{"id":87318,"date":"2026-02-11T17:02:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=87318"},"modified":"2026-02-11T17:02:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:32:59","slug":"national-critical-mineral-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-critical-mineral-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"National Critical Mineral Mission, Launch Date, Outlay, Objectives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Government of India <\/span><b>launched<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) <\/span><b>in 2025<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to establish a robust framework for <\/span><b>self-reliance in the critical mineral sector<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The mission envisages a <\/span><b>total outlay of \u20b934,300 crore over a period of seven years.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>National Critical Mineral Mission Objectives<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The mission focuses on <\/span><b>boosting domestic production, encouraging private sector participation, strengthening international partnerships, and streamlining regulations to ensure a steady supply of minerals essential for clean energy technologies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><b>Two main Objectives are:\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To secure India\u2019s critical mineral supply chain by ensuring mineral availability from domestic and foreign sources.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strengthening the value chains by enhancing technological, regulatory, and financial ecosystems to foster innovation, skill development, and global competitiveness in mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing, and recycling.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>National Critical Mineral Mission Components<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The NCMM will encompass all stages of the value chain, including <\/span><b>mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing, and recovery from end-of-life products.<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Increasing Domestic Minerals Production<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The mission will intensify the exploration of critical minerals within the country and in its offshore areas. It also proposes development of a stockpile of critical minerals within the country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Acquisition of Critical Mineral Assets Abroad<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The mission aims to encourage Indian public sector enterprises and private sector companies to acquire critical mineral assets abroad and enhance trade with resource-rich countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Recycling Critical Minerals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The mission includes provisions for setting up of mineral processing parks and promotion of recycling of critical minerals from e-waste, battery scrap, and industrial waste.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Trade and Markets for Critical Minerals<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Enhance trade with resource-rich countries and diversify supply chains to reduce import dependence.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Scientific Research &amp; Technological Advancement<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The mission will promote research in critical mineral technologies and proposes setting up a Centre of Excellence on Critical Minerals.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Human Resource Development<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Skill development programmes, specialised training, and academic initiatives to build a skilled workforce.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Developing Effective Funding, Financing and Fiscal Incentives<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The\u00a0 mission will offer financial incentives for critical mineral exploration.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Critical Minerals Meaning\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/critical-minerals\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Critical minerals<\/strong><\/a> are those minerals that are <\/span><b>essential for a country\u2019s economic development, technological advancement, and strategic sectors, but face a high risk of supply disruption <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">due to <\/span><b>import dependence, limited domestic availability, or geopolitical and market constraints.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2023, the Ministry of Mines, released a list of <\/span><b>30 critical minerals for India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These minerals are <\/span><b>Antimony, Beryllium, Bismuth, Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Hafnium, Indium, Lithium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, PGE, Phosphorous, Potash, REE, Rhenium, Silicon, Strontium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, Zirconium, Selenium and Cadmium.<\/b><\/p>\n<h2><b>Usage of Critical Minerals<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical minerals are essential components of various clean energy technologies and industries. Their importance can be highlighted across different sectors:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. <\/span><b>Solar energy<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical minerals such as silicon, tellurium, indium, and gallium are vital for the production of photovoltaic (PV) cells used in solar panels.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India\u2019s current solar capacity of 64 GW is heavily dependent on these minerals.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. <\/span><b>Wind energy<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rare earth elements like dysprosium and neodymium are used in permanent magnets for wind turbines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India aims to increase its wind energy capacity from 42 GW to 140 GW by 2030, necessitating a stable supply of these minerals.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. <\/span><b>Electric vehicles (EVs)<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lithium, nickel, and cobalt are key materials used in lithium-ion batteries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), India plans to deploy 6\u20137 million EVs by 2024, leading to increased demand for these critical minerals.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. <\/span><b>Energy storage<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lithium-ion batteries used in advanced energy storage systems depend on lithium, cobalt, and nickel.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Critical minerals are essential for a country&#8217;s economic development and national security, and their lack of availability or concentration in a few geographical locations can lead to supply chain vulnerabilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India aims to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 45% by 2030 (from 2005 levels), achieve 50%of its electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030, and reach net-zero emissions by 2070. To achieve these climate goals, the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) plays a vital role by building a resilient and self-reliant <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/ecosystem\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>ecosystem<\/strong><\/a> for critical minerals.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>National Critical Mineral Mission 2025 aims to secure India\u2019s critical mineral supply, boost domestic production, promote recycling, and support clean energy and EV growth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":87162,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5330],"class_list":{"0":"post-87318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-national-critical-mineral-mission","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87318"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87322,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87318\/revisions\/87322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}