How a lithium deal between two companies in France & UK is an opportunity for India’s EV sector

Subject : Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

A deal between a French minerals company and a British startup aims to produce enough lithium to run half a million EVs a year, according to media reports.

Details:

Imerys, a Paris-based industrial supplier, acquired 80 per cent of British Lithium, a small private company based in the United Kingdom that’s extracting lithium from Cornwall in southwest England.
Jointly, they will develop a mine that they estimate will ultimately provide enough lithium to produce 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate a year.
India, France and the U.K. being part of the Mineral Security Partnership, can establish a trilateral strategic partnership to establish a secure and reliable lithium supply chain.
India’s efforts for the EV sector:
- India has been pushing for indigenous manufacturing of EV batteries to foster an electric mobility ecosystem and achieve 30 per cent electrification of its national fleet by the year 2030.
- India joined the Mineral Security Partnership recently, to secure the supply chain of critical minerals.
- Recently ministry of Mines has released a list of 30 critical minerals.
- The S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose from 57.2 in April to 58.7 in May 2023, indicating growth in the country’s manufacturing sector.

Lithium:

Lithium (Li), sometimes also referred to as ‘White gold’ due to its high demand for rechargeable batteries, is a soft and silvery-white metal.
Extraction:
Lithium can be extracted in different ways, depending on the type of the deposit — generally either through solar evaporation of large brine pools, or from hard-rock extraction of the ore.

Uses:

Lithium is an important component of electrochemical cells used in batteries of EVs, Laptops, Mobiles etc.
It is also used in thermonuclear reactions.
It is used to make alloys with aluminium and magnesium, improving their strength and making them lighter.
Magnesium-lithium alloy – for armour plating.
Aluminium-lithium alloys – in aircraft, bicycle frames and high-speed trains.

Major Global Lithium Reserves:

Lithium Reserves in India:

A preliminary survey showed estimated lithium reserves of 14,100 tonnes in a small patch of land surveyed in Southern Karnataka’s Mandya district.
Other potential sites:
- Mica belts in Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh.
- Pegmatite belts in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
- Rann of Kutch in Gujrat.