India Fixes Royalty For Lithium, Niobium & Rare Earth Minerals

NEW DELHI, (IANS) – India has approved fixing royalty rates for Lithium, Niobium, and rare earth minerals.

The royalty will be 3 percent each for Lithium and Niobium while for rare earth minerals, it will be 1 percent.

The move is aimed at encouraging greater private sector participation in commercial mining of rare earth minerals.

Recently huge reserves of Lithium have been discovered in Jammu and Kashmir.

Lithium is used for manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles and the government is bullish towards sourcing it from within the country and abroad.

The approval of royalty rates will enable the Centre to auction blocks for Lithium, Niobium, and rare earth minerals for the first time in the country.

The royalty rate on minerals is an important financial consideration for the bidders in auction of blocks.

Further, the manner of calculation of average sale price of these minerals has also been prepared by the mines ministry which will enable determination of bid parameters, official sources said.

In August this year, the Parliament allowed auction of mineral concessions for critical minerals, while states will get the revenue.

The amendments also introduced an exploration license for deep-seated and critical minerals.