The Ministry of Mines has issued detailed guidelines for the establishment of Centres of Excellence (CoEs) under the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) to advance research and technology development in the critical minerals sector.
The guidelines aim to promote end-to-end research and development (R&D) in extraction, beneficiation, and process technologies to support higher technology readiness levelsand pre-commercial demonstrations. The CoEs will be recognised from among eligible reputed academic and R&D institutions and will function as competency centers to develop, demonstrate, and deploy critical mineral technologies. Each CoE will function as a consortium operating under a Hub and Spoke model, comprising at least two industry partners and two academic/R&D partners. The objective is to foster innovation, multidisciplinary research, and collaborative technology development across the critical minerals value chain.