Changes to the Mines and Minerals Act have been approved by the Union cabinet, reversing the ban on the commercial mining of six essential minerals, including lithium, beryllium, titanium, niobium, tantalum, and zirconium.
These minerals are necessary for many different businesses, including those that produce electric cars, batteries, glass, auto parts, solar panels, semiconductors, wind turbines, defence machinery, telecommunications gear, capacitors, super alloys, space hardware, carbides, and medical equipment.
India wants to become a significant hub for manufacturing and lessen its dependency on foreign minerals for industrial operations. And at the moment imports all of its lithium from countries like Chile, Russia, China, Ireland, and Belgium, while its beryllium comes from countries like China, South Africa, the UK, the Netherlands, and Russia.
Private firms are currently prohibited from engaging in commercial mining of these necessary minerals. Government organisations alone carry out mining and exploration operations. The Ministry of Mines published its first report on the determination of India's Critical Minerals in June. The research included about 30 important minerals, including silicon, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, zircon, niobium, germanium, titanium, tungsten, and others.
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