Geo-Strategic importance of J&K’s lithium reserves

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic Geography

Concept:

China at present controls over 77% of the global lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity and is home to six of the world’s 10 manufacturing companies.
To overcome this challenge, countries such as the U.S., Canada, India, and the EU countries are undertaking efforts to leverage alternative supplies that can challenge China’s geopolitical dominance.
Dependencies on critical mineral resources are still a major geostrategic concern in the transition to net-zero carbon energy systems.
A high level of reliance on China for lithium and other critical resources poses significant energy security risks for India.

Geo strategic Implications of the discovery

The J&K region has historically been a site of cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan. The region has also been affected due to domestic insurgency and terrorism.
Further, there are concerns about the risk of a socio-environmental conflict if the local populations are not engaged in the lithium extraction project.

Critical Minerals

Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.

Major Critical Minerals:

It mostly include graphite, lithium, cobalt, rare earths and silicon which is a key mineral for making computer chips, solar panels and batteries.
Graphite, Lithium and Cobalt are used for making EV batteries.
Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
While Cobalt, Nickel and Lithium are required for batteries used in electric vehicles, rare earth minerals are critical, in trace amounts, in the semiconductors and high-end electronics manufacturing.

Significance:

As countries around the world scale up their transition towards clean energy and digital economy, these critical resources are key to the ecosystem that fuels this change.
Any supply shock can severely imperil the economy and strategic autonomy of a country over-dependent on others to procure critical minerals.

Rare Earth Metals

They are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table in addition to scandium and yttrium that show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
The 17 Rare Earths are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y).
These minerals have unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties and thus are used in many modern technologies, including consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, health care, national defense, clean energy technologies etc.
Even futuristic technologies need these REEs.
For example, high-temperature superconductivity, safe storage and transport of hydrogen for a post-hydrocarbon economy etc.
They are called ‘rare earth’ because earlier it was difficult to extract them from their oxides forms technologically.
They occur in many minerals but typically in low concentrations to be refined in an economical manner.

Rare earth in India

Rare earth comprises seventeen elements and are classified as light RE elements (LREE) and heavy RE elements (HREE).
Some RE are available in India such as Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Praseodymium and Samarium, while others such as Dysprosium, Terbium, Europium that are classified as HREE are not available in Indian deposits in extractable quantity.
India would require supply support for such elements.