Mines ministry announces policy to extract critical minerals from tailings

The mines ministry has announced a new policy for the exploration of critical minerals in new projects and the recovery of critical minerals from overburden, dumps and tailings of existing mines. This follows the announcement in the last Union Budget to launch a policy for the “recovery of critical minerals from tailings”.

 

Tailings refer to the leftover waste material after valuable minerals are extracted from crushed ore, forming a slurry of rock particles, water and processing chemicals.

 

The policy is required because the occurrence of critical and strategic elements is not restricted to solid mineral resources under the administrative control of the Ministry of Mines, but may also be available in other commodities that are dealt with by various other ministries.

 

“Therefore, a coordinated approach among various ministries is essential to identify the location of all the tailing ponds and dumps, their quantity and the likely availability of various critical and strategic elements. Based on this, the recoverability and economic viability of these tailings can be evaluated,” the ministry said.

 

The new policy is developed on the idea that a few commodities currently mined in India as primary ore may have scope for recovery of companion metals or elements from the tailings, anode slimes, pot linings and slags. For example, a copper mine may have selenium, tellurium, molybdenum, cobalt, rhenium, gold and silver as companion elements. Similarly, zinc is found along with germanium, silver, cadmium and indium.

 

The ministry said the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI) and Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) should conduct sample analysis of dumps and tailings of all existing mines to arrive at “companionality” to identify the location of waste dumps, overburden and tailing ponds for the quantity and likely availability of critical and strategic elements.

 

Critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth elements (REE), are vital for technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, and are essential for India’s economic growth. The government’s focus on self-reliance and green technologies is driving the need to secure domestic supplies and resilient global supply chains for these minerals.

 

“Therefore, the primary focus of exploration agencies in the country has shifted from exploration of bulk minerals to exploration of critical minerals. Further, the overburden, tailings, red mud, existing mine dumps, etc are important secondary sources for critical and strategic minerals in addition to the primary sources,” the ministry said.

 

According to the policy document, a comprehensive approach is required for identification and resource evaluation of critical minerals occurring in various sources during the exploration as well as exploitation stages, involving agencies working in coal, non-coal, atomic minerals and the petroleum sector.

 

The tailings policy is expected to serve as a standard guideline for tapping critical minerals from primary as well as secondary sources, and also help in framing a roadmap for the recovery of these critical minerals, which will ensure increased domestic production and reduced import dependency, increasing India’s self-reliance in these minerals.