How is India’s hunt for critical minerals going?

How is India’s hunt for critical minerals going?

Sub: Geo

Sec: Eco Geo

Context:

Why are lithium, copper, cobalt, graphite and others essential for the economy’s green transition? In which States have reserves been found? Why have there been hiccups in the auction process? What lies ahead? Which country dominates global supplies?

More About News:

• The Centre declared the winning bidders for mining rights in six blocks of critical minerals, including graphite, phosphorite and lithium, for which India largely relies on
• Copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt are known as critical minerals, as they along with some rare earth elements, are essential for the world’s ongoing efforts to switch to greener and cleaner energy.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA), lithium demand rose by 30% in 2023, followed by nickel, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements which saw an 8% to 15% growth, with the aggregate value of such minerals pegged at $325 billion.
• By 2040, the demand for copper is expected to rise 50%, double for nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements, quadruple for graphite and eightfold for lithium, which is crucial for
• 95% of India’s copper requirements are met through imports. China is a key supplier or processor of many of these items.

What is being done to spur production?

• India holds 11% of the world’s deposits of ilmenite, the main source of titanium dioxide used in many applications.
• The discovery of Lithium Reserves in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) while the Geological Survey of India (GSI) was exploring the State’s terrain for
• Announced as the first discovery of lithium in the
• Central government amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 in August 2023 to enable it to grant mining concessions for 24 critical and strategic minerals.
• By November, the first auctions of 20 critical mineral blocks, with the lithium block identified in J&K’s Reasi district on the list, were launched, followed by two more tranches with 18 more blocks offered this February and March.
• The Mines Ministry on June 24, announced six winners from the maiden auction tranche for three blocks in Odisha, and one each in Tamil Nadu, P. and Chhattisgarh. The Ministry has initiated a fourth tranche, which includes 10 blocks that are being offered for the second time.

Why are some blocks not finding takers?

• Among the first attempt blocks offered in the latest auction, two phosphorite blocks along with a glauconite block are in Chhattisgarh, while two blocks each are up for grabs in P. (phosphorite and rare earth elements), Karnataka (phosphate and nickel), and Rajasthan (potash and halite).
• A graphite block is being auctioned in Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh, with five additional blocks of graphite, tungsten and vanadium offered in the northeastern State for the second time.
• The ‘second attempt’ blocks also include a tungsten reserve in Tamil Nadu’s Madurai district, a cobalt and manganese block in Karnataka’s Shimoga, and a chromium and nickel block in Sindhudurg, Maharashtra.

Reasons for Low Interest Among Miners:

• Lack of adequate data on the potential reserves buried within them.
• Technology challenges a
• The lithium block in J&K has clay deposits, and the technology for the mineral’s extraction from clay remains untested globally.

When is domestic production likely to begin?

• “India’s manufacturing is thus likely to remain exposed to potential future supply shocks of these minerals till then,”.
• Apart from spurring exploration and attracting more miners, the Centre is looking to acquire overseas assets from key resource-rich regions as a parallel measure to bolster mineral security.
• The first such mine, for lithium brine, was acquired in Argentina this year by Khanij Bidesh India Limited, a joint venture of NALCO, Hindustan Copper, and Mineral Exploration Company. While it scouts for more assets, India has also joined the S.-led Mineral Security Partnership, a block consisting of large buyers and sellers of critical minerals.

Applications:

• Electric vehicles: cobalt, lanthanum, lithium
• Fuel cells: platinum, palladium, rhodium
• Wind energy technologies: neodymium, dysprosium, terbium
• Aviation sector: titanium
• Photovoltaic solar technologies: cadmium, indium, gallium