Jammu and Kashmir has not secured any bids in its second take on auctioning mining rights for lithium reserves discovered last year, Reuters reported citing a source.
The government had found the first lithium deposits in J&K with estimated reserves of 5.9 million tonnes.
The block was put up for auction in March, with May 14 as the cutoff for bids, even as it did not meet the minimum requirement of three bids in the first rounds in November, the newswire reported.
Talking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, the person in the know said that the block would most likely go to a government agency for exploration, as no bids were placed.
Reuters could not elicit a response in a timely manner from the Ministr of Mines.
The government last year listed 30 minerals as critical for cleaner energy, of which lithium was one.