Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 2012 (Draft Regulations)
G.S.R.96(E).--The following draft regulations namely the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 2012, which the Central Government proposed to make, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 57 of the Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952) and on the recommendations of the Committee constituted under Section 12 of the said Act, and in Supersession of the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 1961, are hereby published as required by subsection (1) of Section 59 of the said Act for the information of all persons likely to be affected thereby and notice is hereby given that the said draft regulations will be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of three months from the date on which copies of the Gazette in which this notification is published, are made available to the public;
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The objections or suggestions, if any, may be addressed to Shri S.K. Singh, Under Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110001.
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Any objection or suggestion, which may be received from any person in respect of the said draft regulations within the period specified above, will be considered by the Central Government.
Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 2012
DRAFT REGULATIONS
CHAPTER-I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and application.-
(1) These regulations may be called the Metalliferous Mines Regulations, 2012.
(2) They shall extend to the whole of India.
(3) They shall apply to every mine of whatever description other than a coal or an oil mine.
2. Definitions.--
(A) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(1) "abandoned working" mean such working as have been abandoned with no intention of working in future;
(2) "Act" means the Mines Act, 1952;
(3) "approved safety lamp" and "approved electric torch" mean respectively, a safety lamp or an electric torch, manufactured by such firm and of such type as the Chief Inspector may from time to time specify by notification in the Official Gazette;
(4) "assistant manager" means a person possessing a Manager's Certificate appointed in writing by the owner, agent or manager to assist the manager in the control, management and direction or the mine or part thereof, and who takes rank immediately below the manager;
(5) "auxiliary fan" means a forcing fan or an exhausting fan used belowground wholly or mainly for ventilating one or more faces or blind ends forming part of a ventilating district;
(6) "banksman" means a person appointed to superintend the lowering and raising of persons, tools and materials and to transmit signals at the top of a shaft or winze;
(7) "bellman" means a person appointed to superintend the raising and lowering of persons, tools, materials and the transmission of signals at any landing;
(8) "blaster" means a person possessing a Manager's, Foreman's, Mate's or Blaster's Certificate and appointed by the manager in writing to perform the duties of a blaster under these regulations, and includes a Shotfirer;
(9) "booster fan" means a mechanical ventilator used belowground for boosting the whole current of air passing along the intake or return airway of a mine or ventilating district;
(10) "Committee" means a Committee appointed under section 12 of the Act;
(11) "competent person" in relation to any work or any machinery, plant or equipment means a person who has attained the age of 20 years and who has been duly appointed in writing by the Manager as a person competent to supervise or perform that work or to supervise the operation of that machinery, plant or equipment, and who is responsible for the duties assigned to him, and includes a Blaster;
["contractor" means an individual, an association of individuals, company or firm, a local authority or body who contracts for the services or operations in a mine, and includes a sub-contractor;
(12) "deep-hole drilling and blasting" means drill holes made more than three metres in depth and used for blasting in an opencast mining operation;
(13) "designer" means an individual, association of individuals, company or institution who designs a metal mining system, method of metalliferous mining or machinery, plant, equipment, appliance or substances for use in metalliferous mines;
(14) "discontinued working" means such working in a mine as have been discontinued for some reasons and are inaccessible or rendered inaccessible but are likely to be worked again;
(15) "District Magistrate" in relation to any mine, means the District Magistrate or the Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, who is vested with the executive powers of maintaining law and order in the revenue district in which the mine is situated:
Provided that in the case of a mine, which is situated partly in one district and partly in another, the District Magistrate for the purposes of these regulations shall be the District Magistrate authorised in the behalf by the Central Government;
