mining Engineering Students, both at college and also at in-tercollegiate level, were held in the conference hall, of Mining Engineers’ Association of India, Hyderabad. The programme was attended by the students of five Engineering Colleges, including Osmania University, and also the employees of dif-ferent cement companies who were undergoing training at VTC (MS & PC). The HOD and a Senior Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering, Malla Reddy Engineer-ing College, Hyderabad and Sri. K. Peter, VTO of VTC (MS & PC) took a leading role in organising the different events and competitions. Prizes were presented to the winners from all four competitions and mementos were presented to all the judges and to the principals of the five engineering colleges, who attended the program.

In the evening, a meeting and function was organized at the MEAI Conference Hall which was attended by a large num-ber of participants from NMDC, MEAI Hyderabad Chapter, Academicians, and the Officers of DGMS, DMG-Govt. of Te-langana, IBM and several other sister organizations. Dr. N.K. Nanda, Director (Technical), NMDC Ltd., presided over the function. Shri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar, Director, Directorate of Mines & Geology & Chairman, Hyderabad Chapter was the Chief Guest. Shri Shailendra Kumar, Regional Controller of Mines, Indian Bureau of Mines, Hyderabad and Sri Shyam-sundar Soni, DMS (SCZ) were the Guests of Honour.

Sri S. Krishnamurthy, Secretary General, MEAI welcomed the august gathering and explained the importance of the ‘Indian Mining Day’. He also talked on various aspects of mining and types of minerals that come into the day-to-day use of human activities.

Sri Swaminathan, Jt. Secretary, Hyderabad Chapter, who was also the master of the ceremony for conducting the vari-ous events, proposed the Vote of thanks.

The program was concluded with the National Anthem.

Address by Shri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar (L-R: S/Shri Shailendra Kumar, S. Krishnamurthy, Dr. N.K. Nanda, Shyamsundar Soni, B. Ramesh Kumar, Dr. V.D. Rajagopal)



RAJASTHAN CHAPTER- JAIPURRajasthan Chapter-Jaipur celebrated the Indian Mining Day at Mining Welfare Centre, Jaipur on 1st November 2018. The function commenced with MEAI flag hoisting by Shri P.C. Bakliwal, Chapter Chairman followed by taking Pledge by all the members, nearly fifty, present for adopting good practices in mining and geoscientific activities for sustainable development of our country. It was followed by three technical talks on the suggested theme ‘National Mining Objective-Vision 2040’.

The first talk was delivered by Shri Akshaydeep Mathur, Secretary General, Federation of Mining Associations of Rajasthan (FMAR). Shri Mathur gave an optimistic projection on high potential of steady growth of mineral and mining industry in India provided the policy and regulatory regime is made conducive for ease of doing business for a sustained development and increased contribution to the GDP. If additional one crore jobs as projected by the Government of India are to be created in mining sector in next 5 years then it would be essential that MSME segment of the industry need to be incentivized, strengthened and greater freedom given for the entrepreneurial growth of the segment.

The second talk was delivered by Shri M.M. Sharma, Director General (Retired), DGMS on current practices and future of safe and largescale mining technology particularly in coal mining sector of India. He elaborated on the prevalent Highwall Opencast Coal Mining in the country and its potential. The Highwall Mining consists of several pieces of machinery that are set up on the floor of an open-cut pit, in front of and at right angles to the exposed coal seam at the base of the Highwall. Shri Sharma also projected on the future of safe underground Long Wall coal mining with Automated Machine Learning and Robotics by 2040. Such automated and safe methods of mining will enhance the production manifold contributing to energy security of the country. He also briefed the bright future of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) mining and the high potential of offshore seabed mining of various metals/ nodules in EEZ and mining of rare as well as precious metal mining at Moon by 2040.

The third talk was delivered by Dr. L.S. Shekhawat, Dy. Director General (Retired), Geological Survey of India on ‘Exploring possible enhancement in main mineral resources by 2040 - Ways Ahead’. Dr. Shekhawat elaborated on new and emerging exploration technologies that would gain better success in augmenting mineral resources in India. He opined that Mining Vision-2040 can be accomplished with timely assimilation of technological advancements in exploration activities focusing on concealed and deeply buried ore deposits. Integration of geology, geophysics and geochemistry with advancements in the respective fields continue to remain as the main ways ahead. Integrated geoscientific data and improved understanding of the geodynamic processes that are linked to largescale ore forming systems are imperative. Deccan Trap, alluvium

(Indo-Gangetic Plain), aeolian sands (Thar Desert), snow and glacial deposits (Himalaya) and other sedimentary basins including Vindhyan sediments form covers and the potential targets. Far field features of ore deposits, both primary and secondary include mineralogical, geochemical or biological attributes that can be recognized beyond the obvious geological expressions/ hydrothermal alteration of ore deposits. Multispectral and hyper-spectral signatures are effectively used to map alteration assemblages as pathfinders. Lateral as well as vertical migration of metals by ground water is being used in mineral exploration he said.

The function ended with the vote of thanks to the speakers and all the members/ guests proposed by Dr. S.K. Wadhawan, Secretary, MEAI, Rajasthan Chapter-Jaipur.

Flag hoisting by Shri P.C. Bakliwal, Chapter Chairman

RAJASTHAN CHAPTER-JODHPURRajasthan Chapter - Jodhpur celebrated Indian Mining Day on 1st of November 2018 at Seminar Hall of Department of Mining Engineering, M B M Engineering College, Jodhpur on the theme ‘National Mining Objective – Vision 2040’.

An essay competition on the theme was organized for the undergraduate students of the Mining Engineering. 18 participants submitted their essays and three of them were awarded with the First, Second and Third Prize of Rs 3,000, 2000 and Rs 1000 respectively.

The Program was started with Saraswati Poojan. The Guests on Dais were the Chapter Chairman and Secretary, Er NS Bohra, Former Director DMG & Former Advisor (Mining) to Govt of India and Prof DM Surana, Former Prof & Head (Mining Engg), MBM College. E-hosting of the IMD Flag was by the Chapter Chairman Dr P. C. Purohit and the pledge was read by each attendee on the occasion. Dr P.C. Purohit gave the Welcome Address. It was followed by two keynote addresses on the subject theme, delivered by Dr R.R. Tatia, Former Prof in Mining & Former CEO (Mining), Essel Mining of Aditya Birala Group and Dr Maniram Saharan, Former Principle Scientist CIMFR. Er N.S. Bohra & Prof D.M.



Surana also presented their viewpoints on the topic and present status of mining in & around Jodhpur, particularly Bajri Crises and its restriction for mining.

All the presenters presented their viewpoints on the subject theme, which were very well appreciated by the gathering of around 80 people. College faculty members, local Chapter members and college students were present during the program. Chapter Chairman honoured all the presenters with a Memento. The Chapter Chairman also gave the prize money to all the winners of the Essay Competition and winner of Essay competition being Harshit Agarwal (3rd year student) receiving a Cheque of Rs 3000. All the participants of essay competition were given a certificate with memento. At the end, Vote of Thanks was proposed by the Associate Prof MBM College Dr Ramprasad. It was also announced that Department of Mining Engineering, MBM Engineering College, Jodhpur and Mining Engineers' Association of India, Rajasthan Chapter - Jodhpur is organizing a Two-Day National Conference on “Mine Environment: Techniques, Equipment & Challenges (METEC-2018)” during 15-16, December 2018 at Jodhpur. Dr Purohit also informed that the Chapter has requested the Headquarters for arranging National Council meeting on 15th December at Jodhpur, coinciding with this National Conference. While the formal approval is expected, the President has conveyed his consent over telephone. The Program ended with signing of National Anthem.

RAJASTHAN CHAPTER-UDAIPURMining Engineers’ Association of India, Rajasthan Chapter, Udaipur has celebrated Indian Mining Day on 1st November, 2018 in association with Institution of Engineers’ (India), Udaipur Local Centre (IEIULC) in the premises of IEIULC, 128- Sector 11, Hiran Magri, Udaipur. This year’s theme was “Future of Mining in India – Vision 2040”.

Shri Rajesh Kakkar, President – Birla Cement Works and Chanderia Cement Works, Chittorgarh graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Shri Kakkar in his speech emphasized that though in the coming years Automation and Artificial Intelligence tools will be adopted extensively in the mining sector, there will be need for hardcore engineers with the softcore engineers. The mining software are developed with the support of experienced mining engineers. Therefore, initially in opencast and underground mines, engineers should work to obtain real shop floor level knowledge. Shri A.K. Kothari, National President, Mining Engineers’ Association of India was the presiding Guest. Shri Kothari in his speech highlighted the activities of the MEAI at National level and in all its 25 chapters from different parts of the country. He has also told that now-a-days overburden and mining waste are utilized in the making the M-Sand. Therefore, requirement

of Environment Clearance (EC) should not be there for utilization of overburden and waste in making of M-Sand. Further, there should be an amendment in MMDR Act 2015 and transfer of mining leases should be allowed for all major and minor minerals.

On the occasion, Shri L.S. Shekhawat, Chief Operating Officer, Hindustan Zinc Limited, Shri Maqbool Ahmed, Assistant Vice-President, Birla Cement Works and Shri Rajendra Bora, General Manager, R. K. Marbles were the keynote speakers. Shri Shekhawat said that now reverse brain drain is in progress and India is growing very fast and requirement of Lead-Zinc is increasing 3 to 4% every year. Therefore, proper exploration has to be carried out to explore new mineral resources in coming years. Transport of mineral through hydraulic system after crushing in underground will be adopted. He has also highlighted that world has become global village and lot of FDI is coming to India. Therefore, mining licenses should be granted with single window clearance system in a time bound manner as the Mining Leases are granted in one month time in Australia and 3 months’ time in Canada. Further, introduction of IT & Digitization in underground and surface mines will increase in coming years. He has given examples that one man from a control room operates three dumpers. Continuous operations and driver less equipments have been introduced. He has also spoken that near surface mineral resources are shrinking and the open pit mines are getting converted to underground mines. Further utilization of land for its pristine use, after mining, is also a big challenge and it will be addressed in future.

Shri Maqbool Ahmed has highlighted that at Birla Cement, hydraulic splitters and rock breakers are used to produce 7000 to 8000 tonnes of limestone daily. Owing to use of innovative technology, Zero Waste, Zero Accident and Zero pollution are achieved at the limestone mines of Birla Cement Works.

Shri Rajendra Bora, General Manager, R. K. Marble Private Limited, working at Morwad Marble Mines which is highest marble producer in the world is now facing problems due to increase in depth of mining operations and limited lease area. Therefore, he has suggested that minimum area for marble mines should be made 50 hectares. This will help in increasing block recovery and ensure longer life of natural resources.

At the outset, Prof. S. S. Rathore, Chairman, MEAI Rajasthan Chapter, Udaipur welcomed the guests and suggested that innovative technology should be adopted to protect the natural mineral resources.

The Chairman of the IEIULC Shri Anurodh Prashant Sharma highlighted the activities of the Institution of India, Udaipur



Local Centre, including the forthcoming Indian Engineering congress scheduled during 21st to 23rd December 2018 hosted by IEIULC, Udaipur.

This time an essay competition of the mining engineering and geoscience students was arranged on the topic “Inevitability of Mineral in our Daily Life”. In this competition students from five institutions, namely Deptt. of Mining Engineering, College of Technology and Engineering, S.S. College of Engineering, Singhania University, Pacific Institute of Technology and Geology Deptt. Mohan Lal Sukhadia University participated. 1st prize of Rs. 3100 and a certificate of merit was presented to Ms. Sakhsi Gupta, CTAE, 2nd prize of Rs. 2100 to Mr. Parag Dangi, CTAE & Mr. Swapnil Sanadhya, S.S. Engg. College, third prize of Rs. 1100 to Mr. Jai Prakash Sharma, MLSU & Mr. Ishan Choudhary, Singhania University and a consolation prize of Rs. 500 to Mr. Lokesh Vaishnav, Pacific Engg. Were given by MEAI, Rajasthan Chapter, Udaipur. All the 30 students who have participated in the essay competition received certificates. This event was organized by Dr. S. C. Jain, Head, Deptt. of Mining Engineering, CTAE, Shri R.C. Kumawat and Shri A.K. Nandwana, SME, DMG Udaipur on 27th October, 2018 at CTAE, Udaipur.

In the programme, over 120 members were present, including Shri R.P. Gupta, Shri Y.C. Gupta, Shri Sohan Singh Rathore, Shri N.C. Bansal, Shri Maheem Kachwaha, Shri M.K. Mehta, Dr. Y.C. Bhatt, Dr. Anupam Bhatnagar, Dr. S.C. Jain, Shri Kan Singh Choudhary, Shri K.C. Jain, Shri S.D. Acharya, Shri O.P. Soni, Shri H.K. Vyas, Shri B.L. Mod, Shri S.K. Vashisth, Shri N.K. Kothari, Shri R.D. Saxena, Shri Lalit Bachara, Shri A.L. Sheikh, Shri A.K. Porwal, and Shri A.S. Choondawat.

Shri A.S. Choondawat conducted the programme and Shri Y.K. Bolia, Hony. Secretary, IEIULC proposed Vote of thanks.

Lighting of Lamp by Shri Arun Kr. Kothari, President, MEAI

A view of Audience

VERAVAL-PORBANDAR CHAPTEROn 1st November 2018, “Indian Mining Day” was celebrated by the Chapter. The program started by lightening of lamp by the Chapter Chairman Shri Arun Kumar Sharma. The Chairman briefly shared his views on the importance of Mining Day celebrations. Those present on the occasion also shared their views. Shri A K Jain and Shri Kumar Rajan presented a paper on “Future of Mining in India – Views for Vision 2040”. A light refreshment was served during the program.

