The Centre will launch the seventh tranche of auctions for critical and strategic mineral blocks on 23 March, as part of its broader push to secure raw materials essential for clean energy and advanced technologies.
Union Minister of Coal and Mines G Kishan Reddy, along with Minister of State Satish Chandra Dubey, is set to formally roll out the latest round, which will offer 19 mineral blocks spread across several states.
These blocks include resources vital for sectors such as renewable energy, fertilisers, electronics, and strategic industries.
The move builds on a series of earlier auctions.
So far, six tranches have been conducted, with 46 critical and strategic mineral blocks already auctioned, reflecting strong industry participation and growing confidence in India’s mineral sector, according to the Ministry of Mines.
The latest tranche comes at a time when global demand for minerals such as lithium, graphite, rare earth elements, tungsten, vanadium and titanium is rising sharply.
These materials are essential for batteries, electric vehicles, solar technologies and defence applications.
Their limited global availability and concentration in select geographies have made supply chains increasingly vulnerable.
To address this, India amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act in August 2023, identifying 24 minerals as “critical and strategic.”
The amendment enabled the Centre to auction mining leases and composite licences for these minerals, while revenues from the auctions continue to accrue to state governments.
The government has also introduced regulatory changes to improve the auction ecosystem.
Recent amendments in 2025 and 2026 have streamlined post-auction processes such as performance security submission, upfront payments and issuance of Letters of Intent.
A new provision allowing Insurance Surety Bonds in place of bank guarantees has also been added to make participation easier for bidders.
The auction itself will follow a two-stage online ascending forward process, where bidders compete based on the highest percentage of the value of mineral dispatched quoted.
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