The Ministry of Mines in India has officially designated two additional institutions as Centres of Excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission. The recognized institutes are the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) located in Bangalore and the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET) based in Hyderabad. This announcement was made on Saturday.
The CoEs are set to engage in pioneering research and development aimed at advancing technology readiness levels to pilot-plant and pre-commercial demonstration stages, specifically targeting levels 7 to 8. This initiative is crucial for the development of technologies related to critical minerals that support sectors such as clean energy, mobility transition, electronics, defense, and space.
According to the Ministry of Mines, this initiative seeks to consolidate key competencies to establish secure supply chains for critical minerals. With the addition of these two new CoEs, the total number recognized has risen to nine, building on the previous recognition of seven institutes.
The Ministry emphasized that these CoEs will pursue innovative and transformational research to bolster the nation”s capabilities in science and technology related to critical minerals. Each Centre will operate within a consortium framework based on a hub-and-spoke model, allowing the pooling of expertise and resources from various partners.
To ensure comprehensive collaboration, each CoE must include at least two industry partners along with two research or academic partners within their network. Collectively, the nine recognized CoEs have integrated approximately 90 spokes from industry and academic or research entities.
As a component of the National Critical Mineral Mission, the government has also recently launched the application process for the Rs 1,500 crore Critical Mineral Recycling Incentive Scheme. This scheme is designed to boost the industry”s capacity to recycle critical minerals from electronic waste, used lithium-ion batteries, and other materials, including catalytic converters from decommissioned vehicles. The program offers incentives of up to Rs 50 crore for large recyclers and Rs 25 crore for smaller recyclers.
