Who should own the world’s lithium?

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Subject : Geography

Section: Economy geography

Context:

Recently, a significant reserve of lithium has been found in the Raesi district of Jammu and Kashmir UT.

Who should own these minerals:

In July 2013, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled that the owner of the land has rights to everything beneath, “down to the centre of the earth”.
Yet, large areas of land, including forests — which make up more than 22% of India’s landmass — hills, mountains, and revenue wasteland are publicly owned.
The Supreme Court also recalled that the Union government could always ban private actors from mining sensitive minerals, as is already the case with uranium under the Atomic Energy Act 1962.

Importance of lithium reserve:

The ongoing global transition to low-carbon economies, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), and 5G networks will greatly reshape global and regional geopolitics.

Global practices to manage lithium reserves:

In Chile, the government has designated lithium as a strategic resource and its development has been made the exclusive prerogative of the state.
- The state has licensed only two companies — SQM and Albemarle — to produce lithium in the country.
- In April 2023, Chile’s president Gabriel Boric announced a new “National Lithium Strategy”,the new strategy calls for public-private partnerships for future lithium projects, which will allow the state to regulate the environmental impact of lithium mining,distribute the revenue from lithium production more fairly among local communities, and promote domestic research into lithium-based green technologies.
Bolivia’s new constitution gave the state“the control and direction over the exploration, exploitation, industrialisation, transport, and commercialisation of natural resources.”
- Bolivia has nationalised lithium and adopted a hard line against private and foreign participation.
- Bolivia’s current president, Luis Arce, seeks to change that.
Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador also nationalised lithium in February this year, declaring, “Oil and lithium belong to the nation, they belong to the people of Mexico.”

Lithium metal:

A soft, silvery metal. It has the lowest density of all metals. It reacts vigorously with water.

Applications of lithium:

The most important use of lithium is in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles.
Lithium is also used in some non-rechargeable batteries for things like heart pacemakers, toys and clocks.
Lithium metal is made into alloys with aluminium and magnesium, improving their strength and making them lighter.
A magnesium-lithium alloy is used for armour plating.Aluminium-lithium alloys are used in aircraft, bicycle frames and high-speed trains.
Lithium oxide is used in special glasses and glass ceramics.
Lithium chloride is one of the most hygroscopic materials known, and is used in air conditioning and industrial drying systems (as is lithium bromide).
Lithium stearate is used as an all-purpose and high-temperature lubricant.
Lithium carbonate is used in drugs to treat manic depression, although its action on the brain is still not fully understood.
Lithium hydride is used as a means of storing hydrogen for use as a fuel.

Natural occurrence:

Lithium does not occur as a metal in nature but is found combined in small amounts in nearly all igneous rocks and in the waters of many mineral springs.
Spodumene, petalite, lepidolite, and amblygonite are the more important minerals containing lithium.
Most lithium is currently produced in Chile, from brines that yield lithium carbonate when treated with sodium carbonate.
The metal is produced by the electrolysis of molten lithium chloride and potassium chloride.

Status of India’s lithium industry:

India’s electric-vehicle (EV) market was valued at $383.5 million in 2021, and is expected to expand to $152.21 billion in 2030.
India imported 450 million units of lithium batteries valued at $929.26 million (₹6,600 crore) in 2019-2020, which makes the development of the country’s domestic lithium reserves a matter of high stakes.