In February 2025, the Ministry of Mines (MoM) announced the reclassification of Barytes, Felspar, Mica, and Quartz as major minerals to enhance the exploration and scientific mining of these resources, which are key sources of many critical minerals.
- After this, the mining of these minerals will be regulated under Section 8A of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act, 1957.
- This classification is based on the recommendation of an inter-ministerial committee on mines and minerals, chaired by National Institution for Transforming India(NITI) Aayog member Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat.
Background:
This move follows the Union Cabinet’s approval of the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) on January 29, 2025, with a budget of Rs. 34,300 crore over seven years.
- The mission aims to explore and mine critical minerals in the country, including recovering them from other mineral mines, overburden, and tailings.
Reason for Reclassification:
i.Quartz, felspar and mica are found in pegmatite rocks, which are an important source of many critical minerals such as beryl (Be), lithium (Li), niobium (Nb), tantalum (Ta), molybdenum (Mo), tin (Sn), titanium (Ti), and tungsten (W).
- In the past, when leases were granted for minor minerals, the associated critical minerals were neither reported nor extracted.
- These minerals are used in various new technologies, energy transition, spacecraft industries, and the healthcare sector, etc.
ii.Baryte mostly forms as concretions and vein fillings in limestone and dolostone.
- It is found along with ores of antimony (Sb), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and silver (Ag).
- It is widely used in industrial applications, like oil and gas drilling, electronics, television(TV) screens, rubber, glass, ceramics, paint, radiation shielding, and medical applications.
- When baryte occurs with iron ore, it forms pocket-type deposits that cannot be mined separately, so its production is inevitable.
iii.With the reclassification to major minerals, there would be increase in exploration and scientific mining of these minerals and the leases for these minerals will be extended for 50 years from the grant date, or until the renewal period ends, whichever is later, as per Section 8A of the MMDR Act, 1957.
iv.With this, existing leaseholders must comply with the norms set by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and submit a mining plan for IBM approval by June 30, 2025, after obtaining approval from their respective state governments.
Recent Related News:
In January 2025, Kolkata (West Bengal) based Coal India Limited (CIL) under the Ministry of Coal(MoC), signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mumbai (Maharashtra) based Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a Public Sector Undertaking(PSU) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to collaborate on the development of critical minerals.
About Ministry of Mines (MoM):
Union Minister – G. Kishan Reddy(Constituency – Secunderabad, Telangana)
Minister of State(MoS) – Satish Chandra Dubey(Rajya Sabha -Bihar)
