India’s Critical Mineral Mission – announced in Budget 2024-25, will look to secure such resources through partnerships with other mineral-rich countries. It will also address issues of availability while ensuring supplies of such minerals in domestic market, says G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of Mines. 

The Mission will also look to up capacities in India in terms of refining and processing (in critical minerals) and push R&D.

In 2023, the Ministry notified the country’s first-ever critical mineral list, which covered lithium, graphite, copper, cobalt, nickle, among others.

The Budget has also given a policy push towards India achieving self-reliance in several mineral processing. 

For instance, in FY24, copper concentrate imports were ₹25,951 crore. With the import duty of 2.5 per cent on copper concentrate eliminated in Budget 2024-25, refiners here will be able to source their primary feedstock thereby leading to an increase in competitiveness of the refining sector, the Minister explained. 

In an interview to businessline, Reddy talks about the off-shore mineral block readiness, outline of the proposed Critical Mineral Mission, push for securing lithium beyond Argentina, among others. Excerpts:

Q

By when can the first tranche of offshore mineral block auctions be held?

Commencement of auctioning of offshore area mineral blocks was announced by the FM in Budget, 2024. (And accordingly) the Ministry is preparing to initiate (the) first tranche of auctions in the 100-day programme.

The list of minerals in offshore areas include brown ilmenite (leucoxene), ilmenite, dolomite garnet, limestone and lime mud, manganese ore, monazite, sillimanite, among others.

Q

What sort of revenue generation can be expected? 

No mining activity has been carried out in offshore areas till date. Upon operationalisation of the auctioned mines (in offshore areas), royalty, auction premium and payment towards Offshore Areas Mineral Trust has to be paid by the successful bidder.

Q

The Budget speaks of a Critical Mineral Mission. What would be the contours?

Critical minerals are essential for economic development and in achieving our energy transition goals. Their limited availability and concentration in a few locations lead to supply chain vulnerabilities. To address such challenges, the Ministry has decided to establish a Critical Mineral Mission that will position India as a key player in the global critical mineral landscape.

The Critical Mineral Mission will create a sustainable and resilient value chain here, align with the country’s goals for sustainable development, energy security, and global competitiveness. 

It will also focus on increasing domestic production, acquiring assets abroad, implementing a producer responsibility framework, apart from fostering self-reliance through research and technology, developing human resources and providing effective funding and incentives. 

A dedicated Mission office will be established in the Ministry of Mines. 

Some of the critical minerals important for India include cobalt, copper, gallium, graphite, lithium, molybdenum, nickel, PGE (platinum group of elements), phosphorus, potash, silicon, tin, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, among others.

Q

India continues to suffer in critical mineral refining and processing abilities. Will this be addressed?

The Critical Mineral Mission will also focus on promoting research and innovation in the critical mineral extraction, processing, and recycling segments. 

Focus on extraction of strategic, critical and REE (rare earth elements) at elemental level is included as one of the thrust areas of S&T-PRISM (Science & Technology – Promoting Innovation in Minerals) initiatives under the R&D scheme of the Ministry. 

Four projects - worth Rs 5.12 crore – relating to Critical Minerals have been sanctioned under this initiative.

Q

What sort of import bill did India incur for copper (refined) and cobalt?

Copper refining is majorly for the industrial segment. The country’s annual capacity was around 8 lakh tonne last year. 

Production of copper ore is low at 37 lakh ton with 0.8 per cent ore grade, because of which domestic copper refiners have been reliant on import of copper concentrate to the extent of over 90 per cent. 

In FY24, import (of copper concentrate) was Rs 25,951 crore. With the import duty of 2.5 per cent on copper concentrate eliminated in the Budget, copper refiners in India will be able to source their primary feedstock freely. This will lead to expected increase in competitiveness of the sector.

In case of refined copper, production was 5.1 lakh ton in FY24, import of 3.6 lakh ton and export of 0.3 lakh ton. The import reliance at the refining stage is about 40 per cent. Refined copper imports were valued at Rs. 24,552 crore. With annual copper refining capacity increasing to 13 lakh ton in the current fiscal, it is expected that the country will very soon become self-sufficient in refined copper.

In cobalt, the country has zero reserves. So to meet requirements, India imported about Rs 96 crore worth of cobalt in oxide, hydroxide and concentrate form; and another Rs. 90 crore in metallic form (in FY24).

Q

Post Argentina, which are the other geographies where India would tap into for lithium?

India’s Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) was incorporated to identify, explore, acquire, develop, mine, process, procure and sell strategic minerals abroad. 

In addition to Argentina, KABIL is presently exploring opportunities for acquisition of critical minerals like Lithium and Cobalt across projects in Australia, Chile and other minerals rich countries for long term investment.

Q

Some domestic critical mineral blocks are yet to generate favourable response. Any policy intervention expected?

Out of 38 critical mineral blocks for which the auction process was completed, 14 have been successfully auctioned. The response to the auction has been so far satisfactory and it is incorrect to infer that there is unfavourable response to auction from the bidders.

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