New Delhi, May 7 (IANS): The Ministry of Mines in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology – Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM), Dhanbad will organise a one-day workshop here on Wednesday to discuss the draft framework of the State Mining Index, envisaged to capture mining sector performance of States.

The Secretary, Ministry of Mines, V. L. Kantha Rao, will chair the workshop, in which senior state government officials have been invited to participate. The feedback from States at the workshop will help in finalising the framework, according to an official statement issued on Tuesday.

The mining sector is at the forefront of numerous value chains, supplying raw materials to key industrial domains such as steel, non-ferrous metals, cement, fertilisers, chemicals, and electronics. The states have a crucial role to play in the development of the country’s mining sector.

For a mining sector vision that prioritises resource use efficiency with equity, sustainability and responsibility, focused attention is required on the exploration of India’s geography; taking actions for facilitating future mineral production and working for the interest and benefit of persons and areas affected by mining related operations, the statement said.

A state mining index has been envisaged to capture the mining sector performance as well as states’ future readiness in mining activity. The ambit of the index will be non-fuel major minerals and minor minerals.

The Ministry of Mines has commissioned IIT-ISM, Dhanbad to conduct a study for designing the framework, collecting data and formulating the index, the statement added.