More vital mineral mines to be auctioned by the central government

• India plans to auction more mines by 2031, following Cabinet approval for a ₹16,300-crore NCMM.

• The government has already auctioned 24 critical mineral blocks domestically.

• Public-private partnerships are crucial for achieving these objectives.

• The NCMM envisages a separate investment of ₹18,000 crore by public sector units.

• India’s paucity of natural resources necessitates initiatives to extract valuable minerals from mine waste and reprocess tailings.

• India has domestic lithium resources of 12.3 million tonnes, nickel deposits of 189-194 million tonnes, cobalt 45 million tonnes, graphite 211-244 million tonnes, and rare-earth elements resources of 230 million tonnes.

• Challenges include unavailability of quality reserves of cobalt, niobium, germanium, and rhenium, weak investor interest, and deep deposits that are too deep to extract with available technology.