New Delhi, Nov 6:
The Ministry of Mines on Thursday relaxed bidding norms for critical mineral auctions by reducing the mandatory minimum number of technically qualified bidders from three to two, aiming to prevent recurring auction annulments and unlock private capital in strategic extractive assets.
The revised rules, notified under the Mineral (Auction) Third Amendment Rules, 2026, were incorporated into the newly launched ninth tranche of 20 critical and strategic mineral blocks across eight states and the third tranche of 14 exploration licence (EL) blocks across six states. In previous auction rounds, the government had been forced to annul several blocks due to the lack of the mandatory three-bidder threshold, leaving 36 out of 100 offered blocks unsold.
The ninth tranche covers crucial industrial minerals including rare earth elements, graphite, vanadium, gallium, titanium, tungsten, and scandium, essential for clean tech, EV batteries, and aerospace applications. The exploration licences, introduced under Section 10BA of the MMDR Act, invite private exploration in deep-seated minerals via reverse revenue-share auctions, with bids open until January 7, 2027.