VidBodh AcademyThe art and science of civil services preparation
Student login

Science and Technology › Materials and nanotechnology

Critical minerals and rare earths

Critical minerals and rare earths: which minerals count as critical and why their supply is at risk, mining and auctions, refining and magnets, assets abroad, recovery from waste, and stockpiles. Prelims has asked about rare earths and the National Critical Mineral Mission, lithium in Chile, and monazite.

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2025: rare earths in flat screens, and their phosphorescence

Showing 2 of 8 subjects, those that changed from 1 to 15 July 2026.Show all

National Critical Mineral Mission

Copy link to National Critical Mineral Mission

Prelims and Mains

The mission is India's umbrella programme for critical mineral security, covering exploration, processing, recovery and acquisition abroad. Its first instrument is the least glamorous one, holding stock against an interruption rather than producing more.

  • ₹500 crore has been seeded under it for stockpiling.

What changed

  1. 11 Sep 2026

    PIB, 11 Sep 2026: Critical Minerals Key to India's Energy Security, Industrial Competitiveness and National Security: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh (opens in a new tab)

  2. 5 Aug 2026

    The Hindu, 5 Aug 2026: Essential stockpiling for a mineral-driven future (opens in a new tab)

  3. 6 Jul 2026Update

    • Indonesia holds the world's largest nickel reserves, and Chinese firms dominate the processing that turns ore into battery grade material. India's opening lies in entering that processing chain.

    The Indian Express, 6 Jul 2026: India works on nickel access in Indonesia and on stockpiling with Japan (opens in a new tab)

  4. 2 Jul 2026Update

    • India and Japan agreed to cooperate on strategic stockpiling of critical minerals, covering national and industry stockpiles and emergency response.

    The Indian Express, 2 Jul 2026: India works on nickel access in Indonesia and on stockpiling with Japan (opens in a new tab)

UPSC has asked

  • Prelims 2026: rare earth elements and the National Critical Mineral Mission

Critical mineral block auctions

Copy link to Critical mineral block auctions

Prelims and Mains

The Centre auctions blocks of critical minerals in tranches under the mining law amended in 2023, offering rare earths, lithium, graphite, vanadium, tungsten and potash among others.

What changed

  1. 15 Jul 2026New subject

    • The eighth tranche offers 20 blocks in nine States, including rare earths, vanadium, gallium, graphite, tungsten and potash, and one block in West Bengal with lithium, caesium and rubidium.
    • Of 88 blocks offered since the auctions began, 56 have been auctioned.

    PIB, 15 Jul 2026: Union Minister Shri G. Kishan Reddy and Minister of State Shri Satish Chandra Dubey Launch the Eighth Tranche of Auction of 20 Critical and Strategic Mineral Blocks (opens in a new tab)

See also: Critical minerals

Also filed elsewhere

  • Deep sea minerals · on Ocean, polar and earth science missions

    Two kinds of deposit are worth going to the ocean floor for, and they form in entirely different places.

  • India's deep sea mining programme · on Ocean, polar and earth science missions

    The Ministry of Earth Sciences and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) have invited private industry into deep sea mining, at an outreach workshop held to secure the country's critical mineral supply.

  • Urban mining · on E-waste, battery and hazardous waste

    A discarded computer holds metals and critical minerals in concentrations a miner would be pleased with, and they have already been dug out of the ground once.