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Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka launched the Singareni Collieries Company Limited's gold and copper exploration programme at Lingadahalli village in Devadurga taluk of Raichur district, Karnataka, on 27 August 2026.
The Devadurga block covers 199.13 square kilometres and was secured through an auction of critical mineral blocks conducted by the Union Ministry of Mines.
It is the first time the Telangana coal PSU has entered exploration for critical and strategic minerals, and its first mineral exploration of this scale outside the state.
The exploration agreement with the Karnataka Department of Mines and Geology was signed in Bengaluru on 6 August 2026, and the licence was announced by the SCCL Chairman on 15 August 2026.
A site office and a helipad are to be readied at Devadurga, and a possible SCCL-Karnataka Power Corporation joint venture on coal for thermal plants was discussed alongside.
State-owned coal mining enterprise, now entering gold and copper exploration; incorporated on 23 December 1920 and jointly owned by the Government of Telangana and the Government of India in a 51:49 ratio
Conducts the auction of critical and strategic mineral blocks and administers the MMDR Act, 1957
State authority that signed the exploration agreement for the Devadurga block
Secure India's supply of critical minerals for clean energy, electronics and defence industries
Key: Approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 January 2025 with an outlay of Rs 16,300 crore, alongside an expected Rs 18,000 crore of investment by public sector undertakings, and a target of about 1,200 exploration projects
Open up exploration and speed up the discovery of deep-seated and critical minerals
Key: Effective from 17 August 2023; created the Exploration Licence for reconnaissance and prospecting, allowing notified private exploration agencies into a field long dominated by government agencies
Give the Union government direct control over the allocation of critical and strategic minerals
Key: Lists 24 critical and strategic minerals whose mining leases and composite licences are auctioned by the Central Government even where the block lies within a state
GS Paper III > Indian economy: mineral resources, critical minerals and infrastructure; GS Paper I > Distribution of key natural resources
General Awareness > Indian geography: minerals and mining, and current affairs
General Awareness > Economy and current events
Minerals essential to clean energy, electronics and defence supply chains whose availability is at risk; 24 of them are listed in Part D of the First Schedule of the MMDR Act, 1957.
A licence created by the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023 for reconnaissance and prospecting operations, distinct from a mining lease.
The reconnaissance stage of mineral exploration under the United Nations Framework Classification, the first and broadest survey stage before detailed prospecting.
A combined prospecting licence and mining lease granted through auction for blocks that have not yet been fully explored.