Southern States
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Andhra Pradesh
Governor calls for judicious exploration of minerals
By Our Special Correspondent
VISAKHAPATNAM, DEC. 5. The Governor, Dr. C. Rangarajan, has called for judicious exploration of minerals for sustainable development while maintaining the ecological balance.
Delivering the inaugural address at the three-day national seminar on `Mineral based industries-present status and future prospects', being conducted by the Geology Department of Andhra University here on Wednesday, he said that minerals and mineral wealth were important constitutents of the wealth of a nation as they were the basis for a number of industries.
He referred to the depleting coal reserves and the limited high grade iron ore sources in the country. There were core issues involved which called for assessment of availability of mineral resources, need for exploration by using modern technology. There was also the need to identify where they were found, he said and cited the example of the discovery of Bombay High which gave a boost to petroleum production.
"Along with these are other aspects. The manner in which the minerals are mined. Over-exploitation should be avoided. There are a whole set of issues connected with the sources, exploitation of minerals and environment. There is the Mineral Regulation Act and it is also necessary to find out whether a mineral could be exploited now or later, how much we require, the economics and environment, industries which use them and what techniques should be adopted for exploration. Also, environmental aspect should also be taken care of. This is an important area in which the views and opinions of several people of different areas should be taken into account," he opined.
Dr. Haripriya Rangarajan, wife of the Governor, released a souvenir brought out on the occasion. Dr. M.S. Rao of the Geological Survey of India said that the main themes of the conference were mineral-based industries, technological innovations and review, impact of mining and other activities and educational changes required in the syllabi to meet the challenges in the sphere of mining and geology.
Prof. B. Satyam, Rector of Andhra University, presided over the function. Prof. Md. Iqbal Ahmed, Principal of the AU College of Science, was present and Prof. A.J. Rao, Head of the Geology Department, welcomed the gathering which included a large number of eminent geo-scientists across the country to share their knowledge and experience on mineral exploration and development, mining, environmental aspects and other related topics.
A number of scientific papers are also being presented by the participants during the three-day seminar.
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