Rajasthan becomes 1st state to issue rare earth exploration license
Big news for India's mining scene: Rajasthan just became the first state to hand out a license for exploring rare-earth elements (REE).
The license covers a pretty sizable area in Balotra and Jodhpur, and was given to Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited.
The license was executed under Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma.
Navatala-Devigarh and Shergarh show REE indications
The block in Navatala-Devigarh and Shergarh has shown indications of mineralisation for minerals such as lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium: these are super important for things like electric vehicles, defense tech, and renewable energy.
This is all part of a bigger national push to secure key resources.
As Additional Chief Secretary (Mines) Aparna Arora put it, "Rajasthan has become the first state to operationalise an auctioned exploration license block in the country."
This should attract more investment and speed up scientific exploration across India.