Centre annuls auction of 13 critical mineral blocks

NEW DELHI: The Centre has cancelled auction for 13 of 20 blocks on offer in the first round of critical mineral bids following tepid response. Out of the 13 mines, two got no bids and 11 attracted less than three bids each.

"It has been decided to return the bid security to bidders for 11 mineral blocks that got less than three bids each," an official aware of the development said. These blocks which received poor response hold glauconite, nickel, chromium and platinum group elements (PGE), potash, nickel and copper, molybdenum ore, graphite, and lithium, titanium and bauxite (aluminous laterite). They are spread across Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Seven of these mines will be offered for rebidding under a fresh round of auctions launched earlier this month.


Two blocks which got no bids hold molybdenum and are in Tamil Nadu.

A second round of auctions with 18 other critical mineral blocks is also presently underway.

Responding to a query on the seven blocks that did get a good response in the first bid round, a senior government official said, "Blocks holding phosphorite and fertiliser minerals have got 5-6 bids per mine. The lithium block in Chhattisgarh has got more than 10 bids while graphite mines have 4-5 bidders per block."

In June 2023, the government released a list of 30 minerals considered critical for the country. These include antimony, beryllium, bismuth, cobalt, copper, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, indium, lithium, molybdenum, niobium, nickel, platinum group elements (PGE), phosphorous, and potash.

Rare Earth Elements (REE), rhenium, silicon, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, zirconium, selenium and cadmium also figure in this list.