Wide circulation was undertaken by the Chapter regarding Essay writing, Slogan writing and Poster making on the occasion of Indian Mining Day, in line with the circular received from MEAI Headquarters. Witnessed a very good participation in each category from the family members of mining fraternity. Entries from Ms Lavni Jain, Ms Ananya kalamkar, Ms Rishika Rajan, Ms Shambhavi Dayal, Mr Jaimeen Bambhaniya, Mr Shiwang Shrivastava, Ms Parul Sharma, Mr Akash Sharma, Mr Kishan Pandya & Mr Pravin Khokale were selected. A certificate of participation along with a token gift will be presented to all the selected entries during the ensuing Silver Jubilee celebration of the Chapter.

A section of enthusiastic participants



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Meai ChaPters' news - highlightsAHMEDABAD CHAPTER Workshop on “Important Provisions under new Coal Mines Regulations 2017 and their implementation” The Ahmedabad Chapter organized a half-day workshop on the above subject at GMDC Auditorium at Ahmedabad on May 19, 2018. Mr. Md. Rafique Sayeed, Director of Mines Safety, Ahmedabad Region, made an informative presentation covering all the changes and new insertions made in the CMR. The presentation was followed by a live discussion on key issues pertaining to mining Contractors and machinery suppliers.

Over 100 delegates from Gujarat mining industry, Mining Contractors, and Machinery manufacturers participated. Mr RL Meena, Director of Mines Safety, Surat Region and Mr GS Salve, Dy Director of Mines Safety, Ahmedabad, also attended the workshop. Mr. PN Rao, Chairman of the Chapter welcomed the guests and delegates; and Mr. SN Mathur, MEAI Vice President-III summarized the proceedings and proposed vote of thanks.

A view of the audience

Seminar Held By Bhavnagar Local Centre Ahmedabad Chapter organized a seminar on “New CMR 2017: Review the changes” at its Bhavnagar Local Centre on May 31, 2018, jointly with GMDC and GHCL at Top 3 Lords Resort, Bhavnagar. Over 50 Delegates from various industries and organizations involved with mining and allied areas participated in the seminar. Delegates from Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd, Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd, Gujarat Power Company Ltd and Mining Contractors were present in the seminar.

Hon’ble Collector of Bhavnagar Shri Harshad Patel graced the occasion as Chief Guest.

The inaugural session was started with the auspicious lighting of lamp by the Chief Guest and welcome address by Shri Dhananjay Kumar, General Manager- GHCL and Convener MEAI, Bhavnagar Local Centre. Shri Harshad Patel, in his address, highlighted the importance of revision of rules and regulations to boost safety, environment, health and performance of employees.

Shri S N Mathur, VP III, MEAI briefed on the benefits of New CMR 2017 for opencast mines. Shri A K Garg, Patron, MEAI Bhavnagar Local Centre and General Manager, GMDC Ltd compared the new CMR 2017 with the previous CMR 1957 with respect to technical as well as statutory work force.

In all three papers were presented in the technical session:1. CMR 2017: Changes in respect of statutory persons

by Shri Sanjay Mathur and S. C. Jhagrawat, GMDC, Bhavnagar

2. CMR 2017: Changes in respect of mine workings by Shri Anil Wandkar, GHCL, Bhavnagar

3. Some important provision under Coal Mines Regulation 2017 by Shri S. N. Mathur

After completion of technical session, a self-introduction program by the delegates was arranged by Shri N. S. Prajapati, Member, MEAI. In the said program, recently joined mining engineers of GPCL and new MEAI members introduced themselves to the forum. The seminar was concluded with vote of thanks, proposed by Shri Sanjay Mathur, DGM (Mines), Surkha (N) Lignite Mine, followed by dinner.

(L-R): S/ Shri Sanjay Mathur, A K Garg, Harshad Patel (Hon’ble District Collector, Bhavnagar), S N Mathur and Dhananjay kumar

Celebrates its 22nd Foundation DayThe Ahmedabad Chapter celebrated its 22nd Foundation Day at Ahmedabad on June 16, 2018. The Chapter was for-mally lunched on 14th June 1997 and as such its Foundation day is also normally celebrated on 14th June every year. But when it falls on week days, being a working day, all mem-bers and guests feel some inconvenience. As such, it was decided to organize this event on the nearest weekend day. Accordingly, it was celebrated on 16th June this year.

Lighting of Lamp



Shri A. K. Kothari, National President, MEAI addressing the audience

As a part of the celebrations, a BK Antia Memorial Lecture was organized in the morning at GMDC Auditorium. (Late) Shri B K Antia was the founder Chairman of the Chapter, who breathed his last on 14th June 2012 and in whose memory series of annual event is organized on Chapter’s Foundation Day. Prof B. B. Dhar delivered the Memorial Lecture. Shri Arun Kothari, President MEAI graced the occasion and pre-sided over the function. Over 100 members of MEAI, Mining Engineering students, Mining & Geology faculty members and guests from State’s mining Industry attended the func-tion. Shri P. N. Rao, Chairman of the Chapter welcomed the guests and Shri A. K. Garg, a senior member and former Vice Chairman of the Chapter proposed the Vote of Thanks. Shri Kothari also addressed the gathering highlighting the Association’s activities and achievements; and informed that in the past few months, four dormant chapters were suc-cessfully revived.

South Gujarat Local Centre organizes a One Day Seminar On “The Coal Mines Regulations 2017”The South Gujarat Local Centre organized a one-day Seminar on “The Coal Mines Regulations 2017” at Deptt. of Geology, M. S. University, Vadodara on 11 August 2018 and visit of members’ families to site seeing places of the City. In all 76 participants attended the seminar.

The seminar was inaugurated by traditional lighting of lamp by Shri S. N Mathur, the National Vice President III and other dignitaries present on dais. Shri A. L Thakor, National Council Member, Shri A. K. Makadia, Vice President - Ahmedabad Chapter, Shri P. A. Mathur, Secretary-Ahmedabad Chapter, Shri P. K. Soni, Ex. General Manager, GMDC & former Chairman, Ahmedabad Chapter also graced the occasion. It was followed by welcome address by Shri Swagat Ray, Convener of the Local Centre. In his address, Shri Ray informed that 13 M.Sc (Final) Geology students of the MS University has joined MEAI as Student Members and also participating in the seminar.

Shri S N Mathur presented the keynote address highlighting the important changes incorporated in the new set of

regulations, explaining some critical definitions and the roles and responsibilities of Contractors, Machinery Manufacturers, Suppliers and Designers. Shri Makadia and Shri Soni also addressed the gathering.

Before proceeding further towards the technical paper presentations, Shri Swagat Ray introduced all the new student members. A group photo of student members and the dignitaries was taken.

The Organizing Committee did a good homework and distributed in advance chapter-wise responsibilities to prospective speakers who made very effective and lively presentations, covering all relevant clauses of the new Regulations. The speakers made the following four presentations.

1. Shri J.G.Pitroda – A.M (Mines), Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine, GMDC [Chapter I to IV]

2. Shri M.A.Nipane – Dy.G.M (Mines),Vastan Lignite Mine, GIPCL [Chapter V to VII]

3. Shri Vikash Mitruka & Shri Rashmi Ranjan Mohapatra - A.M (Mines) of Valia Lignite Mine, GIPCL [Chapter VIII to XI]

4. Shri Swagat Ray – General Manager (P), Amod (G-19 Extn.) Lignite Mine, GMDC [Chapter XI to XII]

Shri S D Jagani, Secretary, South Gujarat Local Center proposed the vote of thanks to all dignitaries, participants and guests attending the seminar.

Dignitaries on the dais (From L-R): S/Shri Swagat Ray, A L Thakor,

S N Mathur, P K Soni, A K Makadia, P A Mathur

While the members were engaged in technical deliberations, the family members were taken on the Vadodara City Tour, visiting the famous “Laxmi Vilas” Palace and the Museum at Vadodara.

One-day seminar on ‘Experience and Status of Recent Amendments in Mining Legislation’South Gujarat Local Centre of Ahmedabad Chapter organised a one-day seminar on ‘Experience and Status of Recent Amendments in Mining Legislation’’ at Vastan Lignite mine of GIPCL in Surat district on 11th May 2019. The programme was inaugurated with the traditional auspicious lamp lighting ceremony by Shri NK Purohit, CGM (Mines) - GIPCL, Shri NK Chauhan, AGM (Mines) - Vastan Lignite



Mines of GIPCL, Convener of South Gujarat Local Centre Shri Prakash Chand Goyal, AGM (Mines) - Valia Lignite Mines of GIPCL, Shri Swagat Ray, General Manager (Project) of Amod (G-19 Extn.) Lignite Mine of GMDC, and Shri D. S Bhayal, General Manager (Project) I/C of Tadkeshwar Lignite Mine of GMDC.

Shri NK Chauhan welcomed the distinguished guests, eminent speakers and other participants and put special emphasis on the Recent amendments made in the mining Legislation and difficulties being faced in their implementation.

Shri N K Purohit, while delivering the keynote address, emphasized the need of such experience sharing workshops and desired that such workshops may be conducted regularly to keep our professionals up-to-date with the knowledge as well as to develop interest in finding out practical solutions to difficulties faced by them. He also emphasized the need for giving priority to the Holder of the prospecting licences for granting RP cum PL cum ML for the virgin areas. Over 40 persons participated in the seminar and took active part in deliberations. In all six paper were presented. The speakers were:

1. Shri Pushpendra Sharma. Dy Manager GIPVL Vastan

2. Shri Vikas Mitruka, Asst Manager (Mines) & Shri Rashmi Ranjan, Asst Manager (Mines), Valia Mine, GIPCL

3. Shri Swagat Ray, LM & GM (Project), Rajpardi lignite Project, GMDC Ltd

4. Shri Ranjan Kumar, DGM (Mines), Vastan Mines, GIPCL

5. Shri A K Shrivastav, Sr. Manager, Tadkeshwar Lignite Project, GMDC Ltd.

6. Shri Hitendra Patel , Overman, Rajpardi Lignite Project , GMDC Ltd

Shri Pushpendra Sharma suggested that under PMKVY (Pradhan mantra Kaushal Vikas Yojana) training should also be given to the Mining Employees. The Skill certificate granted under this scheme may be given weightage by the DGMS and may be exempted from the Vocational Training.

Shri Mitruka and Shri Rashmi Ranjan pointed out the following ambiguities in the CMR 2017:

â Number of Asst Managers to be appointed not notified by the Board till date.

â Lack of clarity about the procedure adopted regarding Overman’s district size, whether size and capacity will be taken into consideration etc.

â The competent persons to be appointed under Reg 35 needs to be paid by the owner or Manager. But it

is ambiguous in nature and difficult to comply with, as in MDO system, most of the HEMM Operators/ technicians are on contractors’ roll.

â No standardized system for review and auditing of SMP.

Shri Swagat Ray’s paper covered the following issues:â The mining sector contributed 3.4% of India’s GDP in

1992-93, which has declined to 3% in 1999-2000 and further to 2.3% in 2009-10 despite so many policies and guidelines.

â Creation of DMF & NMET under MMDR Act 2015.â He also pointed out about the burden on mining

industry because of the numerous funds given for Socio- economic activities eg. DMF @ 30% of Royalty as per DMF Rules, 2% of the profit as Per Company Act-2013 and also as per the conditions laid down by MoEF & CC in EC.

â Though there exist several Acts, Rules, Policies and Guidelines in India, proper understanding of those is not there with the new applicants. Due to ignorance, they are not complied with.

â MEAI should take up this matter and frame a checklist of all the conditions required to start and run a mine.

Shri Ranjan Kumar discussed the comparison between the provisions of the Draft VT. Rule 2018 & presently existing VT Rule 1966 and discussed it’s impacts in the present Scenario

Shri A K Shrivastav, pointed out the changes in the permissible limit of dust concentration and free silica content in the dust. He also emphasized on the time bound bench parameters, because it has impact on weathering over a period of time and suggested that it should also be included in the scientific study.

Shri Hitendra Patel made presentation on experience and status of recent amendments in mining legislation, covering all the amended provisions made in Coal Mines Regulation 2017 pertaining to opencast lignite mine and also discussed its implementation and experience.

Shri Anand Vijay proposed the vote of Thanks.

BAILADILA CHAPTER

General body meeting held on 21st October 2018General body meeting of MEAI, Bailadila Chapter was held on 21st October,2018 at Kirandul. 43 members attended the meeting.

Following is the Agenda of the meeting.

• Election of new Chairman,Vice-Chairman andWorking President (Kirandul)



• Discussion regarding IMD celebrations

• Introductionofnewmembers

• Anyotherpointwiththepermissionofchair

Shri Randhir Kumar, Joint Secretary, Bailadilachapter welcomed the Vice-Chairman, Working President, Secretary and Members present. The General body meeting was called to elect the new Chairman, the position that was lying vacant, New Office Bearers and to chalk out the program details to celebrate the Indian Mining Day 2018 on 1st November 2018.

The newly elected office bearers are as follows:

Chairman: Shri T.S. Cherian, Executive Director, B.I.O.M., Bacheli Complex

Vice-Chairman: Shri A.K. Prajapati, GeneralManager, B.I.O.M., Kirandul Complex.

Working President: Shri Pankaj Sharma, Jt.GM (Production)

Joint Secretary: Shri Mridul Dixit

The Secretary briefed about the Indian Mining Day celebration on 1st November 2018 and the theme chosen for this year was National Mining Objective-Vision 2040. It was decided to conduct Essay Competition on “ Inevitability of Minerals in our daily Life” in Schools and Colleges located in the periphery of both the Projects and accordingly a committee was constituted for smooth conduct of the Programme.

Two New Members - Shri Pankaj Sharma, Jt.GM (Production) and Shri Ritesh Mishra, Sr.Manager (Mining), both from B.I.O.M, Kirandul Complex, introduced themselves to the General Body.

