Bengaluru, July 7 (IANS): State-run Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL) on Tuesday said that it will jointly explore mineral assets across the country with the Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL).

"We will deploy our mining and mineral experts to jointly explore mineral assets, as only one percent of mineral-bearing area has been mined till date, while about 800,000 sq.km of mineral-rich regions across the country remain to be tapped," the city-based KIOCL said in a statement here.

KIOCL and MECL chairmen and managing directors Malay Chatterjee and Gopal Dhawan respectively signed an agreement for joint exploration in presence of union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar after a meeting of the ministry's parliamentary consultative committee here.

"In view of the urgency to explore the mineral wealth extensively, we have decided to leverage our respective domain expertise for the task ahead, as envisaged in the recently amended Mines & Minerals Development and Regulation Act," the joint statement saiod.

The ministry has also roped the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to explore mineral resources with a budgetary allocation of Rs.166 crore in this fiscal as against Rs.96 crore in the last.

"We have also directed the mineral-rich states to set up the district mineral funds for rehabilitation and resettlement measures to protect the environment and people affected by mining activity, as directed by the Supreme Court-monitored committee," Tomar told reporters here after the meeting.