India: Mines ministry announces preferred bidders for exploration of 7 critical mineral blocks

• Coal India, Singareni, Maheshwari Mining secure key exploration licences
• Preferred bidders can carry out reconnaissance and prospecting of leases

The Ministry of Mines has announced preferred bidders for exploration of seven blocks of critical minerals auctioned at the first tranche earlier this year.

However, the auction process for six other critical mineral blocks was annulled because the required number of bids was not received, as per the mineral auction rules. The mines ministry had originally identified 13 blocks under the first tranche to grant licences through electronic auction for exploration of critical minerals in March 2025.

Maheshwari Mining has emerged the preferred bidder for two blocks. The first is a gold and copper block of nearly 200 square kilometres in Khunti district of Ranchi, while the second block of around 200 square kilometres is for gold in Chatakpur-Bagu, located in Jharkhand.

As BigMint reported earlier, Coal India is the preferred bidder for Ontillu-Chandragiri rare earth elements (REE) Exploration Block in Tirupati and Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh with a final bid of 0.05% of the revenue. Exploration licenses are being given after a 2023 amendment to the mining act made it possible for the government to accommodate exploration grants into the auction regime. The lowest bid wins here. The preferred bidder can carry out reconnaissance and prospecting, and when mining rights are auctioned will receive a share of government’s revenues from the deposit when it is developed. In Coal India’s case for example, this is 0.05% share of the premium if and when Ontillu-Chandragiri rare earth block is mined.

The Central Mine Planning And Design Institute, under MoM, became the preferred bidder for the REE Exploration Block in Nawatala- Devigarh, situated in Barmar and Jodhpur districts of Rajasthan.

The Singareni Collieries Company became the preferred bidder for the gold and copper exploration block in Devadurga, situated in Raichur and Yadgir districts of Karnataka. This company is a coal-mining company jointly owned by the Government of Telangana and Government of India on a 51:49 equity basis.

Among the other preferred bidders, Sunmark Thermal Power won the bid for the PGE (platinum group elements) exploration block in Padhar, situated in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. This may have reserves of PGE and nickel. Vanity Techstructures became the preferred bidder for the lead and zinc exploration block in Jinjgaon, located in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.

“In light of the lowest Final Price Offers quoted by the bidders, they are hereby declared as ‘Preferred Bidder’ for the respective mineral blocks,” stated Farida M Naik, Joint Secretary and Designated Officer, MoM.