Ministry
Ministry of Mines
The Ministry of Mines is the Union government department that regulates the survey, exploration and mining of India's non-fuel, non-atomic minerals and administers the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. It is the seat of power over who may explore and extract minerals on Indian soil and offshore, and since 2023 it has become the institutional home of India's critical-minerals push through the National Critical Mineral Mission and the auction of lithium, rare-earth and other strategic mineral blocks. It owns the Geological Survey of India, the Indian Bureau of Mines, and the public-sector miners NALCO, Hindustan Copper and MECL.
Updated
- Administers
- Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 — all minerals except coal, lignite, petroleum, natural gas and atomic minerals
- Attached / subordinate offices
- Geological Survey of India (founded 1851, Kolkata); Indian Bureau of Mines (Nagpur)
- Public-sector undertakings
- NALCO, Hindustan Copper Ltd, Mineral Exploration & Consultancy Ltd; KABIL (overseas JV)
- National Critical Mineral Mission outlay
- ₹34,300 crore over seven years, 2024-25 to 2030-31 (Cabinet, Jan 2025)
- Critical minerals identified
- 30 (Ministry of Mines expert committee, 2023)
- Headquarters
- Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi
Role
The Ministry of Mines is the Union government department that governs the survey, exploration and extraction of India’s non-fuel, non-atomic minerals. It administers the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and the mineral-concession and auction rules made under it, and through them decides who may prospect and mine, on what terms, and at what royalty. Coal and lignite sit with a separate Ministry of Coal, petroleum and natural gas with the Ministry of Petroleum, and atomic minerals with the Department of Atomic Energy — a division of labour that matters for reading India’s mineral policy, because “mining” news often spans three different institutions. The Ministry’s technical arms are the Geological Survey of India, which maps and explores, and the Indian Bureau of Mines, which regulates mining operations and mineral conservation; its commercial arms are the public miners NALCO, Hindustan Copper and MECL, and the overseas joint venture KABIL.
Since 2023 the Ministry has become the institutional centre of India’s critical-minerals strategy. The MMDR Amendment of that year reserved 24 critical and strategic minerals for central auction and created a new Exploration Licence; the National Critical Mineral Mission, approved in 2025, wraps exploration, auctions, overseas acquisition, recycling and stockpiling into a single seven-year programme. This has pulled the Ministry into adjacency with the energy transition (Ministry of Power), electronics and semiconductors, the fiscal levers of the Ministry of Finance on customs duty, and the geopolitics of China dependence and strategic autonomy. The office-holders change; the mandate over the ground does not.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Geological Survey of India founded
The GSI, established in 1851 and later the Ministry's attached office, becomes the country's principal mineral-exploration agency.
- reference
Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act enacted
The MMDR Act becomes the framework statute the Ministry administers for all minerals except coal, lignite, petroleum and atomic minerals.
- reference
MMDR Amendment introduces auction-based allocation
The 2015 amendment made competitive auction the standard method for granting mineral concessions, ending discretionary allotment.
- reference
MMDR Amendment Act 2023 opens critical minerals
Enacted in August 2023, the amendment reserved a list of 24 critical and strategic minerals for central-government auction, removed six minerals (including lithium) from the atomic-minerals list, and introduced the Exploration Licence; the Offshore Areas Mineral Act was amended in parallel.
- official
KABIL signs Argentina lithium agreement
On 15 January 2024 KABIL signed an agreement with Catamarca's state miner CAMYEN for five lithium brine blocks (~15,703 ha), described by the government as India's first overseas lithium exploration-and-mining project by a government company.
- official
Cabinet approves National Critical Mineral Mission
On 29 January 2025 the Union Cabinet approved the NCMM with a ₹34,300 crore outlay over seven years, which the Cabinet's approval framed as ₹16,300 crore of budgetary support and ₹18,000 crore of investment attributed to public-sector undertakings.
- official
58 firms cleared under critical-mineral recycling scheme
The Ministry of Mines approved 58 companies as eligible under the ₹1,500 crore Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Critical Mineral Recycling (notified 2 October 2025 under the National Critical Mineral Mission); 20 firms were cleared on 30 March 2026 and 38 on 29 April 2026, carrying about ₹5,000 crore of pledged investment.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Mines?
- The Ministry of Mines is the Union government department that regulates the survey, exploration and mining of India's non-fuel, non-atomic minerals and administers the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. It is the seat of power over who may explore and extract minerals on Indian soil and offshore, and since 2023 it has become the institutional home of India's critical-minerals push through the National Critical Mineral Mission and the auction of lithium, rare-earth and other strategic mineral blocks. It owns the Geological Survey of India, the Indian Bureau of Mines, and the public-sector miners NALCO, Hindustan Copper and MECL.
- When was Ministry of Mines established?
- Ministry of Mines was established 1947.
- What does Ministry of Mines do?
- Its remit covers Administration of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, Survey and exploration of minerals other than coal, lignite, petroleum, natural gas and atomic minerals, Regulation of mines and mineral development, including mineral concession and auction rules, Critical and strategic minerals: identification, auction and the National Critical Mineral Mission, Offshore-areas mineral development and regulation, Oversight of NALCO, Hindustan Copper, MECL and the overseas JV KABIL.
- What is the latest on Ministry of Mines?
- As of 2026-07-06: 58 firms cleared under critical-mineral recycling scheme. The Ministry of Mines approved 58 companies as eligible under the ₹1,500 crore Incentive Scheme for Promotion of Critical Mineral Recycling (notified 2 October 2025 under the National Critical Mineral Mission); 20 firms were cleared on 30 March 2026 and 38 on 29 April 2026, carrying about ₹5,000 crore of pledged investment.