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India's first mineral exchange, which would create a transparent, electronic delivery-based trading platform for minerals, is likely to be registered and operationalised by the next financial year, according to a top government official. This comes after the mines ministry's notification of the Mineral Exchange Rules, 2026 in June. The exchange would create a transparent, electronic delivery-based trading platform for minerals, facilitate market-based price discovery and reduce information asymmetry between producers and buyers. "We expect to register and operationalise the first Mineral Exchange by the next financial year. Work on the registration of the exchange is currently under way," Mines Additional Secretary Veena Kumari Dermal said during 60th Annual General Meeting of Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI). The ministry notified the Mineral Exchange Rules in June to create a state-of-the-art platform with transparent price discovery and standardised quality ...
The government has cancelled the auction of nine critical and strategic mineral blocks, citing poor investor response and lack of qualified bidders. These blocks were put on the block in the seventh round of sale. The development comes as a setback to the government's efforts to ramp up domestic exploration and production of critical minerals that are central to the country's push for energy security, clean-tech manufacturing and cutting down dependence on imports. It also reflects the challenge of drawing private investment into riskier mineral assets, where technical complexities, higher capital costs and regulatory uncertainties tend to dampen bidding interest. The government had cancelled several critical and strategic mineral block auctions in the previous rounds as well -- 11 blocks in the sixth round, five in the fifth, 11 in the fourth, three in the third, 14 in the second and 13 in the first tranche. "Since there were nil bids... the auction process for... two mineral bloc