Shri A.K. Prajapati, the newly elected Vice-Chairman, suggested to hold quarterly meetings and also finalise calendar of events to be conducted by the Chapter. He emphasized the need for making the Chapter more vibrant through Membership Drive.

Shri T.S. Cherian, the newly elected Chairman thanked everyone for entrusting him with the responsibility and informed the members about the importance of joining MEAI from different professional streams to inculcate knowledge sharing. He commended the team of National Seminar who played pivotal role for its successful organization at Raipur on 24 -25 April 2018, which will provide footprints to organize future Seminars. He stressed on fostering the Chapter’s activities through membership drive, presentation of technical papers and by nominating its members to various Seminars and Workshops conducted by other Chapters of the Association and other professional bodies.

The meeting ended with Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri Ramveer Singh, Treasurer, Bailadila Chapter.

BANGALORE CHAPTERTechnical Seminar on Sustainable MiningA technical Seminar on Sustainable Mining was conducted by the Bangalore Chapter on 25th August 2018 at the Department of Mines & Geology, Khanija Bhavan, Bangalore.

Sri Deepak Vidyarthi, Secretary of the Chapter welcomed the guests and delegates and requested Sri Dhanajaya G. Reddy, Vice chairman of the Chapter to conduct the proceedings.

Sri N.S. Prasanna Kumar, Director, Mines & Geology, Bangalore graced the occasion and inaugurated the seminar. In his inaugural address he referred to all the three papers of the seminar – Sustainable Mining, Drone Surveys and Draft National Mineral Policy, as extremely important in the present perspective.

In his opening remarks, he mentioned about the Drone Technology and said that Drone Surveys being used throughout the world are extremely useful for maintenance and exploration activities. Companies are turning to drones for a number of reasons, such as improved safety, increased efficiency and cost saving. Drone Surveys, he observed, should be greatly helpful in the calculation of volume of material removed and in the computation of Royalty.

He indicated the likelihood of amendment to the Minor Minerals Concession Rules of Karnataka and expressed his desire that the experts should come up with recommendations that can be incorporated in the Rules for the benefit of the industry.

Sri Deepak Cukkae Anilkumar, Manager, Geology & QC, R. Praveen Chandra Mines presented a case history of sustainable mining at John Mines of R. Praveen Chandra in Chitradurga district. The paper was co-authored by Sri Dhananjay G Reddy, GM, ERM Group of Mines.

Sri Cyriac Joseph made a presentation on Drone/ UAV Surveys, the platforms, sensors and applications of the survey in the mining industry with a video demonstration which was very well appreciated by the members present.

The third presentation was by Sri G Jayavel on the draft National Mineral Policy 2018 (NMP-2018). He highlighted various positive and negative aspects of the policy and sought the opinion of the delegates. The topic received a lot of interesting and fruitful discussions wherein experts like Sri D.V. Pichamuthu, Sri R.H. Sawkar, Dr V.N. Vasudev and Sri Ashok Megharaj put forth their views with very practical and constructive suggestions.



Sri Dhananjay G Reddy, in his concluding remarks mentioned that the mining industry should get united and put forth all technical issues to the competent authority for resolution; He also presented mementos to the speakers.

The seminar concluded with vote of thanks proposed by Sri N. Rajendran, Jt. Secretary cum Treasurer.

Report on National Seminar A National Seminar on Safe & Sustainable Winning of Minor Minerals was conducted by the Bangalore Chapter on 27th October 2018 at 10:00 AM at Prof. Satish Dhawan Auditorium, CSIC, IISC, Bangalore. The Department of Mines & Geology, Govt. of Karnataka and the Geological Society of India, Bangalore supported it.

As the Government of India has recently notified 31 major minerals as minor minerals, it was considered expedient to conduct the National Seminar with the objective of covering all aspects like safe mining / quarrying practices, use of explosives, environmental issues, alternatives to sand and the rules governing allocation of minor minerals.

The proceedings of day began with invocation song by Ms Sahana Krishnaprasad, invoking the blessings of the

Almighty followed by lighting of the traditional lamp by dignitaries to dispel the darkness.

Dr. T.N. Venugopal, Chairman, Bangalore Chapter, gave background for the seminar and welcomed the guests and delegates.This was followed by address by the guests of honour Dr S.M. Mannan, Dy. Chief Controller of Explosives, Sri Vijay Kumar, Director of Mines Safety, Dr. H.S. Venkatesh, Director, NIRM, Sri R. Veeramani, Chairman Gem Granites & President, CAPEXIL and Sri. R.H. Sawkar, Secretary, Geological Society of India.

The Souvenir of the Seminar was released by the Chief Guest. By Sri N.S. Prasanna Kumar, Director, Department of Mines & Geology. In his address, he emphasized on the need to extract minor minerals, without compromising on safety and environment. He stressed on the need to prevent any illegal quarrying activity, which affects the economy and brings bad name to the State/ industry. Transportation of minerals after mining is another area of concern, which should be properly looked into.

Sri Arun Kr. Kothari, National President, MEAI, in his address explained the activities of MEAI and its role in formulating policies. He also expressed that MEAI is giving its input to Niti Aayog and Ministry of Mines on several issues concerned with the mining industry.

Sri Deepak Vidyarthi, Secretary, Bangalore Chapter proposed a Vote of Thanks, at the end of the inaugural session, expressing gratitude to all the guests, authors and delegates who had graced the occasion by their presence and assembled from distant places. He was grateful to all those who had extended help in conducting the seminar.

Technical PresentationsThe day-long seminar was packed with excellent technical presentations from learned and experienced authors. It covered five technical themes viz. use of Explosives, safe mining / quarrying, environmental issues, sand & alternatives and minor mineral rules and auction of mineral blocks.

The following papers were presented:

1. Regulations under Explosives Rules, 2008 – With Special Reference to Mining by Dr. S.M. Mannan

2. Statutory Provisions for Safe & Sustainable Winning of Minor Minerals by Sri G. Vijayakumar

3. Air Decking in Blasting by Sri Deepak Vidyarthi

4. A Correlation of Geological Structures with Stability and Safety in Mining Practices in Granite Dimensional Quarries by Sri B. Kanishkan

5. Blasting Concerns during Quarrying by Sri B.B. Prakash



6. Environment Clearance for Minor Minerals -Procedures and Practice by Sri D.A. Hiremath

7. Manufacture of Sand- A Writeup by Sri Venkat Chandrashekar

8. Minor Mineral Concession Rules in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by Dr. V.D. Rajagopal

9. Critical Analysis on Quarrying of Minor Minerals Under the KMMCR, 1994 – Issues & Concerns by Sri A.R. Vijay Singh

10. Auction of Minor Minerals: A Brief about the Process by Sri Sabyasachi Nayak

A section of Audience

Sri Arun Kumar Kothari, National President, MEAI, Addressing the gathering

Technical Session on Mineral Resources Reporting SystemBangalore Chapter conducted a Technical Session on ‘Mineral Resources Reporting System’ on 30th March 2019 at the conference hall of Khanija Bhavan, Department of Mines & Geology, Bengaluru. Dr T.N. Venugopal, Chairman, Bangalore Chapter welcomed the gathering.

Dr TN Venugopal (Centre) introducing Speakers Dr P.V. Rao (left) and Mr R.N. Selvan (right)

Two eminent speakers, Mr R.N. Selvan, Superintending Mining Geologist, IBM & OSD, BGML made a presentation on United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) 1997

– Concept, Application, Advantage and Limitation. Dr P.V. Rao, NACRI Co-Chair, CRIRSCO Rep in India and Editor, Mining Engineers’ Journal made a detailed presentation on “CRIRSCO International Reporting Standards: International Best Practice for Reporting Mineral Resources and Reserves.

Mr Selvan presented details on classification method being adopted for various mineral blocks. He also dwelt on the shortcomings and interpretation gaps of the methodology. The discussion was very fruitful and the delegates shared their experience on usage of UNFC method.

Dr P.V. Rao presented another exhaustive paper on CRIRSCO Standards. He covered the entire length and breadth of the basic concepts of internationally accepted public reporting standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves by the global financial institutions, Stock Exchange regulators and Investors. He emphasised the importance of developing our own CRIRSCO compliant Mineral Reserve reporting code adopting CRIRSCO public reporting standards to attract investments in Exploration and Mining sectors of India. He also highlighted the formation and functioning of NACRI (National Core Committee for reporting Mineral Resources and Reserves in India) under the leadership of MEAI and the status of developing IMIC (Indian Mineral Industry Code) by NACRI and review pending with the CRIRSCO working group.

The comparison between CRIRSCO & UNFC was discussed. It was also brought to the notice of the participants that the UNFC is a classification standard whereas the CRIRSCO is a reporting standard for mineral inventories.

The challenges being faced by NACRI in convincing Indian mining regulators on the benefits of adopting CRIRSCO standards to mineral industry, making India as a member of CRIRSCO and way forward were discussed in detail. It was also informed that CRIRSCO has a strategic alliance with the International Council for Mining and Metals (ICMM) and strategic agreement with UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) to provide commodity specific Mineral Resource and Reserve definitions for UNFC 2009. He concluded by suggesting that usage of CRIRSCO developed a bridging document to map CRIRSCO complaint Resources and Reserves reported by the lessees to UNFC 2009 and then reporting National Mineral Inventory as per UNFC 2009 will satisfy both the global investors and the Indian regulators.

Mementoes were presented to both the speakers in appreciation of their efforts and enlightening the delegates on this important subject. Mr Deepak Vidyarthi, Secretary, Bangalore Chapter proposed a Vote of thanks. The Session ended with a sumptuous lunch!



BARAJAMDA CHAPTERIn a meeting of the Chapter held on September 15, 2018, the following new Executive Committee was constituted.

Chairman: Sri Manish Mishra, GM-OMQ, Noamundi, Tata Steel, [email protected] Chairman: Sri Manash Bishwas, GM (Mines), KIOM, SAIL, [email protected] Chairman, Sri H. Mojumdar, [email protected]: Sri R.P. Mali, Chief Noamundi, Tata Steel, [email protected]. Secretary cum treasurer: Mr. Rahul Kishore, Head Operations, Tata Steel, [email protected]

Executive Committee:Sri Satish Kumar, [email protected] I.V.A. Raju, [email protected] P. K. Patra, [email protected],Sri V. Srikant, [email protected] D. N. Parida, [email protected] Ovalesh Kumar, [email protected] Vivek Kumar Agarwal, [email protected]

Technical Paper MeetingOn 13th March 2019, like every year, Noamundi, OMQ Divi-sion, Tata Steel Ltd has successfully hosted the Barajamda Chapter meet at its Noamundi Officers Club.

Mr Niranjan Kumar, Dy Director of Mines Safety along with Mr. RP Mali, Chief, Noamundi, Tata Steel has addressed the gathering consisting of over 90 delegates and engineers of Chaibasa Region from different mines viz. SAIL, Rungta Mines Limited, Essel Mining, OMC, OMDC, Tata Steel etc.

The seminar topic was “Digital Innovation in Blasting Technology”. Blasting is the major parameter in mining industry as it has the potential to control the entire opera-tion. The mining industry is committed to introduce the lat-est technology and practices to its mining business. We are also well known for our vision towards sustainability and other initiatives that create its core value stronger from qual-ity, safety and environmental point of view. Keeping these points in view, the theme of the meet was to enhance the blasting practice in mining industry by implementing innova-tive technology along with advancement of the conventional methods in insitu blasting.

Delegates from different organisations and OEM like M/s Orica across the mining region enlighten the conversation to strengthen the blasting technique more reliable and tech-nical in order to achieve excellence under the guidance of Dy DMS Mr Niranjan Kumar. The program was coordinated by Mr Rahul Kishore, Head Katamati & Mr Tanmoy Ghosal, Sr Manager Safety.

Section of Delegates participating in the seminar

BELGAUM CHAPTERWorld Water Day celebrations report The Belgaum Chapter organised the World Water Day function at Geology Department, GSS College, Belgaum on 30 March 2019. The function was clubbed with the Farewell to Final year BSc students and prize distribution to the students of Geo-Tectonics Intra-class competitions organised by Mining Engineers' Association of India Belgaum Chapter as part of MoU signed with the college.

Dr. B.K. Purandara, Vice Chairman, Belgaum Chapter & Scientist F, NIH, Belgaum, was the Chief Guest. Chairman Shri. D.S. Malkai and Secretary Dr. P. T. Hanamgond of the Belgaum Chapter and Principal Dr. N.D. Hegde were on the dais. Dr. Purandara gave a talk on "Water Quality", and gave away the prizes. Belgaum Chapter has signed an MoU with GSS College, Belgaum and this activity forms one of the joint programmes of both MEAI and Department of Geology.

Guests and Staff with outgoing Final Year students of Geology, GSS College

BELLARY-HOSPET CHAPTER

Report on General Body Meeting held on 10-07-2018

Over 45 Life members of the Chapter were attended for the General body Meeting to discuss the following Points:

1. At the outset Sri. K. Madhusudhana informed the members present in the meeting that the MEAI has conducted the National Council meeting and Award ceremony at Jaipur wherein the Bellary-Hospet Chapter was recognized as Active Chapter and he congratulated all the members for receiving “Active Chapter Award for Initiative and Active



Performance”, and “Special Award for Enrolling Maximum Life Members”. He also announced that a National Seminar on “Road Map Towards Sustainable Mining” will be conducted on 21-22 September 2018 at Mallige Hotel, Hosapete and a formal permission from MEAI HQ has already been obtained. He has proposed to host the National Council meeting at Hosapete coinciding with the National Seminar on 21st September 2018 evening and all the members agreed for the same.

2. Sri. K. Prabhakar Reddy also congratulated the members for the recognition conferred on the Chapter, and shared his views on constructing a Building & Infrastructure required for the Bellary-Hospet Chapter.

