NEW DELHI: The government will invite bids for 20 critical mineral blocks including lithium and graphite in next two weeks. While speaking after the inauguration of the Mining Pavilion at India International Trade Fair (IITF), mines secretary V L Kantha Rao said after making policy on critical minerals, the next thing would be to auction them.
“Now we are almost ready to issue the auction notice and in two weeks we will issue a notice for auctioning about 20 blocks that are related to critical minerals like lithium and graphite,” said Kantha Rao.
In February 2023, India found lithium deposits of 5.9 million tonnes reserve in Jammu and Kashmir.
Subsequently, in July, the government amended mining rule and allowed entry of private miners to search for materials. Then India approved royalty rates for three critical and strategic minerals. The approved royalty rates for lithium, niobium and REE are 3%, 3% and 1%, respectively. Rao, said currently India has 10-12 players who have technology to process critical minerals.