Centre of Excellence and VR Mine Simulator at IIT Dhanbad | 24 Dec 2025

Why in News? 

Union Minister of Coal and Mines, G Kishan Reddy, inaugurated a Centre of Excellence (CoE) under the National Critical Minerals Mission and Virtual Reality Mine Simulator (VRMS) at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.  

Key Points 

• Centre of Excellence: The CoE under the National Critical Minerals Mission will be a national research hub for critical minerals exploration, extraction, processing, reuse and recycling. 
• Virtual Reality Mine Simulator: The VRMS—developed with Coal India Limited and subsidiaries—is India’s first VR‑based mine simulator designed for coal mining safety and productivity. 
• Strategic Focus: He highlighted the role of the mining sector at a historic juncture where technology, critical minerals and sustainability align with the vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat, stressing increased R&D investment, innovation ecosystem expansion and improved monitoring systems like Coal SETU and Koyla Shakti Dashboard.  
• IIT Dhanbad: Indian Institute of Technology Dhanbad 
  • Established: 1926 as Indian School of Mines 
  • Converted to IIT in 2016.