Hindustan Zinc Targets Production of 4 New Critical Metals by 2030

Hindustan Zinc is set to diversify its product basket with the addition of at least three to four critical minerals, including neodymium, tungsten and potash, by 2030, chief executive officer Arun Misra announced. The Vedanta subsidiary, which dominates India’s zinc, lead and silver market with nearly three-fourths share in zinc, is aligning with the national strategy to secure resources vital for technology, defence and clean energy.

“Hindustan Zinc’s main business remains to mine minerals which are of critical importance to the country and which are extremely difficult to mine being of the nature that they are either too deep into the earth or their occurrence is in traces,” Arun Misra, Chief Executive Officer, Hindustan Zinc, said at the company’s annual general meeting.

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The company has already secured blocks of potash, tungsten and other rare earths, and remains the only Indian company with rights to a rare monzonite block. Monzonite is crucial in producing neodymium, used for electromagnets in electric vehicle motors, while tungsten plays a key role in defence applications.

Misra outlined the timeline: two years for exploration of these critical minerals, followed by another two years for establishing mining and smelting facilities. “We are experts in mining below one kilometre. We are experts in beneficiating 3%, 4%, 5% grade minerals and which are also high value since they are trace minerals,” he said.

Hindustan Zinc has also floated a subsidiary, Hindmetal Exploration Services, to explore gold, platinum, lithium and graphite. The company’s strategy aligns with the National Critical Minerals Mission launched in April, which targets 1,200 exploration projects by 2031. Other state-owned miners such as Coal India, Hindustan Copper and NMDC are also advancing into critical minerals exploration.