New Delhi, June 23: The Indian government announced a significant achievement on Tuesday, revealing that it has successfully auctioned 56 critical and strategic mineral blocks. This milestone is a crucial step towards bolstering the country’s domestic mineral supply chain and advancing India’s Critical Mineral Mission.
The Ministry of Mines reported that under the seventh phase of auctions, 10 critical and strategic mineral blocks were successfully auctioned. This brings the total number of successfully auctioned mineral blocks to 56.
This achievement is particularly noteworthy as out of 88 different mineral blocks offered for auction by the central government, 56 were successfully auctioned, reflecting a success rate of over 63%.
The seventh phase of auctions has expanded the scope of exploration and development of critical minerals in India. For the first time, the central government auctioned critical mineral blocks in Gujarat, Uttarakhand, and Telangana.
This phase included blocks for graphite, rare earth elements (REE), vanadium, titanium, glauconite, rock phosphate, and other related minerals, thereby broadening the geographical scope for critical mineral exploration in the country.
A total of 19 mineral blocks, including critical and strategic minerals, were part of this auction. The auction was conducted under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957 and the periodically revised Mineral (Auction) Rules of 2015.
Alongside the auction of critical mineral blocks, the Ministry of Mines has also successfully completed the second phase of exploration license (EL) auctions, further strengthening India’s mineral exploration framework.
In this second phase, for the first time, the central government expanded the exploration license framework in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Odisha, opening new opportunities for the discovery of critical and deep-seated minerals.
The government stated that following the successful auction of the second phase, the total number of exploration license blocks successfully auctioned by the central government has reached 11.
The exploration license framework aims to promote the systematic discovery of critical and deep-seated minerals, allowing both private and public sector companies to participate in mineral exploration.
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