The Ministry of Mines has described several northeastern states as repositories of strategic minerals in recent statements. This framing comes as the Geological Survey of India conducts exploration projects in the region.
The Ministry of Mines recently referred to Manipur as a quiet mineral frontier and Arunachal Pradesh as a resource-rich frontier. Similar descriptions were applied to Meghalaya and Mizoram on official platforms. The Geological Survey of India carried out 43 critical mineral exploration projects across northeastern states in the field seasons from 2022-23 to 2024-25. These covered graphite, vanadium, lithium, rare earth elements, nickel and cobalt, with activity expanding in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. In Manipur, projects on nickel, cobalt and chromium exploration have been started recently. The shift places resource discussions alongside earlier focuses on borders, security and connectivity in the northeast.
