Indian team in Argentina to scout for lithium deals
- November 25, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Indian team in Argentina to scout for lithium deals
Subject :Geography
Context:
- India has sent a team of three geologists to Argentina “to assess potential lithium deposits” and possible acquisition opportunities in the Latin American nation.
The team consists of-
- The team comprisingone geologist each from Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL), KABIL (KhanijBidesh India Ltd) and the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has been sent to the Argentinian province of Catamarca.
- Based on their feasibility report, another team would be sent to the province for carrying out possible commercial negotiations.
- Feasibility study would cover aspects-
- determination of lithium resource,
- deciding on whether mining would be commercially viable or not.
- to find out if the resources are worth investing or not at all.
Properties of Lithium:
- It is a chemical element with the symbol Li.
- It is a soft, silvery-white metal.
- Under standard conditions, it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element.
- It is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in mineral oil.
- It is an alkali metal and a rare metal.
- The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium.
- Together with hydrogen they constitute group 1, which lies in the s-block of the periodic table.
- Rare Metals (RM) include Niobium (Nb), Tantalum (Ta), Lithium (Li), Beryllium (Be), Cesium (Cs) etc. and Rare Earths (RE) include Lanthanum (La) to Lutetium (Lu) besides Scandium (Sc) and Yttrium (Y).
- These metals are strategic in nature with wide application in the nuclear and other high tech industries such as electronics, telecommunication, information technology, space, defense etc.
Uses:
- Lithium metal is used to make useful alloys.
- For example, with lead to make ‘white metal’ bearings for motor engines, with aluminium to make aircraft parts, and with magnesium to make armour plates.
- In Thermonuclear reactions.
- To make electrochemical cells. Lithium is an important component in Electric Vehicles, Laptops etc.
Countries with Largest Reserves:
- Chile> Australia> Argentina
‘Lithium triangle’ countries
Lithium in India:
- Researchers at the Atomic Minerals Directorate (under India’s Atomic Energy Commission) have estimated lithium reserves of 14,100 tonnes in a small patch of land surveyed in Southern Karnataka’s Mandya district recently.
- Also to be India’s first ever Lithium deposit site found.
Other Potential Sites in India:
- The major mica belts in Rajasthan, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh.
- Pegmatite (igneous rocks) belts in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
- Brines of Sambhar and Pachpadra in Rajasthan, and Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat.
Lithium Production in Stars:
- Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have provided evidence for the first time that Lithium (Li) production is common among low mass Sun-like stars during their Helium (He) core burning phase.
Lithium demand-
- While Australia is among the top six producers on the mineral globally. The other five are Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, the USA and China.
- Demand – globally as well as in India — is being driven by a shift towards electric vehicles (EVs).
- Globally, consumption is expected to rise from 500,000 tonnes in 2021 to 3-4 million tonnes as per various trade reports.
Boom in Argentina
- Lithium is found in cedemine rock formation and in brine form which is called salar in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
- The other alternative is liquid form.
- Last year, Argentina and Chile produced about 30 per cent of the world’s lithium.
- The three nations, considered as the ‘lithium trinity’, together account for over 50 per cent of the world’s resource.
- In South America, lithium is typically extracted from the salt flats by pumping brine into ponds and processing the lithium salts that crystallise once the water has evaporated.
- It requires time and investment to set up, but thereafter production is cheaper than the hard-rock mining practiced in Australia.