Central Government denies any plans for IREL, HCL, NALCO merger with National Critical Mineral Corporation

New Delhi: The Ministry of Mines under the Central Government has announced that there are no further plans to merge State-owned companies IREL, HCL and NALCO with National Critical Mineral Corporation.

The question was asked due to China’s dominance comes from state-backed monopolies like China Minmetals.

The Central Government was asked whether they are considering a merger of Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL), Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) and National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) into a ‘National Critical Minerals Corporation’ to compete globally, as China’s dominance comes from state-backed monopolies like China Minmetals.

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Additionally, the government was also asked for the details of systemic reforms like blockchain-based mineral tracking, AI-powered satellite audits, the Government is implementing or proposes to implement to prevent this elsewhere.

Therefore, the Ministry of Mines also issued guidelines on 03.10.2023 to major mineral-rich States for the prevention of misclassification of grades of iron ore and other minerals by using technology.

The said guidelines envisage the use of blockchain technology for tracking of minerals during the complete value chain, including self-declaration of grades, tracking of transport vehicles, automation of invoice reconciliation etc.