India gets ready with rare earth R&D push

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : India is scaling up efforts to secure supplies of critical and rare earth minerals, with the mines ministry inviting research and development proposals for mining technology, including deep-sea and green mining, from academic institutions. India’s plan is to establish and support R&D projects, focussing on critical, rare earth and deep-seated minerals like lithium, nickel and tungsten over three years.

The ministry seeks to develop sustainable solutions using technologies like robotics, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and machine learning for exploration, prospecting, and mining of strategically important minerals found in challenging locations. “Projects are invited from academic institutions, universities, national institutes and R&D institutions recognized by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, for up to three years on the identified topics of directed R&D and in thrust areas which have direct bearing on the mineral sector, applied and sustainable aspect of mining and industrial applications," a ministry note said.

The ministry proposes the establishment of R&D projects for mineral categories recently made accessible to private sector mining. The auction process for these mineral blocks is set to start soon.

During the monsoon session, the government revised the mining legislation to remove various atomic and critical minerals, including lithium, from the restricted list, allowing the private sector to participate in the auction for mining. Separate legislation was introduced to allow the private sector to participate in off-shore and deep-seated mining, including rare earth minerals critical for industrial use.