3. Sri. Manish Murkute DMS, shared his experience and cooperation extended by MSAK & MEAI for the National Seminar conducted at Bangalore recently. He also mentioned that the MMR is going to be amended shortly and the Safety Management Plan is introduced in the Regulations, which is mandatory now for all mines. He also said that the review of status of implementation of the Safety Management Plan in the mines of Hospet and Bellary by a workshop on SMP, SOP. All mines should prepare presentation on the status of implementation of SMP in their respective mines and present during the workshop, 2 to 3 mines at a time and a schedule will be finalized shortly for the same. The DMS also informed that the screening of silicosis cases of mine workers/employees in second phase medical examination for the detection of silicosis will be conducted.

4. Two technical papers were presented by Sri. K. Madhusudhana on “current status of mine leases” and Sri. P Ramesh Babu, SUMS on “Air pollution & its effects”.

The meeting ended with vote of thanks proposed by Sri. Chandrashekar Halli followed by Dinner hosted by M/s NMDC, Donimalai.

Dignitaries on the Dais

NATIONAL SEMINAR ON “ROAD MAP TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE MINING”Ballari-Hospet Chapter has taken initiative to conduct a National Seminar on “ROADMAP TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE MINING” on September 21-22, 2018 at Hotel Malligi, Hosapete to benefit the mining fraternity on sustainable mining operations such as mineral exploration, mineral processing, updates in statute, and latest methods of working in mining.

The event was held under the aegis of Directorate General of Mines Safety, which was supported by Department of Mines & Geology, Government of Karnataka and Mines Safety Association of Karnataka (MSAK).

The inaugural session, Shri Utpal Saha, Dy. DGMS, Southern Zone was the Chief Guest and Shri Arun Kumar Kothari, President, MEAI was the guest of honour. The event was presided by Shri K. Madhusudhana, Vice President-II, MEAI & VP-Mines, M/s MSPL Limited. Shri B. Sahoo, Chairman, BH Chapter & E.D, M/s NMDC Ltd., Dr. Meda Venkataiah, E.D, M/s MSPL Limited & Chairman MSAK, Secretary, BH Chapter Shri K. Prabhakar Reddy, CEO, Sai Universal Services & Sums Techno Labs Pvt. Ltd., and Vice Chairman Shri T.L. Yogananda, HOD Department of Mining & Metallurgy Engineering - TMAES Polytechnic Hosapete were the other dignitaries who attended the event.

DGMS officials, Past Presidents-MEAI, Secretary General-MEAI, Chairman and Secretaries of other chapters of MEAI, Council Members of MEAI and Authors viz. Dr. S.J. Gopalkrishna, Professor, Department of Studies and Research in Mineral Processing, Dy. DGMS & DMS, Bengaluru, & DMS, Bellary, Dr. H.S. Venkatesh, Director of National Institute of Rock Mechanics, Dr. V.N. Vasudev, CEO of MPXG Exploration Pvt. Ltd., Shri. Shameek Chattopadhyay, Director and Principal Consultant (Resource Geology) of SRG, Shri. V. Mohan, Shri. Sudhir Kumar & others from Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Shri. Arun Kumar, IBM, Bengaluru participated in the seminar and shared their knowledge through their excellent presentations. Over 250 persons from the mining fraternity of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Other States attended the seminar.

This Seminar helped in partaking technical knowledge on exploration in strategic & rare earth minerals, advances in mineral exploration, drilling & blasting techniques, latest blasting Methods, alternative systems of transportation like downhill conveyors & railway sidings, updates in Statute, occupational health, welfare and safety in mining, and future trends in sustainable mining.



Lighting of the lamp by dignitaries

Release of Souvenir by the dignitaries

GOA CHAPTER

AGM ReportThe Goa Chapter has organised its Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) on Saturday the 16th June 2018 at GGVTC- Curti, Ponda. The AGM was preceded by a talk on “Current Mining Scenario in Goa” by Shri.AN Joshi.

The Secretary Shri E. Hymakar Reddy invited Shri T Victor, Shri Mahesh Bongale, Shri Cletus D’ Souza on to the dais. Shri Cletus D’Souza who was requested to preside over the meeting welcomed all the members for the AGM. The agenda points for discussion during the meet are as follows:

1. Confirmation of meeting: The previous minutes of meeting were confirmed.

2. Election of new committee for year 2018-20: As the mining activity has come to a halt and many members are either shifted to other states or not active, the outgoing executive committee suggested the new members The members have unanimously elected the following members in the new committee for the year 2018-20.

Shri Cletus D’Souza – Chairman

Shri. Ramesh K Singh – Vice Chairman

Shri E Hymakar Reddy – Secretary

Shri Deepak Bhagat – Jt Secretary

Shri R B Singh – Treasurer

Shri A N Joshi

Shri Raju Salgaonkar

Shri Anurag Mishra

Shri D Kishore Kumar

Shri A Ravinder

Shri Kiran D Kulkarni (Permanent Invitee)

In addition to the above members, National Council Members Shri T Victor (Imm Past President), Shri C S Dhaveji & Shri Mahesh Bongale shall be part of the Executive Committee.

3. Report of activities for year 2017-18: Shri E. H. Reddy presented the activities performed by the MEAI Chapter for the year 2017-18.

4. Presentation of Accounts: In the absence of Shri Shrikant Hegde, Treasurer, Shri E. H. Reddy, Secretary presented the accounts for the Year 2017-18. The General body accepted the account statement. Shri A N Joshi proposed & Shri K D Kulkarni seconded .

5. Activities to be performed: Shri T Victor observed that since the mining activities are halted the mining professionals shall motivate themselves to withstand the challenge. He advised the professionals to be in touch and have discussions. Members were of the opinion that the MEAI need to submit a proposal with regard to mining operations in Goa.

The meeting ended with thanks proposed by Shri. Mahesh Bongale.

HIMALAYAN CHAPTER

Report on AGMGeneral body elections of Mining Engineers’ Association of India (MEAI) Himalayan Chapter were held on 16th June, 2018 and the following office bearers were elected unanimously. Shri J.L. Sud was elected as the Chairman where as Shri R.S. Tiwari was elected as the Vice Chairman of the chapter. Dr. S.S. Randhawa was elected as Secretary & Shri Sanjeev Sharma as Jt. Secretary, where as Shri Puneet Guleria as the Treasurer of the chapter. Besides these Shri Subhash Sharma, Shri N.K. Gupta, Shri Araun Sharma, Shri V.K. Walia, Shri Raju Joshi (Ambuja Cement Ltd.), Shri Amit Dubey (Ultratech Cement Ltd.) & Shri Kamal Nain (ACC Ltd.) were elected as the Executive Members of the chapter. Himalayan Chapter was formed in Himachal Pradesh in the year 1995 to look after the issues related to the mining activities and for creating awareness on different platforms for the pretection of the environment form various facets. The chapter also holds different competitions at student level in the field of Environment and its conservation and is also proposing similar activities in the coming months.



HYDERABAD CHAPTERAnnual General Body MeetingThe Annual General Body Meeting of Hyderabad Chapter was held on August 18, 2018 in Hyderabad. The Executive Committee Members and the Members of the Hyderabad Chapter attended. The Chairman welcomed all the Members and presided the AGM.

The Secretary presented the achievements of the Hyderabad Chapter in the last 2 years viz., holding Mining Today 2018, International Conference-cum-Exhibition at Hyderabad in 2018 and receiving Best Chapter Award 2018. Also informed that Sri BRV Susheel Kumar, Chairman, Hyderabad Chapter received Service Excellence Award for 2018.

The Secretary informed that the Hyderabad Chapter is conducting a one day National Seminar on “M-Sand: Future Perspective & Its Sustainability” on 30.08.2018 in Hyderabad and requested all the Members to attend the event.

The Joint Secretary & Treasurer presented the Budget & Expenditure of Hyderabad Chapter for the period 2016-17 and 2017-18 and placed the Audited Accounts before the AGM for approval. The AGM discussed on the income received & expenditure incurred and finally approved the Audited Accounts for 2016-17 & 2017-18.

The Secretary informed that the term of the present Executive Committee has expired. During the last Executive Committee (EC) Meeting held on 05.05.2018, it was unanimously proposed for continuation of the existing Executive Committee for the next 2 years term i.e., 2018-2020 with inclusion of additional (4) Members in the Executive Committee viz., Sri. M. Venkateshwarlu; Sri. A. Pradeep Kumar; Sri. R. Praveen Reddy and Sri. S. Swamy Krishnaji Rao as Executive Members. The AGM unanimously approved and declared the existing EC with (4) additional Executive Members as elected for the next 2 years term 2018-2020.

The Chairman, Secretary & Executive Members of the Hyderabad Chapter thanked the AGM for continuing the existing Executive Committee for next 2 years term 2018-2020 and requested for continuing the same support and cooperation in keeping the flag of the Hyderabad Chapter always high.

Report on Symposium ‘Opportunities for entrepreneurs in Minor minerals’Recently the Government has converted 31 Major Minerals as Minor minerals and has brought them under the State’s Purview. In this regard the department of mining engineering MREC (A) in association with MEAI Hyderabad chapter conducted a symposium on “Opportunities for entrepreneurs in Minor Minerals” on 29th September, 2018 at Hyderabad. The symposium was attended by over 125 students from (Malla Reddy Engineering college, OU college of engineering, JBIET and HITS), MEAI members, faculty etc. The purpose behind holding this symposium was to create an opportunity for young mining engineers to develop as entrepreneurs and to meet the global challenges and also in solving scientific problems of mineral industry.

In the inaugural session, after Jyothi Prajwalana and Prayer song, Prof S. Sudhakara Reddy, Principal MREC(A) welcomed the guests and emphasized about the importance of mining in industrial growth and congratulated Department of mining for conducting such program in MREC(A). Later, the guests have released the Souvenir containing the messages and papers/presentations of invited speakers.

The subject speakers were:• Sri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar, Director of mines and

geology & Chairman, MEAI Hyderabad chapter: Key note address of symposium

• SriRafiAhmed,Jt.Directorofmines&geology:Minorminerals in Telengana and their importance

• Sri P.V.S. Sarma, GM, Gulf oil limited: Challenges in blasting in extraction of minor minerals

• SriT.V.Chowdary,formerDirectorofmines&geologyand former Chairman, Hyderabad chapter and former President MEAI: Recent legislations regarding addition of 31 major minerals as minor minerals

• Sri K. Rajasekhar Reddy, GM, TSMDC: Regulatoryclearance for commencement of mining operations in minerals

• Sri S. Krishna Murthy, MEAI Secretary General:Outlined the present situation in Mining Industry and advised the students on opportunities for mining engineers.

The theme for the Symposium was presented by the Coordinator Dr. M.S. Venkataramayya. Sri Chandrahas, Asst. Prof, MIE conducted the program including introduction of guests etc.

In the first session, keynote address was given by Sri B.R.V. Susheel Kumar wherein he spoke on the importance of mineral wealth in the economic growth and providing revenue to the government. He acknowledged the efforts of the college MREC(A) for materializing the symposium. Sri Rafi Ahmed made a presentation on “Minor minerals in Telangana and their importance”, which was highly informative.



In the Noon session, Sri P.V.S. Sarma, GM, Gulf oil limited, spoke on the Challenges in blasting in removal of minor minerals. Sri T.V. Chowdary delivered his lecturer on Recent legislations regarding addition of 31 major minerals as minor minerals. At the end, Sri K.Rajasekhar Reddy spoke on Regulatory clearance for commencement of mining operations in minerals.

Sri V. Narasimhareddy, Prof M.S. Venkatramayya, Sri K. Rajasekhareddy, Sri Viswanadam- Jt Secretary & Treasurer Hyderabad Chapter, Prof D. Chandrasekhar and Prof NSRK Prasad presented certificates of Participation to all students.

Dr. M.S. Venkataramayya thanked Sri BRV Susheel Kumar for providing technical and financial support from his department and Hyderabad Chapter.

Releasing of souvenir by dignitaries

Workshop on “Recent Developments in Mine safety legislationA one-day workshop on “Recent Developments in Mine safety legislation”, was organized on 28th December, 2018 by the Department of Mining Engineering MREC(A) .The workshop was attended by over 100 students from Malla Reddy Engineering College, SCCL Corporate office members, MEAI members, Faculty etc. The purpose behind the workshop was to create awareness in mining engineers on recent changes in mines safety legislation.

In the inaugural session, after Jyothi Prajwalana and Prayer song, Prof S. Sudhakara Reddy, Principal MREC(A) welcomed the guests and emphasized on the importance of mining in industrial growth and congratulated Department of Mining for conducting such a program in MREC(A).

The Chief Guest Sri Shyam Mishra, Director of Mines Safety, Hyderabad region-1, delivered keynote address wherein he presented the important duties executed by DGMS such as inspections and scientific investigations which makes mining operation in a proper track and highlighted the need for continuous amendments in legislation. He acknowledged the efforts of the college MREC (A) for materializing the workshop. Guest of Honor Sri S.V.S. Ramalingeswaradu,

GM HRD, SCCL outlined the necessity of safety legislation in the industry. The Coordinator Dr. M.S. Venkataramayya spoke on the theme of the workshop and thanked SCCL and MEAI Hyderabad Chapter for sponsoring the workshop.

Sri Md. Fasihuddin, Former President MEAI, graced the workshop. He gave his valuable message to the students for choosing mining as their profession. The HoD and Guests honored him. Guests have released the Souvenir containing the messages and papers/ presentations of invited speakers.

In the first session, Sri S. Mohan, I/C Mines rescue station, has presented on “Mines rescue legislation”, which was very informative to the students. Later Dr. Ramesh, DyCMO, SCCL presented a paper on Recent Developments in mines safety legislation pertaining to occupational health legislation which grabbed attention of the students

In the Noon session, Sri V. Laxmi Narayana, Rtd DDGMS, explained “Major changes between metalliferous mines regulation, 1961 and draft metalliferous mines regulations, 2018”. Sri E. Jayakumar, Rtd DMS delivered his lecturer on “Administration of mine safety through participation of stakeholders”.

