Rare-earths producer IREL (India) aims to boost its mining capacity by 400 percent in the coming decade towards securing substantial supplies of key minerals for India's  clean-energy transition.

To achieve this, IREL plans to take mining capacity to 50 million tonne a year of rare-earths bearing ore by end-2032, up from 10 million tonne currently. This would enable the production of 13,000 tonne annually of refined rare earths, compared to 5,000 tonne at present.

Rare earths and lithium will be needed in bigger quantities in the shift away from fossil fuels, and it would cost between Rs 30 billion (USD 365 million) and Rs 50 billion to develop downstream plants to absorb IREL’s planned output, as per IRELs' estimates. The company is looking forward to fast-tracking permits for the company’s planned new mines.

IREL, a unit of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) operates eight mines across the Indian states of Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and is in the process of adding another three leases in the next four years.