Bids for 100 More Critical Mineral Blocks in Feb: Joshi
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The centre will call bids for 100 more critical mineral blocks in February 2024, under the second round of auctions, Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi said Tuesday. Addressing journalists during a road show for the ongoing first round of critical mineral bids, he also said that Off Shore mineral blocks will be auctioned by April 2024.

Bids have already been called for 20 critical mineral bearing blocks. India has recently listed 24 minerals as being strategic and critical for the country. These include Graphite, Molybdenum, Lithium, and Platinum Group Elements (PGE) among others. Efforts are now underway to speedily auction mining leases for the same.


Highlighting the goal behind increasing critical mineral availability, Joshi said, "India is now considered as the World Factory. The shift from China is happening at a rapid pace. We must be ready to give critical minerals to companies that come to India."

 

Joshi also said the centre is throwing its weight behind ramping up mineral exploration in the country.

"The Geological Survey of India (GSI) prepared reports for 500 mineral bearing blocks last year. The target for them is to now make reports for 1000 mineral bearing blocks," he said.
 

These GSI reports form the basis of auctioning mineral bearing blocks.
 

According to official data, 325 mineral exploration projects have been undertaken during the current fiscal. This had led to established resources of Iron ore, Manganese, Chromite, Gold, PGE, Base metals, Rare Earth Elements, Molybdenum, Nickel, Tungsten, Lithium, Limestone, Bauxite, Graphite, Potash, and Phosphorite, among others.


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