Coordinator and convener felicitated the speakers with the Shawl and memento. After receiving feedback from the participants, Sri N.S.R. Krishna Prasad, HoD-MIE, Prof M.S. Venkatramayya, Sri B.S.P. Raju- VP Sagar cements, Sri Md. Fasihuddin, and Prof D. Chandrasekhar presented Certificate of Participation to all the participating students.

Prof. N.S.R. Krishna Prasad, Mining HoD thanked MREC management and guests for attending the programme.

Dignitaries photographed with MREC (A) Mining faculty

KOLKATA CHAPTERMr Shyama Prasad Bhutia, Sr. Geologist , Geological Survey of India and his team made a major discovery of Iron ore in the green field area of Bonai-Kendujhar belt, Odisha. The investigation carried out by the team in Ghoraburhani – Sagasahi area of Sundargarh District, Odisha spread over 2.5 km strike length, has augmented 132.96 Mt iron ore resource @ +60% Fe with more than 100m vertical thickness. The discovery widens scope for locating new



iron ore deposits in the adjoining green field areas. The Ghoraburhani–Sagasahi iron ore deposit was recently auctioned by the government of Odisha. In recognition of his significant contribution in the field of mineral discovery and exploration, Hon’ble President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind conferred National Geoscience Award-2017 on Mr Shyama Prasad Bhutia on 16th May 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. He shared the award with his co-workers Mr PK Jena and Mr SK Jena.

MUMBAI CHAPTER

L to R: Mr Amapta Mhatre , Mr Paresh Thakur , Mr Arun Kumar Kothari, Mr T Victor, Mr Deepak

The MEAI Mumbai Chapter Inauguration was held at Jupi-ter Hall of Hotel Devanshi Inn, Navi Mumbai on 17th March 2019.

Shri Arun Kumar Kothari, Hon President MEAI presided over the grand event and administered the Pledge. He also pre-sided over all other ceremonies of the event, accompanied by Shri T Victor, Past President, and Shri Deepak Gupta, Secretary New Delhi Chapter. Shri Ravi Chandran Raj has been designated as the Found-er Chairman and Mr Subodh Kasangottuwar as Founder Secretary along with Shri Mahadev N Zade as Joint Sec-retary. Shri Kammala Srinivas Reddy, Shri Rajesh Sonkar, Shri Vijay U Lichade are inducted as Executive Committee members of Mumbai Chapter.

Shri Ramseth Thakur agreed to be designated as Chief Pa-tron and deputed his son Shri Paresh Thakur as Guest of Honour for the event.

Shri J.M. Mhatre had consented to be the Chief Guest and sent his nominee Shri Amapta Mhatre as Guest of Honour. Other Guests of Honour who participated were Shri Soma Sundaram Kumar, Project Manager GVK Projects, Shri Venugopal Panicker, Ex CEO of RMC (Johnson Prism Ltd), Shri DA Hiremath, former Director of Mines & Geology Ma-harashtra, Shri Sunil Somani, Director of M/s Beezaasan Explotech Pvt Ltd, Prof. Dr Sandeep M Joshi, Principal, Pil-lai College Of Engineering. A tribute was paid to eminent MEAI members present. The newly constituted Executive Committee Members honoured and felicitated the eminent MEAI members and Other Senior members and guests.

Technical Paper Session was held with papers presented by MEAI Mumbai Chapter members. The event received warm welcome and participation from Industry. The ‘Summit Dinner’ was Highly Interactive with Guests and Participants Greeting and networking with each other.

Mr Arun Kumar Kothari with Mrs Kothari unvield the LOGO

NAGPUR CHAPTERPRESS NOTE‘Scientific Excavation Management in mining can lead to higher productivity and safe mining’.Nagpur Chapter has successfully conducted a National Level workshop on “Managing Excavation Stability through Design, Analysis and Monitoring” at Hotel Radisson Blu, Nagpur on 24th September 2018. The event was inaugurated by Shri M.P. Chaudhary, Chairman Cum Managing Director of MOIL Ltd. and was presided over by Shri Arun Kothari, President, Mining Engineers’ Association of India. Shri Mantu Biswas, Chief Controller of Mines I/C, IBM was the guest of honor.

Shri M.P. Choudhary in his inaugural address deliberated on future expansion plans of MOIL Ltd. He emphasized the need for safe mining in order to achieve higher productivity for which technological intervention is necessary. He also stressed that pit slope stability and safety of men and machinery are of paramount importance in mining operations.



Shri Ranjan Sahai, former Controller General, IBM was conferred with life time achievement award by MEAI, Nagpur Chapter for his outstanding contribution in the field of mining and shaping the Indian mining scenario. In his address, Mr Sahai stated that time has come for increased focus on underground mining as well as sustainable opencast mining as the surface and near surface deposits are depleting very fast. More thrust has to be given for exploration to overcome import of minerals. Mechanism with economic viability has to be developed to utilize low-grade ores. The mineral security of the country has to be ensured through proactive policy initiatives.

Thirteen technical papers were presented in the workshop by eminent experts from India and abroad. More than 150 participants from all over the country, which included senior executives of mining industry, professionals, academicians, consultants and students, attended the workshop. A souvenir was released on the occasion.

The event was organised under the active supervision of Shri D. K. Sahni and Shri H. R. Kalihari, Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively of the Nagpur Chapter.

NEW DELHI CHAPTERHalf-day ConferenceMEAI Delhi Chapter organized a half-day conference on Contemporary Mining Issues at The Marigold, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on 16th November 2018. The conference primarily focussed on the consequences of the recent MMDR Amendments and industry experiences thus far after the amendments came into force.

The conference was well attended with around 50 delegates, witnessed intense deliberations, and engaged interactions with the bureaucrats invited to preside over the sessions. There were 2 sessions, namely the inaugural session with a keynote presentation by Mr S Vijay Kumar, Senior Fellow TERI and Ex-Secretary (Mines) and the technical session with five speakers highlighting different aspects of the MMDR Amendments. M/S Dalmia Bharat Cements Ltd and M/S Neyvelli Lignite Corporation Ltd. sponsored the Conclave.

The inaugural session was presided by Mr Arun Kothari, National President MEAI, Mr Anil Bhandari, President Delhi

Chapter, Mr Deepak Gupta, Secretary Delhi Chapter, Mr R K Sharma, Secretary General FIMI and the Keynote Speaker Mr S Vijay Kumar. Mr Pankaj Satija, Council Member welcomed all the delegates and dignitaries and called upon the respective speakers to address the gathering.

Inaugural session in progress: Mr Pankaj Satija welcoming guests

Mr Anil Bhandari set the context of the Conference by mentioning that India is a mineral rich country and has favourable geological potential, which is yet to be fully explored, assessed and extracted. Mining and Exploration companies were eagerly waiting for the mining policies of the new government to revive the struggling mining industry. The legislative reforms introduced by the government in the form of MMDR (Amendment) Act 2015, effective from 12th January, 2015 was only able to remove the log-jam and improve transparency. He also highlighted the major features of the Amendment Act and some of the resultant pitfalls:

• Miningleaseswillnowbegrantedforatermof50yearsand the mineral concessions will be granted through auction process

• Leasessograntedwon’tberenewedaftertheirexpiry

• The Central Government will prescribe the terms and conditions for grant of mineral concessions through competitive bidding

• ReconnaissancePermits will henceforth be granted on non-exclusive basis

• However,thepolicyprovedtobeadampenerasrouteto green field exploration paused. All RP applications made prior to the Act deemed ineligible; Provision for grant of non-exclusive RPs for all minerals; No seamless transfer to PL cum ML or ML.

• TheCentralGovernmenthastheauthoritytoreservemines for specific end uses at its discretion.

• Auction of mining leases has also not been entirelysuccessful. Very few such leases have come into production. Imports are increasing.

• Processof transferofLeasesalreadygrantedduringFCFS regime has become very cumbersome and not in-line with “ease of doing business”. Even transfers within Group Companies is now restrictive.

• District Mineral Foundation is to be set up in eachmineral bearing district for local area development



and National Mineral Exploration Trust for regional and detailed exploration in the country.

Mr Arun Kothari then spoke at length about the status of the Indian Mining Industry and presented a brief on the working of the Mining Engineers Association through its different Chapters in its endeavour to make the sector more progressive and attractive.

Mr RK Sharma highlighted the setback to exploration as the major pitfall from the MMDR Amendment and added that the country needs to prioritise it’s efforts towards exploration of the deep seated, strategic and technology minerals instead of simply revisiting strategy and policy towards revenue maximisation from the bulk and surficial minerals.

The Keynote Presentation by Mr S Vijay Kumar dealt with the need for aligning the Mining Sector with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals in order to usher in a golden period for the industry. He highlighted that the Mining sector has an important role in the country’s sustainable economic development, both as an engine of growth and as a revenue source to fund socio-economic development. Therefore, he advised the following:• Itisnecessarytoseehowthegovernanceframework

for the mining sector, particularly post amendment of the MMDR Act 1957, aligns to the goal of sustainable development in general and the SDGs in particular.

• ItisnotonlyimportanttoseewhichSDGsareachievable(or advanced) through activities of the sector, but also which SDGs are adversely impacted and what can be done to reduce this impact.

• Infact,thisshouldbeageneralapproachtoallsectoralpolicies of the Government. In the case of mining, there is an advantage as the “Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) 2011” brought out by the Ministry is perfectly in accord with the approach of the SDGs.

The Keynote Presentation also highlighted a few specific areas of concern pertaining to the MMDR Amendment Act in light of the SDGs:

Mr Vijay Kumar summed up the presentation on an important note by saying that ‘Mining can be either a source of revenue for funding national socio-economic development plans OR an engine of growth for the economy’.

Mr Deepak Gupta summed up the proceedings of the inaugural session and presented a formal vote of thanks.

Conference held on 08.03.2019MEAI conference on Contemporary Mining Issues and Way Forward was organized on 08.03.2019 at Royal Plaza Ho-tel in New Delhi. The Conference was well attended by the

Senior Bureaucrats from the Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Coal, MoEFCC, representatives from Tata Steel, JSW, Dalmia Bharat, ACC, and MEAI members.

Inaugural SessionMr Pankaj Satija, Council member welcomed the partici-pants and speakers. Mr A.K. Bhandari (Chairman, Delhi Chapter) greeted the Chief Guests with flower bouquets and delivered the welcome address. He emphasized on the importance of such conferences as Mining Industry is going through a transition phase.

Prof B.B. Dhar addressed the gathering focusing on the potential of mining in India, R& D in mining sector. In the changing times, mining industry needs to be more respon-sible towards environment and community. Mr R.K. Kodali (Scientist E, MoEFCC) spoke on the importance of Environ-mental Clearance in Mining Industry and highlighted the re-quirement of violation committee created in MoEF & CC. Mr S.K. Pallerla (Scientist E, MoEFCC) spoke on the policies governing the mining sector. He also said that the MoEFCC is working on a draft notification, which will help in continu-ation of mineral production for leases expiring in 2020. He used this platform to seek suggestions on this draft notifica-tion.

(From L to R): Mr Pankaj Satija, Mr Deepak Gupta, Mr S.K. Pallerla, Mr A.K. Bhandari, Prof. B.B. Dhar, and Mr R.K. Kodali

Technical SessionChaired by Dr N.K. Singh and Dr Anindya Sinha.

Mr Arindam Mukherjee, Dalmia Bharat Group, spoke on the regulatory challenges in MMDR Act. His presentation focused on the point that the law governing the surface and sub-soil should be one. He mentioned that the transfer Levy to the tune of 80% needs a re-look and the issue of Double Taxation in Royalty needs to be resolved.

Mr Arun Kalra, De Beers India Private Limited, focused his presentation on Policy Environment for Mineral Exploration and Way Forward. His points targeted on the current Policy Environment for Exploration in India. He also talked about the status of Exploration of Precious Metals & Minerals in India. He said that as there is a high risk on Exploration, India’s Investment Attractiveness for Exploration needs to be improved.



Shantanu Dubey, JSW, spoke on Key Mining Issues being faced by the Indian Steel Industry. He mentioned that post 2020, close to 70 Mt Iron ore production will be curtailed across Odisha (52 million ton), Jharkhand (10 million ton) and Karnataka (6 million ton) and the lengthy process of re-auctioning will take 3-5 years for reinstating the mines into active production by new owner. He said that making ex-isting statutory approvals (Environmental Clearance & For-est Clearance) transferable in favor of the successful bidder including the approved Mining Plan and the surface rights would be a welcome step for the industry.

Mr Pankaj Satija said that it is high time to rationalize the royalty rates considering the highest effective tax rate of In-dia and the process of calculating the average sale price is leading to double taxation (Royalty over Royalty). He men-tioned that in some states the royalty on fines is paid at the rate of lumps, Royalty is paid at the highest grades for dis-patch of lower grade Iron ore from Odisha and Jharkhand. He also spoke on the rationalization of the Penal Interest Rate under MMDR. He highlighted various issues affecting the 2020 auctions. On the area holding limit under Section 6(1) (b) of MMDR, he mentioned that in the auction regime, there is an equal opportunity for all participants, this clause is making the Government’s push for Ease of Doing Busi-ness null and void. Issues related to Carrying Capacity Study in Odisha and Jharkhand were also highlighted. He also said that treating EC for cases already dealt with Com-mon Cause Judgement as a violation case should also be looked in to as it is. Issues in Gram Sabha and Ward Sabha in municipal areas were also mentioned. Issues in coal block auctions and why it got annulled, sub-optimal utilization of coal and Coking Coal Linkage/Spot Auctions etc. were ex-plained in detail.

