India Rising To Bridge Critical Mineral Gap Amidst Trade War

State-run mining firms led by the five-year-old entity KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Ltd) have been asked to step up the search for critical mineral resources. Kabil has nascent overseas footprint through government-to-government deals in Australia, Chile, and Argentina.

Officials said attempts were on to tap resources in the 'Lithium triangle' (Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile) and in Sub-Saharan Africa's Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. 

KABIL To Spearhead Critical Mineral Exploration

"KABIL already has a promising deal with Argentina, where we are going ahead on full steam," said the official. The PSU exploration firm set up by a number of mining PSUs had signed a deal for Exploration and Exclusivity Rights for 5 adjacent lithium brine blocks, covering an area of about 15,703 hectares, located in the Catamarca province of the Latin American nation.

Last year December, China reacted to Washington’s rising restrictions on the Chinese semiconductor sector by banning exports of antimony, gallium, and germanium to the US.

As everybody knows now, the fiercest tariff war broke out between these two nations by this month’s beginning. Chinese exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets to the US are now suspended.

Apart from hitting the American supplies, this will seriously create blockages in the global value chain of components intricately linked to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors.

Indian Government Keen To Address Critical Mineral Shortage

The central government launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), intending to establish a framework for India’s self-reliance in the critical mineral sector in January 2025. It intends to both explore and extract critical mineral resources within its own territories. 

India has discovered significant lithium reserves in places spread over the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Karnataka. These discoveries are seen as crucial for reducing reliance on lithium imports. The largest discovery, 5.9 million tonnes, was announced in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir.  

Speaking at a FICCI conference, the Union Minister of State for Mines and Coal Satish Chandra Dubey said, “The government has already auctioned 24 critical mineral blocks domestically, and we aim to auction as many critical mineral blocks as possible by 2031”.

A Ministry of Mines detailed report already identified the economic importance and supply risk of 33 critical minerals. Nine of these, including copper and silicon, are found to be of high economic importance.

Out of 33, seven minerals are found to be at high supply chain disruption risk. The rest 17, including important minerals like cobalt, graphite, lithium, and nickel, are both of high economic importance and susceptible to supply risks.

Nitty-Gritty Of Critical Mineral Mission To Be Out This Year

The guidelines to operationalise Rs 34,300 crore NCMM are likely to be announced in the next six months. This will intensify the exploration of critical minerals within the country and in its offshore areas. The efforts are on to find secondary but economically viable sources of critical minerals as well.

“The mission encompasses all stages of the value chain, including mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing, and recovery from end-of-life products. The detailed guidelines are being prepared and will be out in the next 6 months,” said Vivek Kumar Bajpai, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines.

Though under President Trump, the global sustainability agenda has received a jolt, the rest of the major economies, till now, reiterated their commitments towards fighting climate change and meeting their respective net-zero deadlines.

Officials said, "In such a scenario, India has to rise to any challenges faced by its economy in today’s turbulent and unpredictable global business environment. Looking for sources of important critical minerals within the country and abroad is the only way ahead."