Centre to launch eighth critical mineral auction, offering 20 blocks

The eighth tranche of critical mineral auctions will offer 20 blocks across nine states, including lithium, rare earth elements and graphite, to boost domestic mineral security

The Centre will launch the eighth tranche of critical and strategic mineral block auctions on Wednesday, offering 20 mineral blocks across nine states, the Coal Ministry said in a statement.

 

Union Minister for Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy will launch the auction in New Delhi in the presence of Minister of State for Coal and Mines Satish Chandra Dubey and senior ministry officials.

 

The eighth tranche comprises 20 critical and strategic mineral blocks, including 13 newly identified blocks and seven blocks being offered for a second time after earlier auction attempts.

 

The blocks contain a wide range of minerals, including lithium, rare earth elements (REE), graphite, molybdenum, gallium, vanadium, tungsten, titanium, phosphorite, potash, glauconite, caesium and rubidium. These minerals are considered vital for electric vehicles, battery manufacturing, electronics, fertilisers, defence applications and other strategic industries.

 

The latest tranche comes as the government continues to expand its critical minerals auction programme. According to the ministry, 56 of the 88 critical and strategic mineral blocks put up across the first seven auction rounds have been successfully auctioned, translating into a success rate of more than 63 per cent.

 

The government highlighted a broader milestone in mineral auctions during 2025-26. It said 212 mineral blocks were successfully auctioned during the financial year, the highest annual number since the auction regime was introduced. Of these, 22 were critical and strategic mineral blocks.

 

The ministry recently notified amendments to the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2026, to streamline the auction process and improve ease of doing business.

 

The ministry said these reforms rationalise timelines for payment of the upfront amount, provide greater flexibility in the execution of mining lease and prospecting licence deeds, and facilitate quicker refunds of bid security, performance security and other payments in cases where auctions are annulled for reasons not attributable to the preferred or successful bidder.