Dr Anindya Sinha gave an overview on the Indian Coal Sec-tor. He said that India’s Commercial Energy demand is rising and Coal is the major source of Primary Energy Supply of the Country with 54% of share. He said that Imports of Coal in India is mainly due to the shortage of high quality indige-nous Coking coal for steel making and imported coal based design of some Thermal Plants. He said that 15953 Sq. km. area is under Direct Exploration. He mentioned about the Green Initiatives and Eco-friendly technologies adopted in the major Coal Mines.

Dr N.K. Singh appreciated all the points highlighted in the Technical session. He made a special mention about these events, which bring out the industry concerns. He empha-sized on the importance of Mining Plan and issues related with Environmental Clearance. He gave details about the things envisaged in National Mineral Policy (NMP) 2019. He said that Exploration shall be incentivized to attract private investment. There are many welcome steps taken in NMP 2019 viz. the Right of first refusal at the time of auction or

seamless transaction of RP to PL to ML or auctioning of composite RP cum PL cum ML. He said that Centre shall be working on identifying certain Mining designated areas where FC/ECs grants becomes much simpler and easier. He also emphasized on the importance of pre-embedded statutory clearance before auctioning of blocks. He men-tioned the aim of the NMP 2019, which is to increase in mineral production by 200% in 7 years at the same time reduce the deficit by 50%. He said that two years were giv-en for acquiring minimum 4-star rating; Ministry of Mines is working on this issue to extend this period. He requested the industry to be pro-active for giving its views at the time when the suggestions are sought for amending policies. On the issue of Average Sale price, he agreed that this needs to be rationalized because it is the basic thing on which the royalty is calculated.

This session was followed by question and answers.

(From L to R) Dr N.K. Singh, Mr Pankaj Satija, Mr Arun Kalra, Mr Anindya Sinha, Mr Arindam Mukherjee, and Mr Shantanu Dubey

Mr Deepak Gupta (Secretary, New Delhi Chapter) proposed the formal vote of thanks.

RAJASTHAN CHAPTER- JAIPURWorkshop on Occupational Health Hazard in Mining and Work Places – Control Measures The Chapter organised a one day workshop on ‘Occupational Health Hazard in Mining and Workplaces – Control Measures’ on June 9, 2018 at its Mining Welfare Centre, Jaipur.

The Workshop was inaugurated by Shri P.K. Sarkar, Director General of Mines Safety, DGMS, Dhanbad and the inaugural ceremony was presided over by Shri A. K. Kothari, National President of MEAI. Shri D.S. Maru, Director Mines & Geology, Government of Rajasthan, Udaipur was the Guest of Honour. Dr. M.K. Devrajan, IPS and former Member, Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission delivered a Key Note Address on silicosis. Shri D.K. Saxena, former Director of Mines Safety, DGMS, convened the Workshop. The Chapter Chairman Shri O.P. Gupta headed the Organising Committee and Vice Chairman Shri Anil Mathur was the Organising Secretary of the Workshop.

Over 150 delegates from attended the Workshop from across the India. They included two Dy. Directors General of Mines



Safety, five Directors of Mines Safety and one Dy. Director of Mines Safety (Occupational Health) of DGMS, top Executives of Mining Companies, Mine Owners of un-organised mining sector, prominent NGOs working on occupational diseases, and affected persons in mining and processing of minerals, and carving of stones. Medical Doctors, Research Scholars, Mining Professionals and Mine Owners presented their technical papers including short films related to silicosis in three Technical Sessions, spread over the entire day.

Lighting of lamp by Chief Guest & dignitaries

Besides the keynote address, thirteen technical papers were presented in the workshop. The papers dealt with the occupational diseases contracted by the persons employed in mines and in processing of minerals and carving of stones besides people residing in the nearby areas. They also dwelt upon the measures being taken by the organised sector and the State Government. Future map for mitigation of hardship was also laid out in the papers. All three sessions were interactive and drew attention of all the delegates present. The workshop ended with a Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri P.C. Bakliwal, Secretary, Jaipur Chapter.

Deelgates in MWC hall during the workshop

Annual General Meeting of Rajasthan Chapter-Jaipur The Annual General Meeting of the Chapter was held immediately after the conclusion of the workshop. It was chaired by Shri A.K. Kothari, National President, MEAI. Shri P.C. Bakliwal welcomed all the guests and members of the Chapter and requested to observe two-minute silence to pay homage to the departed soul of MEAI members. Shri P.C. Bakliwal, Secretary and Shri M.C. Goyal, Treasurer presented the Secretary’s report and the audit report of the Chapter respectively, which were approved by the house. Shri

D.K. Rai, Election Officer, declared the results of the elected new Executive Committee of Rajasthan Chapter-Jaipur for the year 2018-20. The New Office bearers included S/Shri P.C. Bakliwal as Chairman, M.C. Goyal, Vice-Chairman, Dr S.K. Wadhawan, Secretary, K.C. Goyal, Joint Secretary, and Somnath Bhattacharyya, Treasurer. The Executive Committee included S/Shri Anil Kumar, A.K. Grover, L.S. Shekhawat, L.S. Rathore and M.L. Lahoti. Shri A.K. Kothari welcomed the new executive committee besides thanking the outgoing executive committee for the splendid work they did during their tenure. Shri O.P. Gupta, while getting relieved by Shri P.C. Bakliwal, briefed the activities of the Chapter during his tenure.

Past and present Chairmen of the Chapter

Group photo of Executive Committee

National Workshop on Ease of Doing Business – a Chal-lenge for Mining SectorMining Engineers’ Association of India, Rajasthan Chapter-Jaipur hosted a National Workshop on ‘Ease of Doing Busi-ness - a Challenge for Mining Sector on 30th June - 1st July 2018’ at the Mining Welfare Centre, Jaipur with objective of generating ideas and solutions on hurdles affecting the growth of mining sector in our country. Its Inaugural Session was held in the afternoon of 30th June 2018 Chaired by Shri Arun Kumar Kothari, President MEAI. The Keynote address was delivered by Shri Vikram Singh Gaur, Joint Secretary, NITI AYOG, New Delhi on ‘Indian Mining Sector: Challenges and Constraints’. It was followed by a presentation from Shri R.K. Sinha, former Controller General, IBM on ‘On Unfold-ing Regulatory Regime in Mining Sector: Opportunities and Challenges’. Over 200 delegates coming from across the country attended it.



On 1st July 2018, two Technical Sessions were conducted followed by Panel Discussions and Concluding Session, which were chaired by Shri Arun Kumar, IAS, former Mines Secretary, GoI. First Technical Session was chaired by S/ Shri T.V. Chowdary and K. Madhusudhana. Technical pre-sentations were made by Shri Ravi Sharma of BMRC on ‘Technology and Skill Development - Catalyst to effective NMP Implementation’; Shri Pankaj K. Satija on ‘Concerns of the Mining and Metals Sector in India and suggestions for facilitating Ease of Doing Business’; and Shri Akshaydeep Mathur on ‘Ease of Doing Business: Mining Sector’ with par-ticular reference to small-scale mine operators in Rajasthan. A presentation on status of ‘Mineral Exploration Activities in Western Region: Challenges and the Way Forward’ was made by Shri K.C. Sahoo, Dy. D.G., GSI, Jaipur. Dr. M.K. Pandit presented on ‘Industry-Academia collaboration in Mineral Industry - the Indian Scenario’. Prof. B.C. Sarkar IIT-ISM, Dhanbad presented his views on ‘Mineral Resource Estimation, Classification and Reporting from Geostatistics Perspective - for Ease of Mining Business’.

Second Technical Session was chaired by S/ Shri Ravi Sharma and D.S. Maru. Dr. Sushil Bhandari, in the opening presentation, talked on ‘Challenges for Implementing Inno-vations and Providing Solutions to Mining Industry’. It was followed by presentations of Shri Arvind K. Prasad on ‘Rug-ged Road to Mineral Development and Ease of Doing Busi-ness – a Challenge’; Dr. L.S. Shekhawat and Dr. A.K. Grover on ‘Enhancing Ease of Doing Mining Business - A Geoscien-tist’s Perspective’; Shri A.K. Bhandari briefed the audience about the ‘Importance of Skill Development in Ease of Doing Business in Mining Sector’. Shri M.L. Lahoti, UltraTech Ce-ment Limited, presented a very interesting paper on ‘Ease of Business - Regulatory Requirements & Challenges’. A video presentation was also made to illustrate good and safe min-ing and raw-material processing procedures adopted at the Shivalik Silica Sand Mines, Bharatpur, Rajasthan. It was fol-lowed by an elaboration on issues faced and remedial mea-sures adopted to streamline production of mine products by Shri Yogesh Mittal.

Three of the papers i.e. (i) Ease of Doing Business – not for Mining Sector by Dr. V.D. Rajagopal, (ii) ‘Focus areas to en-able ease of doing business in Indian mineral industry’ by Dr. P.V. Rao and (iii) ‘Fair and Easy business under the current policies & rules is not a challenge for mining & exploration’ by Dr. H. Sarvothaman, could not be presented in the Work-shop due to pre-occupation of the authors. However, these have been included in the Souvenir volume as these form significant reference material.

A one-day National Conference on ‘Utilization of DMF, NMET and Clean Energy Cess Funds - Issues and the Ways Ahead’ was organised by Rajasthan Chapter-Jaipur on 13th October 2018 at Mining Welfare Centre, Jaipur. It was programmed to deliberate on issues pertaining to the theme and recommend strategies for effective and appropriate implementation of the planned activities for

the benefit of mines affected area and people, and achieve intended results in accordance with the PMKKKY. The Conference evoked significant response and was attended by distinguished invited delegates from the mining industry, affected stake-holders, policy makers and experts from the government, implementing agencies and academia.

Inaugural session hosted two keynote addresses by Shri D. Mohan Raj ADG & National Mission Head-II, Nagpur, GSI on 'Utilization of NMET for Mineral Exploration and Current Practices' and briefing on DMF and Clean Energy Cess Funds for Welfare of Mining affected areas and Shri. Subir Das, Former Director (Mines), NLC India Ltd. on 'Clean Energy Cess and DMF'.

Elaborate presentations were made by Shri Akshaydeep Mathur, Federation of Mine Owners Association of Rajasthan, Jaipur on DMFT Genesis to Beneficiary', Dr. Sreshtha Banerjee, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi on ‘District Mineral Foundation: Ensuring Benefit For Mining-Affected People And Areas Through Better Governance, Planning And People's Engagement', Shri M. L. Lahoti, UltraTech Cement Ltd., Kotputli on ‘Utilisation Of DMF- Issues And Ways Ahead', Shri Sanjay Saxena & Hitesh Kumar, DMG-R, Jaipur on ‘Salient Features Of DMFT in Rajasthan ', Shri Rana Sengupta, Managing Trustee and CEO, MLPC & Ms Rosamma Thomas, Senior Journalist from Times of India on ‘Where Is Welfare', Shri Pawan Sharma, President, Rajasthan Stones Crushers Assoc. Jaipur on ‘Stake Holders View on utilisation of DMF' and Shri B. L. Dudi & Milind Swaroop, South west Mining Ltd., Barmer on ‘Clean Energy Cess – Challenges For Utilisation’.

RAJASTHAN CHAPTER - JODHPUR

Hackathon for Mining IndustryOn 15th - 16th December 2018, hackathon for mining Industry was organized in Jodhpur. It was organized by MineExcellence and was done in conjunction and support of a mining conference organized by MEAI and Mining Department, MBM Engineering College. The conference “National Conference on Mine Environment Techniques, Equipment’s and Challenges” was organized by MEAI Rajasthan Chapter-Jodhpur and Mining Department, MBM Engineering College.

Hackathon is basically a technology weekend event in which people of different skills meet and form teams to find a technical solution to the practical industry problems. This Hackathon was mainly focused to solve the problems of mining industry.

Mr. Amit Bhandari, Managing Director of MineExcellence said that the main aim of this Hackathon was to spread awareness about the use of technology in mining companies and to encourage mining personnel, young or old, senior



or junior to use different technology solutions available to ensure mine safety and improve productivity and efficiency. Also importantly to improve transparency in the mining industry.

It was a fun cum technical event, which was started at 9 am on 15th December 2018. Participants formed four teams – The HMX, Incredible Stats, Aflatoonz and Fantastic Four. All teams were given problems on different mining areas like safety, training, blasting and optimization and the teams were given only one day to come out with technical solutions to the given problems. People from MineExcellence were available to guide and mentor them.

At around 2 pm, senior industry leaders also joined Hackathon for industry meet. Mr. Arun Kothari, President, MEAI was invited as the Chief Guest. He said that these type of events are necessary to bring about awareness on the use of technology in mining industry and suggested that MineExcellence may organize such Hackathons at every MEAI conference.

Mr. Mahim Kacchhawa, Head of Mining, J.K. Cement also congratulated Minexcellence for organizing such an event. Other industry leaders also appreciated in this innovative program.

Participates also interacted with the industry leaders on the given problems and leaders guided them with their experience.

Mr Arun Kothari speaking on the occasion

On Day 2, Participates presented their solution in MEAI conference in the presence of more than 100 industry leaders. They were judged by Prof. R.P. Choudhary, Mr. Manish Verma, Mr. A.K. Jaiswal and Mr. Maniram Saharan. There was a tough competition as every team was full of innovative ideas and solutions. Everyone present was astonished to see the solutions the teams brought out in just one and half days. Finally, Team HMX won the competition. They presented the solutions for safety of dumpers with a working model. Shri P.C. Purohit presented prizes and

Memento to the “Best Performing Team”. All theparticipating teams were also honoured with Participation Certificates. RAJASTHAN CHAPTER - UDAIPURReport on World Environment Day, 2018Rajasthan Chapter - Udaipur in association with the Institution of Engineers (India), Udaipur Local Centre, celebrated the World Environment Day 2018 on June 5, 2018. The theme of the World Environment Day 2018 was “Beat Plastic Pollution”

Dr. B.R. Panwar, Senior Environmental Engineer, Rajasthan Pollution Control Board, Udaipur and the Chief Guest of the function in his speech expressed that when trees absorbed the carbon dioxide and plenty of oxygen was spread on the globe and then only human life developed. However, after thousands of years, the coal, oil gas was extracted from earth by human and developed various products including plastic by chemical reaction. After it, pollution increased rapidly. He also suggested minimizing use of plastic and maximizing plantation of trees to reduce pollution and carbon dioxide and save the earth.

