Recovering Critical Minerals From E-Waste Is Essential

The Budget 2025-26 has proposed to remove customs duty on cobalt powder and waste, scrap of lithium-ion batteries, lead, zinc and 12 more critical minerals, including antimony, cobalt, tungsten and copper.

The government will also launch a policy for recovery of critical minerals from tailings or by-products of mining. "This will help secure their availability for manufacturing in India," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her speech.

The FM’s proposal marks a policy continuation from last year, when the government had scrapped customs duty on 25 critical minerals that are unavailable domestically, to support manufacturing at home.

The move is expected to drive growth of the recycling industry, encourage both domestic and foreign companies to invest in downstream facilities for processing and domestic value addition in these minerals, and make them more available and affordable.

The Budget proposal comes within days of the approval for a National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), with an outlay of Rs 34,000 crore over seven years. The NCMM, being set up under the Ministry of Mines (MoM), also got an allocation of Rs 410 crore for 2025-26, with a mandate to enhance domestic production, recycle critical minerals and acquire critical mineral assets located in other countries.

In line with the India’s strategic objective of self-sufficiency, the NCMM aims to meet 10 per cent of India’s annual demand for critical minerals from domestic sources by 2031, according to the government's Critical Minerals Report. Out of this, the target is to recycle 10 per cent of India’s annual consumption of critical minerals, help reinforce a circular economy and reduce dependency on primary raw materials.

Critical minerals are needed for electronics, telecom, transport, defence, agriculture and energy, among others. NCMM aims to encourage Indian PSUs and private sector companies to acquire critical mineral assets abroad and enhance trade with resource-rich countries. It also proposes development of stockpile of critical minerals within the country. 

The NCMM aims to strengthen India's supply chain for these minerals through domestic exploration, overseas asset acquisition and technological innovation. It will encompass all stages of the value chain, including mineral exploration, mining, beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products.

Experts argue metals are ‘eminently recyclable’, especially because the environmental cost of mining the ore to retreive a tiny amount of that metal is much more. A Rs 1,500-crore incentive scheme is being prepared by MoM and the Finance Ministry to attract mineral recycling clusters. It will include lithium, nickel , cobalt, graphite, antimony, cadmium, gallium, silicon, tin, tungsten, titanium, vanadium, zirconium, among others.

The China Factor 

These minerals are geographically concentrated and at least 55 per cent of each of them are found in only about 15 countries of the world, so far. China has the largest endowment of these minerals so it has a unique advantage.

China has also made strategic investments across the value chain of critical minerals. Furthermore, it has strategically invested in mines abroad raising supply chain vulnerabilities for not only India, but also for the US and countries in the EU.

Used Gadgets: A Veritable Goldmine

A key part of the NCMM will be supporting the recycling of critical minerals. The  mission will offer financial incentives for critical mineral exploration and promote recovery of these minerals from overburden and tailings or mining by-products.

Tailings, particularly from historic mining, and contain uncertain but appreciable concentrations of critical elements such as zinc, rare earths, cobalt, lithium, and others. While these are both critical elements for high-tech manufacturing (green energy, semiconductors) they also raise environmental concerns.

The report states if any issue arises due to influx of unwanted e-waste, the government will take steps to mitigate these challenges. So, the government is not only keen to put its weight behind recycling but more important, it realises creating a good recycling infrastructure that meet environment standards, will be the key to achieving it.

“Good tailings management will increase domestic availability of critical minerals and also promote the domestic processing industry,” an official statement said after the Budget. From 2024-25 to 2030-31 some 400 kilo-tonne of minerals are to be recycled under NCMM's recycling incentive scheme.

For example, recycling end-of-life lithium-ion batteries can ease pressure on the requirement of primary supply of the mineral. For the Tokyo Olympics, Japan extracted metal from six million mobile phones and almost 72,000 tonnes of e-waste to make 5,000 gold, silver and bronze medals.

At present, barring steel, lead, copper, and aluminium, recycled volumes are minimal. But, according to an International Energy Agency forecast, this will be significant by 2040. Globally, the transition to a greener future is expected to increase the volume of end-of-life recovery from digital technology. 

Thus, a sharp focus on ‘mining’ above ground resources — metals contained in collections of discarded manufactured products and consumer goods — is a crucial step in addressing India’s needs. 

(The writer is a veteran journalist. Views are personal)