India’s SECL Targets Rare Earths In Coal Mine Waste

India is increasingly embracing innovative resource strategies as part of its broader push to strengthen domestic supply chains for high-tech and clean-energy industries. In a move that could reshape the nation’s critical minerals landscape, South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) — a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd — has identified seven coal mine overburden dumps for rare earth element (REE) exploration, seeking to unlock strategic resources from mining waste rather than new extraction sites.

The initiative, centred in operational areas across Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, aligns with the government’s ambitions to reduce India’s dependence on imported rare earths and develop a more resilient raw materials ecosystem for sectors such as electronics, renewable energy, defence and electric mobility. REEs are essential inputs for high-performance magnets, batteries, wind turbines and advanced semiconductors — underpinning the country’s industrial and climate commitments.Officials say SECL has begun a tendering process to appoint specialised agencies to conduct scientific assessments of the identified dumps, with advanced geophysical and geochemical surveys planned over the next year to determine economic viability. If successful, this could pave the way for pilot extraction projects and future commercial operations that transform leftover overburden into valuable resource streams.

Urban and energy analysts characterise this strategy as part of a larger shift in India’s mining and resource policy — one that increasingly values circular economy principles, resource efficiency and sustainability in legacy operations. Turning overburden into a feedstock for advanced materials not only mitigates environmental liabilities from coal waste but also taps into global demand for strategic minerals where supply chains remain heavily concentrated in a few countries.For India’s urban and economic planners, expanding critical mineral capacity is not simply a commodity story but a wider developmental imperative. Cities and industrial hubs rely on a stable supply of REEs to support green infrastructure transitions, from electric public transport to renewable energy grids and microelectronics manufacturing clusters. Domestic availability of these inputs can improve project timelines, reduce price volatility and attract investment into high-tech industrial corridors.

The SECL venture also has implications for the country’s broader resource security strategy under initiatives like the National Critical Mineral Mission, which seeks to develop indigenous capabilities across extraction, processing and value addition for critical minerals. By focusing on overburden — material traditionally viewed as waste — companies and policymakers are beginning to intersect environmental stewardship with economic opportunity.Challenges remain: economics of extraction, refining complexity and infrastructure development will require sustained technological and policy support. Industry stakeholders stress the importance of transparent regulation and collaboration with research institutions to ensure that environmental impacts are managed and community interests are protected.

As the scientific assessments progress over the next year, the SECL approach could offer a blueprint for transforming legacy industrial landscapes into new pillars of India’s urban and technological growth, turning what was once waste into a foundation for resilient, future-focused industry.

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India’s SECL Targets Rare Earths In Coal Mine Waste