As India pivots away from Chinese dependency for rare earth elements (REEs), the ecologically fragile North East becomes the new frontier. A silent battle brews between development goals and environmental survival.
By Salam Rajesh
The spark lit by China’s move to stop exports of critical minerals – Rare Earth Elements (REEs) – to outside entities has literally forced India, amongst other countries, to look for the resource right within its geographical landscape.
The shift in India’s policy on procuring or sourcing the REEs within the country now locks the North East Region in a complex dynamics of environmental concerns versus the development paradigm.
In June (18) earlier this year, the Times of India reported the Centre’s intensified efforts to “secure the supply chain for rare-earth materials critical to manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs), electronics, and defense equipment.”
Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy, and Steel and Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy recently chaired an inter-ministerial meeting with representatives from the Atomic Energy and Commerce Ministries. According to Kumaraswamy, the inter-ministerial effort would pave the way for India’s self-reliance in strategic materials crucial for EVs, electronics, defense and other sectors.
The move comes as a response to concerns over China curtailing exports of permanent magnets, which are made from rare earth elements. These magnets are essential components in EV propulsion systems, speakers, power windows, and generators used in renewable energy infrastructure. The supply squeeze has raised fears of potential disruptions in EV production in India, the TOI report said.
The news report further indicated that to accelerate domestic capabilities, the Government of India is considering amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, where the changes would aim to support the critical mineral mission and boost production capacity internally.
Additionally, the Centre expects commercially viable domestic production of rare earth permanent magnets in small quantities later this year, marking a key step toward reducing reliance on imports, the TOI report said.
In June (2025) the Ministry of Mines, Government of India, released a handbook titled “Geological potential of North East India: A hidden trove of mineral prospect beneath majestic landscape” in collaboration with the National Geoscience Data Repository, National Mineral Exploration Trust, and the Online Core Business Integrated System.
The handbook indicated that the Geological Survey of India (GSI) had augmented resource for commodities like REE, graphite, vanadium, limestone, coal, iron ore, and had handed over 38 resource bearing blocks since MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 across various states in the North East Region covering the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
The report indicated that the States of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam are ‘promising zones’ for graphite, vanadium, REEs, base metals, gold, coal and limestone, while Meghalaya and Nagaland hold extensive resources of limestone, coal, and minor strategic metals.
The report further indicated that the presence of ophiolite belts, alkaline complexes, and granitic terrains in various parts of the region fuels its potential for rare metals and industrial minerals.
According to the ministry’s handbook, between 2015 and 2024, the GSI carried out more than two hundred various stages (G4/G3/G2) mineral exploration projects and delineated 38 potential blocks in the North East Region across multiple States through Geological Reports (GRs) and Geological Memorandum (GMs).
The reports encompass both reconnaissance-level and detailed exploration of minerals such as graphite, vanadium, REEs, limestone, copper, nickel, chromium, cobalt, iron and industrial minerals, the ministry’s handbook noted.
For instance, in Arunachal Pradesh, the Lodoso area in Papum Pare District yielded a delineated resource of 2.15 million tons of REE-bearing ferruginous phyllite, with average grade of 1.08% total REE (including Yttrium), while significant Nd (Neodymium) concentrations (>2000 ppm) was recorded from West Siang and East Kameng Districts.
With reference to the summary of blocks handed over between 2015 and 2024, the GSI indicated the completion of handing over 38 exploration blocks across four key States, namely, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
These 38 blocks cover a range of mineral commodities, including graphite, vanadium, REEs, limestone, iron ore, glass sand, copper, nickel, chromium and cobalt, the report stated.
In Arunachal Pradesh, 11 blocks were handed over for graphite, vanadium, copper and REEs, while in Assam 7 blocks were handed over for limestone, iron ore and silica sand. Meghalaya, with its extensive limestone belt, accounts for the largest number of blocks, 19 in total, while Nagaland has one block for nickel, chromium and cobalt.
For Manipur, the State’s mineral potential is being reassessed under the Critical Mineral Assessment Programme, especially in relation to lateritic profiles that could host nickel, cobalt and REEs, the report stated.
India’s alternative exploration of the REEs to forestall the Chinese move, howsoever indispensable the REEs are in modern electronics, wind turbines, electric vehicles and defense systems, is set to frame a new picture of environmental concerns with landscape moderation as and when the search for the critical minerals intensify.
For instance, the indications that abandoned coal fields would be scrapped further to locate REEs can double the concerns on large scale physical modification of the landscapes, including forest areas.
The GSI’s investigations revealing ‘promising’ REE anomalies across the States in the North East has the potential to ignite more debates over and above the already existing concerns on environmental issues in the North East with reference to hydroelectric power projects (read as mega dams), oil and natural gas exploration, commercial oil palm plantations, and the intensified infrastructure build-up.
Not the least to say, the development necessitates critical dialogues on the future dynamics of the geophysical landscape of the North East vis-à-vis the evident instances of impacts of escalating extreme weather events and climate change implications in the region, of which recent disasters as in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim are glaring examples.
Policy planners at the Centre need to consider the significance and face value of the biodiversity hotspot status of the region before committing to scrap the land bare in the name of development.
The North East Region, vital components of the Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot and the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot, is already in the boiling pot from tremendous anthropogenic influences and interventions for mineral exploration, and commercial and infrastructure buildup in tune to India’s Act East Policy.