New Delhi, June 23 (IANS). The government on Tuesday said India has achieved a major achievement by successfully conducting 56 auctions of critical and strategic mineral blocks, which is an important step towards strengthening the country’s domestic mineral supply chain and taking forward India’s Critical Mineral Mission.
The Ministry of Mines has successfully auctioned 10 important and strategic mineral blocks under the seventh phase of auction conducted by the Central Government. With this, the total number of such mineral blocks successfully auctioned so far has increased to 56.
This achievement is also significant as out of 88 different mineral blocks put up for auction by the Central Government, 56 have been successfully auctioned, representing a success rate of over 63 per cent.
The seventh phase of auction has further expanded the scope of exploration and development of critical minerals in India. For the first time, the Central Government auctioned critical mineral blocks in Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Telangana.
This phase included blocks of graphite, rare earth elements (REEs), vanadium, titanium, glauconite, rock phosphate and other associated minerals. This has further expanded the geographical scope of exploration of important minerals in the country.
A total of 19 mineral blocks were included in the seventh phase of auction, which contain important and strategic minerals.
This auction was conducted under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 as amended from time to time.
Along with the auction of critical mineral blocks, the Ministry of Mines has also successfully completed the second phase of Exploration License (EL) auction, further strengthening India’s mineral exploration ecosystem.
In the second phase, for the first time, the Central Government extended the exploration license framework to Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. This will open new opportunities for exploration of important and deep-lying minerals.
The government said that after the successful auction of the second phase, the total number of exploration license blocks successfully auctioned by the Central Government has reached 11 after the implementation of the exploration license system.
The objective of the Exploration License Regime is to promote systematic exploration of significant and deep-lying minerals by providing an opportunity to private and public sector companies to participate in mineral exploration.
–IANS
DBP
