Nagpur, 10 May 2025

 

CMEMT-2025, a day-long seminar on “Critical Minerals’ Extraction from Mines Tailing & Waste: Opportunities and Challenges” jointly hosted by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) Limited in Nagpur on 09 May 2025, brought together experts and other stakeholders from India’s mining and minerals industries as well as representatives from regulatory bodies and members of academia.

Around 180 attendees participated in the brainstorming technical session where experts from PSUs, regulatory bodies, industries and academia delivered presentations on 18 topics including those focused on identifying the possibility of finding critical & strategic minerals from mine waste/tailings/slags and recovering them. 

Shri P.N. Sharma, Controller General (I/c), in his address, said the era of fossil fuel-basedy energies is gradually going away. It is important that we explore alternative means of energy which are clean and mineral-based.

He also took a moment to laud the country’s armed forces for their valour in the face of the ongoing India-Pakistan tension. “I bow down in front of all towards the resilience, bravery and valour shown by the Indian armed forces because of which we are sitting here safe and sound,” Shri Sharma said.

“This is the right time for the mining people, the processing industry, the industry around us and the research people to come, stand united to fulfill what is expected of us. A mission has been given to us, we will have to march with a military precision. Together, we will be able to do it,” he added.

In his welcome address, Shri Pankaj Kulshrestha, Chief Controller of Mines, said technological advancements have paved the way to search for alternative methods to secure the supply of critical minerals. He also threw light on the ambitious project being steered by IBM through which it has already collected around 1500 samples from more than 250 mines. These samples of mine waste/tailings/slags will be analysed to identify the possibility of finding critical minerals.

The project assumes importance as it is expected to boost the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) which aims to establish a robust framework for self-reliance in India’s Critical Mineral sector.

The architect of the seminar, Shri S.K. Adhikari, Chief Mining Geologist, IBM, noted that there is a huge gap between exploration and exploitation which has led to a shift in the focus of the government. “Very soon we will be able to start extracting some critical minerals from the mine tailings lying in our country,” he added.

Shri M. Jaypal Reddy, Executive Director, NMDC Limited, thanked IBM for offering to jointly host the national seminar. Initially for critical minerals for greenfield projects it takes a lot of time and the extraction is very challenging. He said the seminar sets the tone for extracting critical minerals from secondary sources and already accumulated material from mine tailings and waste.

Shri M.M. Abdulla, Director (Production & Planning), MOIL, said the recommendations from the seminar will help the country meet its requirements of critical minerals.

The keynote address was delivered by Shri Rajib Maitra, Partner, Consulting, Delloite India. Dr Abdul Rauf Sheik, Principal Scientist, CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneswar; Ms. Chandrakala Kari, Lead Scientist, Metals & Mining, HINDALCO; Shri Abhinav Sengupta (PwC One Consulting); Shri Niroj Kumar Panda (AMD); Shri Keshaw C. Mandal (HCL); Shri Gajanan U. Kapure (Tata Steel), Dr. Upendra Singh (JNARDDC), Shri Mohammad Dasthageer (MECL) were among the notable speakers.

Among the moderators of the technical sessions were Shri Pankaj Satija, Executive-In-Charge, FAMD, Tata Steel; Shri Rama Raman Satapathy, Executive Director, Exploration & Beneficiation, Llyods Metals & Energy Ltd and Shri Y.G. Kale, Controller of Mines (Central Zone), IBM, who also proposed the vote of thanks.

Ms. Shrishty Singh, Assistant Editor, IBM, was the host of the programme which saw the presence of several dignitaries, including JNARDDC Director Dr. Anupam Agnihotri.

 

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(Source: IBM Nagpur) | PIB Nagpur | D.Wankhede/D.Rane

 

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(Release ID: 2128112)