India Eyes Mining Reform to Unlock Critical Minerals

As the race for critical minerals intensifies globally, India is looking to lift a long-standing restriction that bars miners from extracting any mineral other than the one they were originally licensed to extract, two people aware of the plan said.

- Subhash Narayan & Rituraj Baruah

The reform, targeting thousands of mines allocated before 2015 when mineral blocks were allotted without auctions, will allow leaseholders to commercially mine newly-discovered strategic minerals, including lithium, cobalt and rare earths, which are vital for key sectors including clean energy, automobiles, electronics, and defence.

The government plans to introduce an amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Act) in the monsoon session of Parliament that starts on Monday, the officials cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

The new provisions will cover over 2,500 legacy mining leases, many of which are currently idle. The move will unlock their potential to revive operations and extract minerals critical to India's economic and strategic goals.

Under the proposed norms, the miner will be issued a separate licence through a deemed approval process, without any fresh auctions or additional premiums, the officials said.

A query on the issue sent to the mines ministry remained unanswered till press time.