100 critical mineral blocks to be auctioned before Feb 2024: Mines minister

The Ministry of Mines will call bids for over 100 critical minerals blocks from February. Apart from onshore minerals, offshore minerals will also be put up for auction, Union Minister of Mines Pralhad Joshi said during the launch event of the National Geoscience Data Repository (NGDR) portal.

"More than 100 blocks of strategic and critical minerals will be brought for auction next year before February, and these blocks are ready with us," Joshi said.

“Around 15 offshore blocks will also be auctioned in March,” Joshi added.

The announcement comes nearly three weeks after India initiated the process to auction 20 blocks of critical minerals, including the 5.9-million-tonne (mt) lithium reserves discovered in Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi district. The collective value of these 20 blocks was estimated at Rs 45,000 crore.

Highlighting the goal behind increasing critical mineral availability, Joshi said, "India is now considered as the World Factory. The shift from China is happening at a rapid pace. We must be ready to provide critical minerals to companies that come to India."

Around 500 blocks of minerals, including critical ones, have been given to the government by the Geological Survey of India (GSI). This year GSI will explore around 1,000 blocks.

Through an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act on August 17 this year, 24 minerals were notified as critical and strategic, and the central government was given the power to grant mineral concessions for these through auction.

Besides Lithium, the critical minerals on offer include titanium, bauxite (aluminous laterite), glauconite, nickel, chromium, potash, copper, graphite, manganese ore, molybdenum ore, phosphorite, platinum group elements (PGE), and rare earth elements (REE). These are used in sectors like renewable energy, defence, and agriculture.