Govt to releases critical minerals list

Subject :Geography

Section: Economic geography

In News: The government has released list of critical minerals of India for the first time.

Key Points:

Ministry of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs released the ‘Report on Identification of Critical Minerals for India’.
The critical minerals list is likely to have more than 40 minerals
The list is designed to identify and prioritise minerals that are essential for various industrial sectors such as high-tech electronics, tele communications, transport and defence.
The move is significant as India aims to achieve self sufficiency and ensure resource sustainability,

Other objective is to:

Significance:

Identification of critical minerals is the first step towards developing adequate supplies
Lack of a specific list of critical minerals was also becoming a deterrent towards prioritising the country’s critical mineral needs.
The list will serve as a guiding framework for policy formulation, strategic planning, and investment decisions in the mining sector.
Important in view of China being leader both in concentration and processing of these minerals.

Application:

Critical minerals, such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare earth elements (REEs), are key to clean energy technologies
They are needed for the production of wind turbines and solar photovoltaic cells for electric vehicle (EV) batteries and electricity magnets.