Govt notifies 38 critical mineral blocks for auction
Critical minerals are the foundation of contemporary industrial economies which are important component of technological advancements, and as such the Mines Ministry https://mines.gov.in/ plans to launch the first tranche of auction of Offshore mineral blocks in the coming months.
Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy announced this at a press conference on June 24, stressing, “The forthcoming global economy will hinge on technologies reliant on minerals such as lithium, graphite, cobalt, titanium, rare earth elements (REE), etc. Their scarcity or reliance on a few nations for extraction and processing could pose significant vulnerabilities to our supply chains https://sbi.com.in/ .”
In light of the same, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act) was amended on 17thAugust 2023 whereunder the Central Government was conferred the power to grant mineral concession of 24 critical and strategic minerals https://www.bseindia.com/ .
The central government has notified 38 critical mineral blocks for auction, bearing thirteen unique critical and strategic minerals. These blocks are located across 14 States and Union Territory https://www.nseindia.com/ .
The three tranches of auction of critical and strategic mineral blocks on 29 Nov 2023, 29 Feb 2024 and 14 March 2024.
This update was given by Reddy and Minister of State for Coal and Mines, Satish Chandra Dubey, as they launched the 4th tranche of auction of critical and strategic minerals at a programme on 24 June https://www.ibef.org/ .
The 4th tranche of auction launched today included 21 blocks of critical mineral. Out of these 21 blocks, 11 are fresh blocks, spanning six States, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. These blocks contain a variety of minerals including Graphite, Glauconite, Phosphorite, Potash, Nickel, PGE, Phosphate and Rare Earth Elements (REE) http://mineralsglobal.com/ .
Further, as part of this Tranche, 10 critical mineral blocks are on offer as the “second attempt” blocks of previous tranches of auction. These 10 blocks are located in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu and have important critical minerals like Tungsten, Vanadium, Graphite, Glauconite, Cobalt and Nickel https://globalmineralseng.com/ . Fiinews.com
