The Critical & Strategic Minerals Committee constituted by NITI Aayog convened a national-level meeting on Monday at TEXMiN, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, to deliberate on India’s strategy for securing critical and strategic minerals across the value chain.
The meeting, chaired by Prof. D.K. Singh, was organised under the PAIR project of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and the CoRE-MiN Centre of Excellence on Critical Raw Materials (NCMM). It brought together senior officials from NITI Aayog, central public sector undertakings (PSUs), research institutions, and industry to discuss technology development, domestic capability building, and supply-chain resilience.
Prof. Sukumar Mishra, Director, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, welcomed the participants and highlighted the institute’s role in research, technology development, and policy support related to critical minerals.
Briefing the committee, Prof. Dheeraj Kumar, Deputy Director, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad & Project Director, TEXMiN, outlined ongoing and planned initiatives, including the PAIR-B project supported by the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), TEXMiN, the Technology Translation Research Park (TTRP) established by the Department of Science & Technology, and the CoRE-MiN Centre of Excellence on Critical Raw Materials (NCMM) supported by the Ministry of Mines.
Setting the agenda, Shri R. Saravanabhavan, Deputy Adviser (Minerals), NITI Aayog, emphasised the need for coordinated efforts among government, academia, R&D institutions, and industry to develop indigenous technologies spanning exploration, beneficiation, utilisation, and recycling of critical minerals.
During the deliberations, Dr. Ramanuj Narayan, Director, CSIR-IMMT Bhubaneswar, and Dr. K. Ramesha, Director, CSIR-CECRI, shared updates on research in mineral processing, advanced materials, and recycling of critical and strategic minerals. Shri Asheesh Kumar, Director (Business Development), Coal India Limited, highlighted opportunities for recovering rare earth elements and other critical minerals from coal mine waste, overburden, and fly ash.
The committee includes representatives from NITI Aayog, CSIR-IMMT, CSIR-CECRI, Coal India Limited, Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Neyveli Lignite Limited, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Coal, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, IPCPA, and CII.
Faculty members from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad working in critical minerals, rare earth extraction, beneficiation, processing, and recycling also participated, enabling detailed technical discussions.
The meeting underscored the strategic role of critical minerals in India’s clean energy transition, advanced manufacturing, and national security, while highlighting the importance of strengthening domestic research and technology capabilities.
