The ministry of mines is likely to put up some offshore critical minerals in its third round of auction in March, Prahlad Joshi, Union minister for coal and mines, said on Tuesday.
“We will put up offshore minerals on auction in March,” the minister added. Offshore minerals include nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, and rare earth elements. “The draft regulations are under work and some offshore minerals such as nickel, cobalt, manganese will be put up in the auction,” said Sanjay Lohiya, additional secretary, ministry of mines.
It has also allowed these NPEAs to bid for auction for mineral blocks explored by them, which was earlier not allowed.
The government had recently put up 24 critical minerals on auction including graphite, nickel, potash, and others, notifying them as critical and strategic minerals through another amendment in the MMDR Act done in August. With this, it attempts to secure minerals essential for advanced technology sectors.
The government has identified 100 blocks of critical minerals and will come out with the second tranche of auction before February. The sale for the first tranche of auction released last month will be completed by January 22, 2024, the government said.
The government in 2021 had amended the MMDR Act, empowering the central government to notify entities, including private entities, that may undertake mining operations.
The amendment had also conferred power to the central government to grant mineral concession of the critical minerals and prioritize auction of these minerals.
“As these critical minerals are indispensable for the growth of our economy, authorising the central government to auction concession for these critical minerals would increase the pace of auction and early production of the minerals,” the government had earlier said.