Er. Anurodh Prashant, Chairman of the IE(I) Udaipur Local Centre welcomed the guests and spoke on World Environment Day and its importance. The Key Note Speaker, Er. Hitanshu Kaushal, CEO, Progressive Mineral Pvt. Limited, Chittorgarh explained about the production of plastic at low cost and increased durability. With the consumption of plastic reaching to alarming levels, the pollution has increased. He stressed that it is necessary to control the use of plastic and reduce pollution.

Er. R.D. Saxena, Secretary MEAI informed the galaxy of participants that India is the global host of World Environment Day 2018. The world is coming together to combat single-use plastic pollution. World Environment Day is a UN Environment-led global initiative. The Government of India has committed to organizing and promoting the World Environment Day Celebration. Dr. S.S. Rathore, Chairman, Rajasthan Chapter- Udaipur told that to control pollution, maximum natural items must be used. Er. A.S. Choondawat, past Chairman & Assistant Mining Engineer and Er. Lalit Bachada also suggested various measures for beating the plastic pollution.

On this occasion, some eminent organizations / persons were felicitated by Er. M.S. Paliwal Additional Director (Mines) and Er. R.D. Saxena, for their contribution in the field of Environment Conservation viz. Khanij Vikas Paryavaran Samiti, Agaraia, Green Marble Sangh, Rishabhdeo, Shri Viram Dev Singh Krishnawat, Shaitan Singh Ranawat and Babulal Kothari. Er. R.P. Gupta, Former National President, MEAI, Er. Y.C. Gupta, and Er. K.C. Jain also participated in the program. The program was attended by members and guests in large numbers.



Er. Y.K. Bolia, Honorary Secretary, The Institution of Engineers (India), Udaipur Local Centre conducted the program and Er. R.D. Saxena proposed vote of thanks.

A section of audience

Technical Talk on ‘DMFT an Opportunity & Challenges’A technical talk on ‘District Mineral Foundation Trust (DMFT) an Opportunity and Challenges’ was held at Udaipur by Rajasthan Chapter – Udaipur on 4th October, 2018. On this occasion, Shri Jitendra Upadhyay, IAS, Director, Department of Mines & Geology, Government of Rajasthan was the Chief Guest and Prof. U.S. Sharma, Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture & Technology, Udaipur was Guest of Honour. Shri A.K. Kothari, National President, MEAI presided over the meeting. Others present were Shri R.P. Gupta, former President MEAI, Council Members Shri D.S. Maru and Shri Maheem Kachhwaha; Senior Members of MEAI Shri K.C. Jain, Shri S.D. Acharya, Dr. R. Choudhary, Sh. O.P. Soni, Dr. S.C. Jain, Dr. Anupam Bhatnagar, Shri A.P.S. Chandi, Shri P.M. Jain, Shri K.S. Choudhary, Shri Harish Vyas, Shri N.K. Kothari, Shri S.P. Sharma, Shri Mahendra Bokadia, Shri M.K. Mehta, Shri Y.C. Gupta, Shri Praveen Jain, Shri S.K. Vashisth, Shri P.S. Kumpawat, Shri A.K. Nandwana and members from Cement Industry, Hindustan Zinc Limited, RSMML, local industries and mine owners. Student members were also present. Over 170 members attended the talk.

The programme started with the welcome speech by Prof. S.S. Rathore, Chairman, MEAI, Rajasthan Chapter – Udaipur wherein he highlighted the activities of the Association. The technical talk was given by Dr. (Ms) Srestha Banerjee, Programme Manager, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi and Shri Aasif Ansari, Mining Engineer, Department of Mines & Geology, GoR.

Dr. Srestha Banerjee highlighted that DMF came into being after a decade long deliberations in the country for the reason that India’s richest mining districts are inhabited by some of the country’s poorest and most deprived populations, which

prompted the government to set up DMF. In September 2015, the union government launched the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) to guide the DMFs on the process of planning, prioritization and utilization of funds. In last three years, DMFs in the country have collected more than Rs. 20,000 crores. This fund was to be utilized for the benefit of the mining affected areas and the communities. She has also pointed out that proper planning for utilisation for funds is lagging and participations of local people or Gram Sabha is not there. DMF funds were being diverted to fund the urban projects that have nothing to do with the priorities of mining-affected areas and communities.

Shri Aasif Ansari, ME, DMG, GoR highlighted that the availability of funds under different districts of the Rajasthan. He mentioned that funds more than Rs. 2000 crores are available under DMF fund in the State of Rajasthan. In Rajasthan, all the 33 districts are having Governing Council and Management Committees.

Shri Jitendra Upadhyay told that the respective committees have issued sanctions for various projects and there is a need for capacity building of people residing in mining affected areas through organizing different types of training. He opined that Gram Sabha is a weak link and need to be improved for involving local people in the decision making process.

Prof. U.S. Sharma said that DMF fund has been utilized for construction of smart class rooms in smart villages adopted by Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology, Uaipur.

Shri Arun Kothari has concluded the discussion by making the following recommendations to utilize the DMF fund.

1. Planning and execution for settlement of displaced people from mining affected areas.

2. Preparation of Maps of mining affected areas within the radius of 3 to 5 km in mining areas.

3. Preparation of Cluster maps of the mining areas.

4. Separate offices shall be established in all the Districts and required staff through service provider be appointed from the DMF fund.

5. The auditors shall carry Financial and Performance Audit of the utilization of DMF fund every year.

6. Public grievance cell should be established in each District to resolve the public issues.

The programme concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by shri Madhu Sudan Paliwal, Secretary, MEAI Rajasthan Chapter- Udaipur.



Lighting of Lamp by Shri Jitendra Upadhyay, IAS

Over all view of audience

Technical talk on ‘Explosive license - Procedure and Problems’Mining Engineers’ Association of India, Rajasthan Chapter-Udaipur, in association with the Institution of Engineers (In-dia), Udaipur Local Centre, organized a technical talk on “Explosive License - Procedure and Problems” on 2nd March 2019 in the premises of the Institution of Engineers (India), Udaipur Local Centre. In the beginning Dr. S.S. Rathore, Chairman of the Chapter welcomed the Keynote speaker, Guests, students & audience and spoke about difficulty to use explosives in mining industry.

Guest Speaker Er. R.D. Saxena, Mining Consultant, shared his experience on the topic. He explained the procedure of getting explosive license and storing explosives such as gunpowder, Nitrate Mixture, Nitro-Compounds Chlorate mixtures, Ammunition etc. and use of various explosives. He also highlighted the procedure of making explosive from Ammonium Nitrate and the problems in getting NOC from the Collector’s office and problems in mining in the absence of NOC.

National President of the Association Er. A.K. Kothari in his speech told that MEAI may help mine owners in getting the explosives license from various concerned department. Over 90 members attended the programme. The programme was anchored by Er. M.S. Paliwal, Secretary of the Chapter and vote of thanks proposed by Er. Anurodh Prashant, Chair-man, The Institution of Engineers (India), Udaipur Local Centre.

A view of Audience present in Technical Talk

Address by the President, MEAI Shri AK Kothari

RAIPUR CHAPTER

The Election for the Office bearers and Executive Committee of Raipur Chapter for the term 2019-2011 was held at Hotel Bobylon International on January 7, 2019 where Mr BL Gurjar, RCoM (Raipur Region), IBM was the Chief Guest and Mr Ravi Tiwari, Vice President, Shree Cement Limited was the Esteemed Guest.

Prof Manoj Pradhan, NIT spoke on the status of legal and technical issues being faced by the Indian Mining industry.

The General body unanimously elected the following Office bearers and Executive members:

Chairman: Mr BL Bhati (JK Lakshmi Cement, Durg)

Vice Chairman: Mr KC Sharma (Shree Cement Ltd)

Secretary: Mr Dinesh Singh (JK Lakshmi Cement, Durg)

Treasurer: Mr Dinesh Dixit (Emami Cement Ltd)



Executive Mr Prakah Dhekne (NIT, Raipur)Committee Mr PP Pandey (ACC Cement Ltd)Members: Mr Anil Gupta (BSP/ SAIL) Mr Rajesh Mishra (BALCO)

Mr OP Khekar, Vice Chairman of the outgoing committee welcomed the Chief Guest, Esteemed Guest, the Members and the newly elected Executive body. Mr BL Gurjar spoke about the importance and role of MEAI in addressing the legal issues of the mining industry.

The meeting ended with Vote of Thanks proposed by Mr Om Prakah Khelkar.

TAMILNADU CHAPTERSpecial Executive Committee meeting The meeting was held on 6th October 2018 at 5:30 p.m. in the Department of Mining Engineering, Anna University, Chennai. Shri Arun Kothari, National President MEAI chaired the meeting. Shri P. Ramasami, Chairman of the chapter welcomed Shri Arun Kothari and other members for the special executive committee meeting.

The following Office-bearers, Executive Committee Members and Special invites were present.

Office-bearersChairman: Shri P. RamasamiVice Chairman: Shri Dr. M. Ifthikhar AhmedTreasurer: Shri M.M. Ramesh

MembersShri S. Venugopal, Shri Siva, Shri Thanigaivel

Special InviteesShri Karthikeyan, Shri M. Kumarasamy, Shri K.S. Ananthan, Shri S. Kumaraswamy, Shri M. James, Shri Dr. K. Srinivas, Shri P. Balamadeshwaran, Shri M. Palani kumaresan, ShriV.S. Sambasivam

After self-introduction by the members present, Shri S. Kumaraswamy, Council Member and former Director, NLCIL briefed about the activities of the Chapter and his contribution to the Association.

Shri Arun Kothari in his address while congratulating the Tamilnadu Chapter for its excellent and energetic activities pointed out that there was no major event was organized by this Chapter. He suggested to organise Seminars and Workshops at various levels to create awareness in the public and miners. Attracting the support of the District Administration and Government officials by enrolling them as members of the Association and conducting seminars and workshops by inviting them as Chief Guest will bolster the recognition of MEAI. He also advised the Chapter to

increase membership enrollment from DGMS, IBM, DMG, Explosives dept. and other officials to enlist their support.

In response to a request from the President to all the Council members to become the Fellow members of MEAI, the Council members from Tamilnadu Chapter agreed to become the Fellow Members.

The Members present informed that Ministry of Mines proposed to increase royalty and requested MEAI management to represent to the Ministry not to increase the tax burden on the mining industry. In response, Shri Kothari informed that the Association has taken up the matter with the Ministry to introduce single tax system.

The members felt that the Association should help the mining industry by extending guidance to the industry people and further recommending their issues to concerned authorities for redressal. The present WhatsApp group of Tamilnadu Chapter is not covering the all its members and suggested to include as many members as possible to have fruitful discussion regarding issues related to mining.

Chairman, Tamilnadu Chapter requested for funds from the Headquarters to construct its own building for Tamil Nadu Chapter which is having its own land of about 4000 sq ft in Trichy. President, MEAI expressed that, there may not be any contribution from Headquarters for this purpose but it may be possible to arrange loan from Headquarters or other Chapters at bank interest rates.

Tamil Nadu Chapter suggested forming a Legal committee in Association’s Headquarters to clarify any new amendments & judgments and represent mining industry issues to Government. Also suggested to form a technical committee that could analyze the new amendments and judgments and represent to the Government by incorporating feedback from the Chapters.

Shri Arun Kothari requested the Chapter to celebrate the Indian Mining Day in a grand manner and give wide publicity in the Newspapers and electronic media, and organize rallies and other programs to create awareness about mining and Mining Engineers’ Association of India. Tamilnadu Chapter promised to organize IMD-2018 at five locations viz. Ariyalur, Tirunelveli, Chennai, Salem and Neyveli in a grand manner.

Mr & Mrs Arun Kr. Kothari, President MEAI with Tamilnadu Chapter members



VERAVAL - PORBANDAR CHAPTERAnnual General Meeting, Technical paper Session & Silver Jubilee FunctionAnnual General Meeting, Technical paper presentation & Silver Jubilee Function of Veraval-Porbander Chapter was held on December 9, 2018 at Hotel Lords Inn, Somnath, Gujarat. Over 95 members along with their family and children attended the function. The function, which includes the Annual General Body Meeting, Election of new body, Technical Paper Session, and Silver Jubilee Function was conducted.

Session - IAnnual General Body Meeting for 2018 of Veraval – Porbander Chapter started at 6:00 pm in the conference hall of the hotel. The meeting was presided by Shri A K Sharma, Chapter Chairman, Shri Manish Kumar Yadav, Chapter Secretary and Shri Kumar Rajan, Chapter Jt. Secretary cum treasurer along with Shri A K Jain, senior member of the Chapter. The Meeting started with welcome address. Shri Kumar Rajan presented the Annual Report of the Chapter along with Accounts details and explained various activities performed during the year. Shri A K Jain shared the Members’ list and new members’ details of the Chapter. Shri Manish Kumar Yadav in his speech focused more on membership drive. He also briefed about mining and CSR activities being done in Saurashtra & Kutch region.

Election of VP Chapter for 2018-2020Shri M C Upadhayay, M/s GHCL was nominated as pro-term speaker for the session. Following members were unanimously elected for the new committee for the year 2018-2020.

