India’s largest merchant iron-ore miner, NMDC Ltd is eyeing “strategic acquisition” of lithium blocks in Australia and Africa, and is carrying out “due diligence” of potential assets in these countries, the company’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director (Additional Charge) and Director of Finance, Amitava Mukherjee, told businessline.

“Our lithium quest has gained significant momentum, with encouraging preliminary findings. We’re conducting thorough reviews and due diligence on potential assets in Australia and Africa, positioning ourselves for strategic acquisitions,” he said.

Called ‘white gold’, lithium – an alkaline metal – is key to India’s switch to clean energy. The critical mineral finds extensive usage in energy storage solutions, apart from usage in batteries for mobile phones and EVs. In fact, India is predominantly dependent on lithium imports, majority of of which are met by China. Import bills have logged nearly ₹30,000 crore annually.

According to Mukherjee, NMDC is already engaged in “advanced discussions with many companies” in Australia and Africa.

“As these discussions unfold, we’ll undertake further due diligence to ensure strategic fits and maximise value,” he said.

So far, India’s KABIL – a state owned PSU – has been successful in securing lithium reserves overseas. Earlier this year, the company acquired five lithium blocks in Argentina and it has recently obtained “non invasive” exploration permission for these blocks in the LatAm region.

Exploring other minerals

Additionally, NMDC is diversifying its global footprint by exploring strategic minerals, including iron ore, bauxite, manganese, diamonds, and gold. Portfolio expansion will entail “acquiring new areas”.

“(We) anticipate these new operations to be ready beyond FY30,” he said.

In India, the company has restarted diamond mining at Panna in Madhya Pradesh, the country’s only mechanised diamond mine.

NMDC’s Tokisud North and Rohne coal blocks in Jharkhand are expected to begin production soon, marking another historic first for NMDC as it ventures into domestic coal mining.

“We are actively exploring opportunities in Africa, Australia, South East Asia, and South America to mine (other) minerals like iron ore, coking coal, and battery minerals,” Mukherjee said.

Gold mining

In Australia, the merchant miner has forayed into gold mining on Mount Celia (Western Australia).

The company had previously said, in Australia, there is a “lot of requirement for accelerated exploration” andto invest further.

During a recent analyst call, the company’s top brass said, in Australia’s Mount Bevan (which has iron ore reserves) the PFS (pre-feasibility study) has been completed and that it was looking forward “to making further investments in the magnetite project”.

The company, in its annual report for FY24, mentioned that Legacy Iron Ore Ltd ASX - its fully-owned Australian subsidiary - is presently carrying out exploration in its 21 tenements in the Western Australian region for iron-ore, gold, tungsten and base metals.

The Yilgangi and Patricia North tenements of Western Australia are in the early to mid-stage of exploration maturity.

Yilgangi has a mineral resource of 10,000 ounces, “but can potentially develop as a satellite gold deposit for Mount Celia’s operation,” it said; while the East Kimberley Project is 350 km south of Kunnunura, Western Australia. The latter includes Koongie Park, Sophie Downs, Ruby Plains and Taylor Lookout tenements, known to host prospective geology for base metals, gold, rare earth elements (REE) and tungsten mineralisation.

The East Kimberley tenements are in the early stages of exploration, with first-pass drilling for base metal exploration completed

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