New Delhi (Sputnik) — India has invited companies to participate in a three-year survey for its deposits of rare earth minerals. The aero geophysical exercise will be conducted over three years for collecting baseline magnetic and spectrometric data. The government will soon finalize the global firm that will conduct the survey over 800,000 sq. km area at a cost of $ 210 million.
"The Geological Survey of India has initiated a national aero-geophysical mapping program over the identified `Obvious Geological Potential' (OGP) areas for acquiring the baseline magnetic and spectrometric data. By April 2017, aero-geophysical survey over an area of about 2.05 lakh sq. km is planned to be carried out," said Piyush Goyal, Indian Minister for Mines.
The government has identified critical minerals that play an important role in aerospace, automobiles, cameras, defense, entertainment systems, laptops, medical imaging, nuclear energy, and smart phone segments. India is totally dependent on imports for seven out of the 12 identified critical minerals. India doesn't have any declared resources for them, except light rare-earths (found along with monazite sands) and beryllium.
