Budget 2025: Government to bring out policy to recover critical minerals from by-products of mining: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

The government on Saturday said it will launch a policy for recovery of critical minerals from tailings or by-products of mining.

In her Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said mining sector reforms, including those for minor minerals, will be encouraged through the sharing of best practices and the institution of a State Mining Index.

She said, "A policy for recovery of critical minerals from tailings will be brought out." Sitharaman tabled the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Saturday.

Additionally, the finance minister announced the removal of import duty on 12 critical minerals, cobalt powder and waste, lithium-ion battery scrap, lead and zinc.

The move, she said, would facilitate securing their availability for manufacturing in India and promote more jobs.

In the last budget, the government had scrapped customs duty on 25 critical minerals that are not available in the domestic market. She had also reduced basic customs duty on two other such minerals to provide a fillip to their processing, especially by MSMEs.

Reacting to the budget, Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal said mining is one of the six domains identified for transformational reforms over the next five years.

Hindustan Zinc Ltd CEO Arun Misra said the mining reforms introduced in the budget position India as a key player in the critical minerals sector.

"As India's largest and the world's second-largest integrated zinc-lead producer, we are optimistic about the transformative impact of these initiatives which will enhance the competitiveness of India's critical minerals sector while supporting industries such as electric vehicle manufacturing and renewable energy storage," he said.

In a statement, the mines ministry said that mining has been identified along with five other domain areas, namely taxation, power sector, urban development, financial sector and regulatory reforms for transformative reforms, which will increase the country's growth potential and global competitiveness during the next five years.

The mines ministry added that good tailings management will increase the domestic availability of critical minerals and also promote the domestic processing industry.

"To encourage mining sector reforms in states, including those for minor minerals, sharing of best practices and the institution of a State Mining Index has been announced," it said.

Duty elimination on scraps of 12 critical minerals (including copper), cobalt powder and lithium-ion battery scrap will provide feedstock to the critical mineral recycling industry at a lesser cost, making this industry more competitive, and also promoting investments in newer capacity, it added.