Govt launches 4th tranche of critical minerals auction

Union minister of coal and mines G. Kishan Reddy and minister of state for coal and mines Satish Chandra Dubey on Monday launched the 4th tranche of the auction of critical and strategic mineral blocks at a programme to be held at Scope Convention Centre, CGO Complex, New Delhi. 

In this tranche, 21 critical mineral blocks will be auctioned.

The Mines Ministry has conducted three rounds of auctions for 38 critical mineral blocks but faced setbacks with 13 of the initial 20 blocks put up for sale. These were canceled due to insufficient interest from bidders.

One notable block, the Salal-Haimna Lithium, Titanium, and Bauxite block in Jammu and Kashmir, attracted fewer than three bids in the first round. Additionally, two Molybdenum blocks in Tamil Nadu did not receive any bids at all.

In March, the Mines Ministry asked academic institutions to submit proposals for research and development in mining technology, focusing on areas like deep-sea mining and environmentally friendly practices.

Last year, the ministry began auctioning 20 mineral blocks containing valuable resources such as lithium, platinum-group elements, graphite, molybdenum, potash, phosphorite, rare earth elements, and glauconite.

These mineral blocks are located in states such as Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.