New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- The Lok Sabha passed the key amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act on Tuesday. The amendments make way for widening the scope and territorial domain of the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) to enable use of the funds accrued to the Trust within India, including the offshore areas, and outside India for the purposes of exploration and development of mines and minerals, ministry officials said. The bill renames the NMET as the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust to reflect its enlarged scope and increase the amount of payment to the Trust by the lessees from present 2% of the royalty payable to 3%. It enables the inclusion of any new mineral in a mining lease subject t...