(16) "disused working" mean such working in a mine where work has been temporarily stopped due to some reasons but which are accessible and include unused working;
(17) "electrical supervisor" for the purpose of this regulation shall have the same meaning as defined under the Electricity Rules, 2005;
(18) "explosive" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to that term in the Indian Explosives Act, 1884 (4 or 1884);
(19) "face" means the moving front of any working place or the in bye end of any drive, level, crosscut, raise or winze;
(20) "financial year" means a period of twelve months from the first day of April to the last day of March;
(21) "form" means a Form as set out in the First Schedule;
(22) "gas" includes fume or vapour;
(23) "general body of air" means the general atmosphere in the working belowground and includes the atmosphere in the roof cavities, but does not include general atmosphere in the sealed off area or in any borehole drilled in the ore or waste rock;
(24) "haul road" means any passage of road, which is maintained and used in connection with the working of opencast mine for plying of machinery;
(25) "Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM)" means automotive or electrical machinery used in mechanised opencast mines for digging, drilling (excluding hand held drills and drill machines capable of drilling hole of a diameter up to 50 mm), dredging, hydraulicking, ripping, dozing, grading, excavating, loading, transporting minerals or overburden;
(26) "incline" means an Inclined passage or road either on the surface or belowground;
(27) "inset" means a landing or platform in a shaft, and includes an excavation therefrom between the top and the bottom of the shaft;
(28) "landing" means any floor or platform in a shaft or winze, which is an authorised stopping place of the cage or other means of conveyance, and includes a 'plat';
(29) "machinery" means -
(i) any locomotive or any stationary or portable engine, air compressor, boiler or steam apparatus, or any such apparatus, appliances or combination of appliances which is intended for developing, storing, transmitting, converting or utilizing energy; or
(ii) any such apparatus, appliance or combination of appliances if any power developed, stored, transmitted, converted or utilised thereby is, used or intended for use in connection with mining operations; or
(iii) any such equipment used for cutting, drilling, loading and transport of material;
(30) "manager" means a Manager appointed under regulation 30;
(31) "manufacturer" means an individual, association of individuals, company or institution who manufactures machinery, plant, equipment, appliance or substances for use in metalliferous mines;
(32) "material" includes rock, debris, stone, mineral, ore or any other material;
(33) "metalliferous mine" includes every mine other than a coal or an oil mine;
(34) "mine foreman" means a person possessing a Manager's or Foreman's Certificate and appointed by the Manager in writing, under the designation whatsoever, to perform the duties of supervision or control in a mine or part thereof and includes a Shift Boss;
(35) "mining mate" means a person possessing a Manager's, Foreman's or Mate's Certificate and appointed by the Manager in writing, under any designation whatsoever, to perform the duties of a mining mate under these regulations, and includes an Overseer or Head Mistri;
(36) "misfire" means the failure to explode of an entire charge of explosives in a shothole or blast hole;
(37) "month" means a calendar month;
(38) "official" means a person appointed in writing by the owner, agent or manager to perform duties of supervision in a mine or part thereof and includes an assistant or underground manager, a ventilation officer, a safety officer, a foreman, a mining mate, an engineer and a surveyor;
(39)"permitted explosive" means an explosive manufactured by such firm and of such type as the Chief Inspector may from time to time specify by notification in the Official Gazette;
(40) "public road" means a road maintained for public use and under the jurisdiction of any government or local authority;
(41) "quarter" means a period of three months ending on the 31st March, 30th June, 30th September or 31st December;
(42) "railway" means a railway as defined in the Railways Act, 1890;
(43) "Regional Inspector" means the Inspector of Mines having jurisdiction over a geographical area in which the mine is situated and over which he exercises his powers under the Act;
(44) "risk" means combination of the likelihood of a specific unwanted event and includes potential consequences, if it should occur;
(45) "river" means any stream or current of water, whether seasonal or perennial, and includes its banks extending up to the highest known flood level;
(46) "roadway" means any passage or drivage or part thereof belowground which is maintained in connection with the working of a mine;
(47) "Schedule" means a Schedule appended to these regulations;
(48) "shaft" means a way or opening leading from the surface to working belowground or...
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