 "Nearly 20 critical mineral blocks to be put up for sale by June-end")
The Centre plans to auction roughly 20 critical mineral blocks in the upcoming round by the end of June, alongside the first instalment of offshore mineral auctions within the next three months, Mines Secretary V L Kantha Rao said on Monday.
“We are going to come up with the next auction at the end of June, so this auction process will continue. Moreover, the offshore minerals auction will also come within three months,” Rao said while speaking at the Critical Minerals Summit.
The secretary also said that the result of the auction process for seven critical mineral blocks held recently was being finalised and would be declared within a month.
The announcement comes shortly after the government scrapped the auction process for 13 blocks in March due to lacklustre interest from potential investors. The 13 blocks included two blocks that received no bids and 11 that had fewer than three technically qualified bidders.
The Centre has initiated the auction of 38 critical and strategic minerals to date. The initial tranche included 20 blocks, while the subsequent tranche had 18.
Critical minerals such as lithium, chromium, nickel, graphite, cobalt, titanium, and rare earth elements are essential raw materials for sectors like electronics, electric vehicle, renewable energy, defence, and high-tech telecommunications.
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Currently, the extraction of these minerals is dominated by a few countries, such as China, which makes the supply chain vulnerable to geopolitical uncertainties.
Rao said that over 100 critical mineral blocks are on the table for auction. He also urged the industry to study the data on these blocks to gain insight into the opportunities that are now available.
India has committed to achieving 50 per cent of the cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.
The Critical Minerals Summit aimed at bringing together a diverse array of Indian and international stakeholders, including industry leaders, startups, government officials, scientists, academics, and policy experts.
This comes after the government delayed the selection process for preferred bidders by three months for the first round of critical mineral blocks.
According to a Ministry of Mines notice, the final date to select the preferred bidders for the remaining seven mineral blocks has been deferred until July 8 from April 18.