India closing in on lithium deal with Argentina, tapping Australia and Chile too

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic Geography

Context:

The Mines Ministry, through the state-owned Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), has entered into a draft exploration and development agreement with Argentinan miner CAMYEN for possible acquisition and development of five-odd lithium blocks.
It has also entered into a non-disclosure agreement with Australia and Chile for lithium exploration.

Details:

Chile and Argentina account for 30–35 per cent of the world’s supplies of lithium.
Chile, which has 11 per cent of the world’s lithium reserves, supplies 26 per cent of the requirements; while Argentina with nearly one-fifth of the global resources supplies about 6 per cent.

Lithium Triangle:

The Lithium Triangle is a region of the Andes that is rich in lithium reserves, encompassed by the borders of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.
The lithium in the triangle is concentrated in various salt pans that exist along the Atacama Desert and neighbouring arid areas, the largest areas of three main salt pants that define its vertex (Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, Salar de Atacama in Chile, and Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina).
Salar de Atacama in Chile has the highest concentration of lithium (0.15% by weight) among all the world’s brine sources.

KABIL (KHANIJ BIDESH INDIA LIMITED):

A Joint Venture Company among NALCO, HCL and MECL named Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) was formed in August 2019.
The target of this company is to identify, acquire, develop, process and make commercial use of strategic minerals in overseas locations for supply in India.
KABIL is focusing on identifying and sourcing battery minerals like Lithium and Cobalt.