India launches second part of critical minerals auction worth $362 bln (updated)

Shree Cement

29/02/2024 13:25

(Adds details from the press conference, background)
    By Neha Arora and Hritam Mukherjee
       NEW DELHI/BENGALURU, Feb 29 (Reuters) - India launched
the second part of its critical minerals auction worth an
estimated 30 trillion rupees (about $362 billion), the country's
mines minister, Pralhad Joshi, said on Thursday.
    A total of 18 critical mineral blocks, including tungsten,
vanadium, cobalt and nickel, will be auctioned in eight states
across the country, including Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, a government statement
said.
    Seventeen mineral blocks have been put up for a composite
licence, while one block is for a mining lease, it added. A
composite licence includes a licence to examine a block and mine
it afterwards.
    Joshi added that five states - Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh,
Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan - will auction blocks for
exploration licence of critical minerals, separately.
    Further, he said that in the first round of the first part
of auctions launched in November last year, the government
received 56 bids from entities, including Vedanta Ltd  VDAN.NS ,
Coal India  COAL.NS , Shree Cement  SHCM.NS , Ola Electric,
Dalmia group and Jindal Power. 
        The second round of bidding for the first tranche of
auctions will be held in mid-March and the bid winner will be
announced in mid-April. 
  
        Separately, Joshi said there will be no shortage of coal
in the country this year. 
  
        His comments come after the Coal India, the world's
largest miner, 
    lowered
     its annual production target for the financial year 2025 on
adequate stockpiles, last week. 
  
        
  
($1 = 82.8859 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Neha Arora in New Delhi and Hritam Mukherjee in
Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sohini Goswami)
 ((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))