In a major push towards enhancing India’s capabilities in the field of critical minerals, the Ministry of Mines has issued comprehensive guidelines for establishing Centres of Excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM). This move is aimed at fostering cutting-edge research and technology development across the entire value chain of critical minerals, which are vital for clean energy, mobility transition, and advanced strategic sectors.
Recognising the strategic importance of critical raw materials in powering sectors like electronics, defence, space, and renewable energy, the Ministry envisions these CoEs as pivotal research hubs that will drive innovation, accelerate technology readiness, and support India’s self-reliance in critical mineral supply chains.
The Centres of Excellence will serve as high-impact research platforms to develop, demonstrate, and deploy technologies using an end-to-end systems approach. They will focus on extraction processes, beneficiation technologies, and advanced pilot-scale demonstrations to achieve Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 7 and 8 — paving the way for pre-commercial deployment.
According to the guidelines, reputed academic and R&D institutions will be eligible for recognition as CoEs based on a stringent evaluation process. Each CoE will operate on a Hub & Spoke model, functioning as a consortium comprising a lead institution (Hub), supported by at least two industry partners and two R&D or academic partners. This model is expected to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing, and resource optimisation by pooling the strengths and core competencies of diverse stakeholders.
The initiative also emphasises multi-disciplinary and transformative research, encouraging CoEs to tackle challenges in the critical minerals domain through innovative, collaborative, and problem-solving approaches.
This strategic step by the Ministry is expected to significantly bolster India’s research ecosystem in critical minerals and contribute towards building a resilient and secure supply chain for the nation’s technological and energy future.
