Sandeep Hamilton is a visionary leader, strategist, and institution builder with over three decades of experience in critical and strategic minerals exploration, mining, processing, and policy development.
As Founder and Chairman of the Critical Minerals Association (India), he is leading efforts to build a self-reliant and innovation-driven critical minerals ecosystem by bringing together industry, academia, government, and global stakeholders to strengthen India’s mineral security and energy transition goals.
He serves as Advisor to TEXMiN Foundation, a Government of India-supported Mining 4.0 research and incubation centre. He is an expert in Rare Earths and Rare Metals for the National Mineral Exploration Development Thrust under the Ministry of Mines, Government of India.
An entrepreneur in the strategic minerals sector, he founded Celestial Mintech Pvt Ltd and Celestial Lithium Pvt Ltd to support India’s Rare Earth, Rare Metal, and Lithium value chain development.
During his tenure with the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, he served as Additional Director (Operations and R&D), leading teams that developed several polymetallic resources, including Uranium, REE, Lithium, Niobium, Tantalum, and Thorium in the country. Five of them are operational commercial mines.
He has represented India at the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Indo-Israel Scientific Exchange Programme, and the UNESCO International Geoscience Programme, promoting international cooperation in critical minerals and sustainable resource development.
Recipient of the DAE Group Achievement Award for excellence in Science, Technology, and Innovation, he has coordinated 13 national collaborations, led over 40 R&D projects, and authored more than 100 scientific publications, continuing to shape India’s critical minerals vision through leadership, innovation, and strategic foresight.