Centre plans to expand area limits to boost critical minerals mining

Shift aims to address challenges associated with mining critical minerals

In an effort to accelerate the pace of critical mineral mining in the country, the Centre is planning to increase the area granted to individual players by more than four fold.

For mining leases, the area will be expanded from the current limit of 10 square kilometres (sq km) to 50 sq km.

For prospecting licences (granted in the case of composite licence), the limit will be increased from 25 sq km to 100 sq km.

This policy shift aims to address the unique challenges associated with mining critical minerals, which are often found in deep-seated deposits and have a