(1)

Every holder of a mineral concession and every agency authorised under the second proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4 shall preserve intact, until submission of the final geological report, all cores and specimens of different types of rocks and minerals obtained during drilling or sinking operations and shall arrange for them to be laid out in a serial order with identification marks, showing the progressive depth at which they are obtained.

(2)

The State Government or the authorised officer, as the case may be, may, by an order in writing, require the holder of the mineral concession or the agency authorised under the second proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4 to preserve the cores or specimens of rocks and minerals obtained from specific boreholes or shafts in a specific manner or for any specific period or relax the provisions of this rule to such an extent as they may deem fit.

(3)

No cores or samples generated and preserved as per sub-rule (1) and (2) above shall be destroyed without the prior permission in writing from the Chief Controller of Mines or the State Government or the Director, Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, as the case may be.

(4)

The Geological Survey of India shall be the nodal agency for archiving drill cores at the National Core Repository and at the Regional Drill Core Repositories with suitable indexing and cataloguing.

(5)

The Regional Drill Core Repositories shall function as satellites of the National Core Repository.

(6)

The holder of a mineral concession or any other agency authorised under the second proviso to sub-section (1) of section 4 shall adhere to the procedure for preservation and submission of cores as provided in the manual issued by the Geological Survey of India from time to time and shall preserve the identified borehole cores to be collected by the Geological Survey of India, after completion of all the required studies at the time of submission of the final geological report.