Shri Arun Kumar Sharma - Chairman

Shri Manish Kumar Yadav - Vice Chairman

Shri A. K. Jain - Secretary

Shri C. M. Dwivedi - Jt. Secretary

Shri Kumar Rajan - Treasurer

Executive Committee members:

1. Shri Vivek Khosla (Ultra Tech Cements Ltd.)

2. Shri Harendra Dayal (Ambuja Cements Ltd.)

3. Shri Babu Rayali (Ultra Tech Cements Ltd.)

4. Shri P K Deshpande (Saurashtra Cements Ltd.)

5. Shri Arjun Singh ( DCW Ltd.)

6. Shri K K Choudhary (Ashapure Minechem Ltd.)

7. Shri D K Singh (Saukem, Nirma Ltd.)

8. Shri Anil Nigam (Shree Digvijay Cement Co. Ltd)

9. Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh (Gujarat Sidhee Cement Ltd.)

Technical Paper SessionThree technical papers were presented in the session. First was paper was presented by Shri Prabhat Prasad, Mining Engineer from Ambuja Cements Ltd, on review of Draft MMR-2018. He thoroughly reviewed & explained the differences between the existing and draft MMR. Shri Rajesh Tiwari, M/s GHCL, presented the second paper on new innovation in Mining – Online crushing – An experience of GHCL Ltd. Online crusher and its working was shown by playing a video. Shri A K Jain presented the third paper on Challenges in the Mining Industry - Special focus on surface rights in Saurashtra region.

Session IIShri Nitin Sagwan, IAS, SDM, Veraval, was the Chief Guest of the function. The function started with the welcoming of the Chief Guest Shri Nitin Sagwan, followed by prayer. It was indeed a great opportunity for the Chapter that a young and dynamic bureaucrat attended the function and the critical mining issues related to surface rights could be presented to him. Then Chapter Chairman Shri AK Sharma delivered his welcome speech and highlighted the present situation of mining industries in the Saurashtra region. He emphasised the importance of enrolling new members in MEAI and extending support to mining industry. Shri Amol Dhomne presented glimpses of 25 years of VP Chapter and showed many photographs of Silver Jubliee Journey.

Chief Guest Shri Nitin Sangwan, IAS , along with the members and families of the Veraval - Porbandar Chapter

General Meeting held on 06/02/2019 at GHCL Ltd., SutrapadaA General Meeting of MEAI Veraval-Porbander Chapter was held on February 6, 2019 at 5:30 PM. The meeting was presided over by Shri A K Sharma, Chapter Chairman, Shri N K Nuwal, Former Chairman of the Chapter along with Shri Manish Kumar Yadav, Vice Chairman, Shri A K Jain, Secretary and Shri Kumar Rajan, Treasurer of the Chapter. In all 25 members attended this meeting. The main agenda of this meeting was to spread awareness about Road Safety



week celebration from 4th Feb to 10th Feb 2019 and update the membership list with email ID and mobile numbers, thereby every member can participate in e-election of MEAI Council for the term of 2019-2021 . The Meeting started with a welcome note by Vice-Chairman, Shri Manish Kr Yadav followed by opening remarks by Chapter Chairman.

Chapter Chairman welcomed former Chairman Shri N K Nuwal, by presenting a shawl and mentioned some of his valuables contribution in Mining field at Saurashtra region. He also emphasized about Road Safety & good environmental practices to be adopted at mines. He told to demonstrate all such best practices related to CSR, Environmental practices, Safety practices; Best Mining practices etc. to related stakeholders, NGO etc which will be helpful in changing their mindset towards mining. He also gave few examples of other mines where mining was revived because of good practices being followed at mines.

On this occasion the quarterly e-Newsletter was also unveiled for last quarter. Shri A K Jain, reviewed the VP Chapter member list and also presented a very nice presentation on Mining lease part surrender issues. He very well explained the comparison of MCR-1960 and New MCR-2016 with regard to part surrender of mining leases. There was good deliberation on part surrender issue of Mining Lease.

Shri N K Nuwal in his speech briefly discussed about Lease part surrender issues and their benefits at Govt. Level,

Leaseholder level and Local stakeholder level. He also explained about Land for Land scheme as a good alternate for Part surrender matter. He also focused on showcasing our best practices to all stake holders at right place and at right time. He also proposed to conduct a National Seminar in 2019 by this Chapter. On road safety issue he discussed in detail about unsafe act & conditions and explained road safety by dividing it in 4 parts viz. Peron, machine, Type of load and Working environment. Each topic was explained with various examples.

The meeting concluded with Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri Kumar Rajan with key emphasis for subscription of e-magazine. He extended thanks to Chairman, former Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary with special thanks to GHCL team for arranging wonderful evening with high tea at GHCL officer club and Shri Anurag Dwivedi, Young Mining Engineer for coordinating the entire program in a fantastic manner.

Group Photo of Participants in the meeting





Held at Jaipur on June 30, 2018On 30th June 2018, Council Meeting, AGM and Workshop on ‘Ease of Doing Business-A challenge for Mining Sector’ were organised along with ‘Award Function’ at Mining Welfare Centre Jaipur in a grand manner. Joint Secretary NITI Aayog Shri Vikram Singh graced the Award function. On the next day, Former Secretary, GoI, Shri Arun Kumar ji was the Chief Guest for Valedictory Function of Workshop.

Our Past Presidents Shri T.V. Chowdary, Shri R.P. Gupta, Shri T. Victor and Dr Meda Venkataiah; and over 40 Council members from all over the country attended the Award function and work shop. On that occasion, the ‘Special issue of MEJ’ detailing the activities of the Association and all the Chapters was released.

Though many of our members from all over the Country have been extending their valuable services to MEAI as well as to Indian mineral industry, hitherto our Association did not recognise the same formally. For the first time in 2018, we started recognising their services by honouring them with ‘Service Excellence Award’ in the Annual Award Function. I was privileged to honour 16 members of MEAI for their valuable contribution to MEAI and Mineral Sector with Service Excellence Award, apart from presenting regular awards in this Award Function. Members’ views on MEAI Award Function Held at Jaipur on June 30, 2018Congratulations to Jaipur chapter, Mr Kothari & his team, and entire MEAI. Special thanks to Jaipur Chapter for their hospitality.

Mahesh Bongle, Council Member

Congratulations to Jaipur chapter & Shri Kothari ji and all MEAI members of Jaipur Chapter.

D. A. Hiremath, NCM

Dear Sri Kothari Sir, My Heartiest Congratulations for having conducted Award Function in a Grand Manner, which is Memorable to all of us.

K.U. Rao, Jt. Secretary cum Treasurer

Dear Kothariji, Hearty Congratulations for the excellent way of Conducting the Workshop on an appropriate subject that shall enhance the image of the Mining Industry. You are Vibrant & Dynamic. I wish you all the best for a very successful completion of the Workshop.

B.R.V. Susheel Kumar, Chairman Hyderabad Chapter

Well organized event. Appreciate the organizing skills, hospitality, and warmth of Jaipur Chapter; and leadership of Kothari Sahab.

Pankaj Kumar Satija, Chairman Barajamda Chapter

annual awards FunCtion 2018 - highlightsWe appreciate very much very well organized event. Kudos to team MEAI Jaipur. We enjoyed technical aspects and hospitality of the team. Everybody worked smilingly. Thanks on my own behalf and on behalf of team Jodhpur. Kothariji keep working with smile as always. Keep motivating everyone. Tremendous progress by MEAI under your leadership.

Sushil Bhandari, Council Member

Congratulations to all of you guys for hosting this annual MEAI event. We enjoyed it all.

B.B. Dhar, Council Member

Kothari sab, Thanks for arranging Council meeting and AGM at Jaipur. It was well attended by good number of Council members and nicely hosted by Jaipur Chapter. Thankful to them. Some good approval accepted in AGM to motivate all the Chapters particularly Jaipur Chapter. Award function has given smile to most of the chapters.

Udaipur was chapter declared as Best Chapter. Hope, this Chapter is now preparing for next international conference in 2019 on "Advance technology in exploration and exploration of mineral" series as committed. Once again congratulations to O.P. Guptaji and team of Jaipur Chapter under the leadership of Bakliwal ji for successful event. Anticipate good recommendations shall be forwarded to policy makers. A.K. Jaiswal – Secretary Jodhpur Chapter

Thanks to President and the team for organizing the good function. Many thanks to Jaipur chapter for excellent Hospitality and arrangements.

K. Prabhakara Reddy, Secretary BH Chapter

Congratulations to MEAI Jaipur Chapter and our president A.K. Kothari ji for the excellent arrangements and hosting such a nice seminar and National Council meeting.

P. Ramasamy, Chairman TN Chapter

Special thanks to Shri A. K. KOTHARI ji for giving us the opportunity to host this great event under his overall supervision and guidance. Thanks for the support and full involvement of our dedicated team at Jaipur, OP Gupta ji, Bakliwal Sahib and many others. Grateful thanks

S.K. Wadhawan, Secretary Jaipur Chapter

Wonderfully organized. Our special thanks to the President of MEAI and the entire team of Rajasthan-Jaipur Chapter. I am sure the final decisions arrived at after all the presentations made and discussions held will be very useful & fruitful to the mining industry. Please convey my sincere thanks to each and every person for organizing every event so successfully for the last two days and for our comfortable stay.

T.V. Chowdary, Past President



Glimpses of MEAI Awards Function - 2018

Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Barajamda Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Bellary - Hospet

Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Dhanbad Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Hyderabad

Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Jaipur Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Jodhpur

Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Bangalore Persentation of Award to S.C. Jain




Persentation of Award to Suryanshu Choudhary

by Vikram Singh Gaur and ML Jhanwar

Persenting flowers to Vikram Singh Gaur Jt. Secretary, NITI Aayog

Presenting Fellow member pin to A.K. Kothari

by guest of honor Ravi Sharma

Presenting Fellow member pin to Sunil Vashisth

by guest of honor Ravi Sharma

President Kothari giving bite to TV channels President Kothari presenting flowers to

former DMG, Rajsthan D.S.Maru

President Kothari presenting flowers

to Past President Meda Venkataiah

Release of Special Issue of MEAI




Presenting Service Excellence Award to O.P. Gupta Presenting Special Award to Bellary Hospet Chapter

for enrolling Maximum Life members

Presenting Special Award to T.N. Gunaseelan

for reviving kolkata chapter

Vimochan of Souvenir by Guests

Cultural Event after Award Function

Lighting of Lamp by AK Kothari - President MEAI along with PC Bakliwal - Chairman, Jiapur, Ravindra K Sharma - CMD BMRC, TN Gunaseelan - CMD DMT, SK Wadhwan - Secretary Jaipur, RK Sinha - Former CG IBM, Meda Venkataiah - Past President

SK Wadhawan, PC Bakliwal, Ravindra K Sharma, AK Kothari, Arun Kumar, Former Secretary MoM, TV Chowdhary, Prof. BB Dhar, RH Sawkar

Best Chapter Award to Rajasthan Chapter - Udaipur presented by Jt. Secretary Niti Aayog Shri Vikram Singh. Received by Chairman SS Rathore along with RP Gupta, AK Kothari, DS Maru, MS Paliwal, YC Gupta, Sunil Vashishtha & SC Jain




Honoring Mr. Jozef of Slovakia by PC Bakliwal L to R - Ravi sharma, T.N. Gunaseelan, Vikram Singh Gaur, A.K. Kothari, R.K. Sinha, Dr. Medavenkataiah,PC Bakliwal

Lighting of Lamp by guests Memento to Vikram Singh Gaur

Dignitaries singing National Anthem Delegates singing National Anthem

Organizing Secretry S Wadhawan presenting flowers to R.K. Sinha former CG

Persentation of Active Chapter Award to Ahmedabad



Mining Engineers’ Association of IndiaAdvertisement (multi-colour) Tariff for publishing in ‘Mining Engineers’ Journal’

(w.e.f. 29th March 2019) - Rates in Rupees

ParticularsSingle

Insertion

3Consecutive

Insertions

6Consecutive

Insertions

12Consecutive

Insertions

24Consecutive

Insertions

36Consecutive

Insertions

@ 10% Discount

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FRONT COVER PAGE20 cm (w) x 17 cm (L)

25,000 67,500 1, 27,500 2, 40,000 4, 50,000 6, 30,000

FRONT INSIDE COVER PAGE19 cm (w) x 23 cm (L)

18,000 48,600 91,800 1, 52,800 3, 24,000 4, 53,600

BACK COVER PAGE19 cm (w) x 23 cm (L)

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CLASSIFIEDSConsultants, Positions vacant, Positions wanted etc (4 cm x 9 cm)

1,500 4,050 7,650 14,400 27,000 37,800

The above tariff to be added with GST payable @ 5%

NOTE1. Life institutional members will be given 10% additional discount on the above tariff for their own company’s advertisement.2. All life members will be given 10% additional discount on the above tariff, for their own personal advertisement.3. All payments should be made by D.D./Banker's Cheque in favour of "Mining Engineers' Association of India" payable at Hyderabad or

through ‘Electronic Transfer’ or by Cash.4. The MEAI Bank details to transfer the amount online are: Account Name: Mining Engineers' Association of India Bank name: Andhra Bank, Account Number: 037810100028696, Nampally Branch IFSC Code: ANDB0000378 SWIFT CODE: ANDBINBB, GSTIN: 36AAATM7472Q1ZT5. All advertisements, along with full payment, will be accepted 30 days prior to the month of publication6. All advertisement matter shall be supplied by the advertiser in the form of Transparency or ‘Soft copy’ acceptable by the Printer. No design work

/ art work will be undertaken by us7. The Publisher’s decision will be final in accepting any advertisement

For further details, please contact

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Mob: 94711 92211, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Website: www.meai.org

As approved by President, MEAI










SPECIAL ISSUE 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE 2019 SPECIAL ISSUE 2019Brought out on the occasion of






SPECIAL ISSUE 2019SPECIAL ISSUE 2019SPECIAL ISSUE 2019Brought out on the occasion of



