The 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.

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.