Lithium is a critical metal for the production of batteries and the worldwide demand for it is only increasing with the push for more Electric Vehicles. Till date India has been import dependent for Lithium along with other critical metals that created a risk considering India’s ongoing push towards EV and slow movement away from traditional fossil fuels which made us reliant on China and other countries to meet our needs. On Thursday India’s mining ministry announced that they have found a massive 5.9 million tonnes of Lithium deposits in Jammu and Kashmir. To give you an idea of the scale this puts India in the top 6 “mine reserves” of the metal overtaking China which has ~4.6 million tonnes of the deposit for the metal.
- Bolivia – 21 million tonnes
- Argentina – 17 million tonnes
- Chile – 9 million tonnes
- United States – 6.8 million tonnes
- Australia – 6.3 million tonnes
- China – 4.5 million tonnes
Even though other countries have larger deposits of the metal, China controls 80% of the world’s raw material refining, 77% of the world’s cell capacity and 60% of the world’s component manufacturing. With a larger deposit being found in India and the government undertaking a concentrated effort to mine the metal safely and quickly, India has the opportunity to disrupt China’s control over the metal trade. The possibilities are endless as the demand for Lithium is only going to go up (till a safer and more sustainable option is found).
Till date, this deposit was not found because of the internal issues going on in Kashmir, after the article 370 was revoked more and more industries are looking at Kashmir and who know what other hidden treasures will be found in the state. Already we see that tourism to Kashmir has shot up massively with over 1.62 crore tourists visiting Jammu and Kashmir in 2022, which is the highest number since independence in 1947.
Looking forward to more such news and am happy to see our nation taking another step towards becoming atmanirbhar (self-reliant).
Source: Wion News: India discovers huge deposits of Lithium critical for electric mobility
– Suramya