The Ministry of Mines aims to auction 10 bauxite mines to boost the country’s aluminium production. Speaking at the FICCI ‘Landscape for Non-Ferrous Metals in India 2030’, Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Arun Kumar said, “We are well endowed with bauxite reserves and I am aware that some industries are starved of materials. But with a more transparent auction process in place and the issue of price fixation likely to be resolved in the next month or so, about 10 bauxite blocks will come up for auction in March and April this year.”
Kumar said the government is keen on import substitution for the country’s copper requirement too. He said, “On copper, our domestic production is only about 4 per cent of our requirements. There, too, blocks will be coming up for auction. And though we will continue to depend on foreign sources for copper concentrate, we would go on increasing our ability to mine our own ore.”