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The Ministry of Mines is holding a roadshow on the 8th tranche of auction of critical and strategic mineral blocks, along with a workshop on the National Mineral Exploration and Development Trust (NMEDT), on 17 August 2026 in Patna, Bihar.
The 8th tranche comprises 20 mineral blocks — 3 mining leases and 17 composite licences — covering graphite, rare earth elements, rare metals, vanadium, gallium, titanium, molybdenum, tungsten, potash, phosphorite and glauconite.
The programme includes a presentation on the NMEDT scheme for partial reimbursement of exploration expenses to composite licence holders, and a workshop on mineral exploration planning, execution and reporting using the National Geoscience Data Repository.
The auction of critical and strategic minerals is conducted by the Central Government under powers created by the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023.
Build a resilient domestic value chain for critical minerals — exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products — and reduce import dependence.
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 January 2025 with a government outlay of Rs 16,300 crore for FY 2024-25 to FY 2030-31, plus an expected Rs 18,000 crore of PSU investment. The Ministry of Mines is the administrative ministry, and an Empowered Committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary coordinates the mission across ministries.
Reduce the risk borne by private explorers who win composite licences and must carry out exploration before mining can begin.
Key: Partial reimbursement of exploration expenditure to composite licence holders, funded from the trust created under section 9C of the MMDR Act, 1957.
Put India's baseline geoscience data in one openly accessible digital repository so explorers can identify and prepare blocks.
Key: Conceptualised under the National Mineral Exploration Policy, 2016, with the Geological Survey of India as nodal agency and BISAG-N as system integrator; an upgraded NGDR 2.0 adds better data visualisation and AI-assisted exploration insights.
Bring junior exploration companies — which explore but do not mine — into India's mineral sector for the first time.
Key: Created by the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023 for 29 deep-seated minerals listed in the Seventh Schedule, including gold, silver, copper, cobalt, nickel, lead, potash and rock phosphate. It is distinct from a Mining Lease (right to mine) and a Composite Licence (prospecting licence cum mining lease).
The parent statute for regulation of mines and development of minerals. Its First Schedule, Part D, lists the critical and strategic minerals; section 9C is the provision under which the exploration trust was created.
Empowered the Central Government to exclusively auction mining leases and composite licences for the critical and strategic minerals in Part D of the First Schedule — previously the preserve of state governments — and introduced the Exploration Licence as a new mineral concession for 29 deep-seated minerals in the Seventh Schedule.
The policy under which the National Geoscience Data Repository was conceptualised, aimed at opening baseline geoscience data and attracting private exploration.
The country's principal agency for baseline geoscience data, regional and national mineral exploration and geological mapping; nodal agency for the National Geoscience Data Repository.
Central public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Mines carrying out detailed mineral exploration and drilling; it presented the block details at the roadshow.
Funds regional and detailed exploration with emphasis on critical and strategic minerals, aerial geophysical surveys and mineral-development studies, and runs the partial reimbursement scheme for composite licence holders. Established by gazette notification dated 14 August 2015 under section 9C of the MMDR Act, 1957.
The vehicle for acquiring critical and strategic mineral assets overseas — the external counterpart to domestic auctions. A joint venture of NALCO, Hindustan Copper Limited and MECL in the ratio 40:30:30, incorporated on 8 August 2019 under the Ministry of Mines.
The public sector e-commerce and e-auction service provider that runs the electronic auction platform for mineral block auctions.
A Mining Lease is granted where a deposit is already proved, and it confers the right to extract. A Composite Licence is a prospecting licence cum mining lease: the winner must first explore the block to establish a deposit, and on success the licence converts into a mining lease. An Exploration Licence, created by the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023, goes one step earlier — the holder only explores deep-seated minerals and then hands the block to auction, being rewarded out of the auction proceeds. The 8th tranche's mix of 3 mining leases and 17 composite licences therefore tells you the state of knowledge about these blocks: most are not yet proved deposits but prospects that the winning bidder must explore, which is precisely why a reimbursement scheme for exploration expenses is being presented at the same event.
Simple Analogy: A mining lease is buying a house that has been surveyed; a composite licence is buying land with a survey obligation attached; an exploration licence is being paid to do the survey and hand it on.
Graphite, vanadium and rare earths feed directly into batteries, magnets and grid storage — the reason critical mineral policy sits alongside the schemes for electric mobility and renewable energy manufacturing.
Set up under section 9B of the MMDR Act, 1957 for the benefit of mining-affected people — the sister provision to section 9C, under which the exploration trust was created. Exams pair the two sections.
Domestic auctions and overseas acquisition are two halves of the same supply-security strategy; KABIL was created in 2019 to secure assets abroad while auctions open blocks at home.
Mineral concessions in India's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone are governed by a separate law, the Offshore Areas Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 2002, and not by the MMDR Act.
The roadshow's location matters — critical mineral auctions have been extending into states not traditionally seen as mineral states, following fresh exploration data now published through the NGDR.
GS Paper 3 > Indian Economy > Infrastructure and resources; Science and Technology > Critical minerals and energy transition
General Awareness > Indian Economy > Mineral resources and PSUs
General Awareness > Current Affairs > Government schemes
Critical minerals have appeared repeatedly in Prelims and Mains since 2023 as the MMDR amendments and the NCMM rolled out
Minerals essential to economic development and national security whose supply is at risk; India's Ministry of Mines identified 30 such minerals in November 2022.
A prospecting licence cum mining lease — the holder explores first, and on establishing a deposit the concession becomes a mining lease.
A concession created by the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023 for 29 deep-seated minerals, allowing a company to explore without an obligation to mine.
A potassium-bearing mineral used as a source of potash fertiliser, among the minerals offered in the tranche.
A phosphate-rich sedimentary rock, the main raw material for phosphatic fertilisers.