{"id":58310,"date":"2023-11-29T19:49:54","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T14:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/?post_type=current-affairs&#038;p=58310"},"modified":"2023-11-30T12:03:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T06:33:09","slug":"auction-of-critical-and-strategic-minerals","status":"publish","type":"current-affairs","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/auction-of-critical-and-strategic-minerals","title":{"rendered":"Auction of Critical and Strategic Minerals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first round of auction for critical and strategic minerals, featuring<\/span><b> 20 blocks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, will be initiated by the government on November 29, 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>More about the news:\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sale of twenty blocks containing critical and strategic minerals is geographically dispersed throughout the country. <\/span><b>Metal recycling: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ministry is formulating a plan for metal recycling to enhance recycling capabilities and streamline the recycling process.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<table style=\"border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"width: 100%; border-style: solid; border-color: #000000; background-color: #e1a9f5; text-align: left; vertical-align: middle;\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\"><b>What are critical minerals?<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">Critical minerals are\u00a0 those minerals\u00a0 that are at risk of supply shortage, which may have a larger impact on the economy compared to that of other raw materials.<\/span><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Policy for critical minerals:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The mines ministry is preparing a policy for critical minerals, which will include a road map for strengthening the supply chain of these essential resources.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Joint Collaboration:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The government will collaborate with partner countries and will focus on co-developing mineral processing and raw material manufacturing capabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Building resilience:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Apart from domestic mechanisms, government id focusing on active participation in new partnerships and alliances, such as the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) and the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These initiatives aim to bolster a resilient critical minerals value chain through both multilateral and bilateral engagements.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Need for Auction:\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical minerals are essential for our country\u2019s economic development and national security.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lack of availability of these minerals or concentration of their extraction or processing in a few countries (eg. China) may lead to supply chain vulnerabilities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical minerals cater to the needs of sectors like renewable energy, defence, agriculture, pharmaceutical, high-tech electronics, telecommunications, transport, creation of gigafactories etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Recent Initative:\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Amendment in the MMDR Act:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 24 minerals were notified as Critical and Strategic minerals.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The amendment confers the power to grant mineral concession of these minerals to Central Government so that Central Government can prioritise auction of these minerals looking at the requirements of the country.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The revenue generated from these auctions shall accrue to State Governments.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><b>Rationalization of Rroyalty rates of Critical Minerals:<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government had specified royalty rates for Platinum Group of Metals (PGM) at 4%, Molybdenum at 7.5%, Glauconite and Potash at 2.5% in March, 2022.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>On 12th October, 2023<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the Government has specified royalty rates for Lithium at 3%, Niobium at 3% and Rare Earth Elements at 1%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Also read: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/global-action-on-critical-minerals-outreach-programme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Action on Critical Minerals Outreach Programme<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further Reading: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/editorial-analysis\/critical-mineral-supplies-vital-to-clean-energy-shift\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical Mineral Supplies Vital To Clean Energy Shift<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/critical-minerals\/#:~:text=Critical%20minerals%20are%20those%20minerals,that%20of%20other%20raw%20materials.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development And Regulation) Act<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>News Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/industry\/news\/first-tranche-auction-of-critical-and-strategic-minerals-to-start-on-nov-29-123112800416_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Business Standard<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The first round of auction for critical and strategic minerals, featuring 20 blocks, will be initiated by the government on November 29, 2023. More about the news:\u00a0 The sale of twenty blocks containing critical and strategic minerals is geographically dispersed throughout the country. Metal recycling: The ministry is formulating a plan for metal recycling&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/current-affairs\/auction-of-critical-and-strategic-minerals\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Auction of Critical and Strategic Minerals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"paper-wise":[2089],"subject":[2092],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/58310"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/current-affairs"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58310"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/58310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58374,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/current-affairs\/58310\/revisions\/58374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58310"},{"taxonomy":"paper-wise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/paper-wise?post=58310"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=58310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}