GSI told to focus on critical minerals

The government has returned to its prime mineral exploration agency Geological Survey of India (GSI) with a mission to look for strategic critical minerals fearing private players may stay away from exploration rights owing to the complexity of the task.

- Subhash Narayan & Rituraj Baruah

The GSI’s refocused mandate means the private sector will now be mainly responsible for work on surficial minerals such as coal, bauxite, iron ore, and limestone, which are found on the surface of the earth while GSI with a lighter burden would search for critical minerals.

Turning to the GSI comes out of a strategic imperative to boost exploration and production of critical minerals in the country, where the private sector’s participation initially is expected to be slow because of the complexity and costs involved in a task that brought little reward.

The agency has been tasked to bring out a record 151 reports on critical minerals in the current year so that these could be auctioned and brought in production over next one-to-two years.