India's mineral production to reach historic high in 2025-2026

India’s mining sector has maintained its strong growth trajectory into the 2025–2026 financial year, building on record-setting production levels recorded in FY 2024–2025. This is reported by IANS, a partner of TV BRICS.

Recent provisional data for April 2025 confirm continued expansion across key mineral categories, highlighting the sector’s resilience and its strategic role in the country’s economic activity.

Iron ore, which represents around 70 per cent of India’s total mineral output by value, reached a historic high of 289 million metric tonnes (MMT) in FY 2024–2025, a 4.3 per cent increase over the previous year’s record of 277 million metric tonnes.

In April 2025, several major minerals posted year-on-year gains:

• bauxite production rose by 13.9 per cent, reaching 2.13 MMT compared to 1.87 MMT in April 2024;

• limestone output increased by 1.2 per cent to 40.5 MMT from 39.58 MMT;

• lead and zinc ore production grew by 2.4 per cent to 1.27 MMT, while zinc concentrate output climbed by 7.7 per cent to 0.14 MMT.

In the non-ferrous metals segment, primary aluminium production rose by 1.5 per cent to 347,000 tonnes, and refined copper output surged by 15.6 per cent to 52,000 tonnes in April 2025, compared to the same month last year.

According to the source, India remains the world’s second-largest producer of aluminium and ranks among the top 10 for refined copper. These metals are crucial to sectors such as energy, construction, transport, and industrial manufacturing, all of which have shown steady demand growth, experts believe.

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