Mines Ministry Launches Ninth Critical Mineral Auction Tranche

India's Ministry of Mines has launched the ninth tranche of auctions for critical and strategic mineral blocks, putting 20 mineral blocks up for bidding. The government simultaneously commenced the third tranche of auctions for exploration licences, offering mineral blocks across multiple states to accelerate private sector participation.

Strategic Mineral Portfolio and Auction History

The ninth tranche features critical and strategic minerals including graphite, glauconite, vanadium, gallium, titanium, rare earth elements, tungsten, potash, and halite. The exploration licence tranche grants concessions through competitive bidding for reconnaissance and prospecting activities covering copper, potash, halite, vanadium, and associated mineralisation. These resource deposits provide essential raw materials for manufacturing clean power systems, electric vehicles, fertilizer products, aerospace hardware, defense supplies, and advanced microelectronics. In earlier bidding cycles, authorities tendered 100 distinctive strategic tracts, securing successful auction closures on 64 blocks. Under the exploration licence regime, 11 blocks offered during the first two tranches were also successfully auctioned. In the ninth tranche, Chhattisgarh has 5 auctioned blocks containing minerals including gallium, while Telangana has 3 blocks containing minerals including gallium, according to Press Information Bureau.

Granting exploration concessions encourages private industry capital to survey 29 critical and deep-seated resources outlined under the seventh schedule.

Geographic Distribution and Exploration Framework

The official launch was officiated by Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy, alongside Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Minister of State Satish Chandra Dubey. Geographically, the mineral blocks span several states, including vanadium, titanium, and rare earth deposits across Chhattisgarh and Telangana. Blocks in Rajasthan and Bihar target industrial and agricultural inputs including potash, halite, and glauconite, while deposits in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh feature graphite, copper, and rare earths. Exploration licences, enabled under Section 10BA of the MMDR Act, allow private companies to invest in the exploration of 29 critical and deep-seated minerals before mining leases are granted.

Officials noted that collaborative public and private exploration remains vital to map deep underground deposits that currently lack extensive geological data.

Regulatory Reforms and Bidding Timelines

To streamline bidding procedures, the government notified the Mineral Auction Third Amendment Rules, 2026, lowering the required number of technically qualified bidders from three to two for the second round of Part D minerals. Under the administrative reforms, letters of intent will now be generated automatically through the Unified Mining Portal to improve procedural convenience.

Tender documents became available for purchase on November 5, 2026, with document sales closing on January 1, 2027, and final bids due by January 7, 2027. Composite licences and mining leases will be awarded through an online two-stage ascending forward auction based on revenue share, while exploration licences will utilize a descending reverse auction model on the MSTC platform.