Page 202 - ELT_3rd_1st May 2020_Vol 372_Part

424 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 372

As per the definition, to be an ore the material has to qualify to the description
‘minerals of mineralogical species’. The term “mineral” has been defined in Wik-
ipedia is -
“A mineral is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound that occurs natural-
ly in pure form.”
Then, the Encyclopedia Britanica defines ‘mineral’ as follow :-
(1) Formed by a natural process (anthropogenic compounds are excluded).
(2) Stable or metastable at room temperature (25°C). In the simplest sense,
this means the mineral must be solid. Classical examples of exceptions to
this rule include native mercury, which crystallizes at -39°C, and water
ice, which is solid only below 0°C; because these two minerals were de-
scribed before 1959, they were grandfathered by the International Miner-
alogical Association (IMA). Modern advances have included extensive
study of liquid crystals, which also extensively involve mineralogy.”
Collins’ Dictionary defines the ‘mineral’ as under :-
“A mineral is a substance such as tin, salt, or sulphur that is formed naturally
in rocks and in the earth. Minerals are also found in small quantities in food and
drink.”
In Cambridge Dictionary the term ‘mineralogical’ is defined as follows :-
relating to mineralogy (= the scientific study of minerals) :
From the above reading of definition of “Ores” appearing in Note 2 of Chapter
26 and definition of the term ‘minerals’ in various dictionaries appearing above,
it is seen that only Naturally occurring substances are termed as ‘minerals’ and
therefore “Ores”. Like HSN, Encyclopedia Britannica excludes ‘anthropogenic
compounds’ from the term ‘Ore’. ‘Anthropogenic’ is defined as follows in Merri-
am Webster Dictionary
‘: of, relating to, or resulting from the influence of human beings on na-
ture’
Cambridge Dictionary defines ‘anthropogenic’ as follows :-
‘caused by humans or their activities :’
4.2 Furthermore the HSN clarifies that the term ‘ore’ applies only to
goods that are not subjected to processes which are ‘not normal to Metallurgical
Industry’. Thus goods which are produced by subjecting pure gold, sand and
other materials to various processes to appear like ore cannot by any stretch of
imagination be called ore as these processes, of mixing gold with sand and other
substances to create an ore like product, are not normal to Metallurgical Indus-
try. Moreover it is not normal Metallurgical Industry Process to convert Pure
metal (like Gold ornaments/biscuits) into Impure gold mixture with sand with
some physical/chemical characteristics of ‘ore’.
4.3 Thus as per chapter notes and HSN only the naturally occurring
material can qualify as ‘ore’. The artificially made substances cannot therefore be
called as “Ore” in terms of the definition of the term ‘Ore’ appearing in the Chap-
ter notes and explanations in HSN.
4.4 Goods do not answer to the term Concentrate. The goods imported
by the appellant were produced in a workshop by mixing sand and gold and
various materials cannot be called concentrate. As per HSN explanatory notes
EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st May 2020  202