India has successfully extracted lithium from mineral concentration “in laboratory scale”, Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister for Mines, said on Monday.
According to him, the country is capable of developing technologies for beneficiation of lithium ore to lithium mineral concentrate.
“The processing and refining methods for lithium ore can vary depending on the type of lithium deposit, the characteristics of the ore, and the intended end-use of the lithium compounds. Successful experimentation has been done for extraction of lithium from mineral concentrate in laboratory scale,” Joshi said in a written response to the Rajya Sabha.
India declared its first and so far its only lithium reserve in the Salal Haimna areas, of the Reasi district in Jammu & Kashmir, to the tune of 5.9 million tonnes (mt).
Joshi in his response said, there are scattered houses in the mineralised block of Salal-Haimna, Reasi District, Jammu & Kashmir and “the decision regarding auctioning of the lithium mineral block will be taken up by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as on date.”
Lithium in Karnataka
According to the Minister, the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMDER), under the Department of Atomic Energy has established 1,600 tonnes (inferred category) lithium resource in Marlagalla area, Mandya District, Karnataka too.
“This is a preliminary estimate. And since then, exploration inputs by AMDER are focused to convert the preliminary estimate to exploitable category and higher degree of confidence; to augment lithium resource in the adjoining extension areas,” he said.
Bench scale studies have been completed on hydro-metallurgical extraction of lithium from spodumene mineral (an important ore) concentrate from the area “to produce very pure lithium carbonate”.
Supply of critical minerals
The Minister said, Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL), a JV of three CPSEs namely, National Aluminium Company Ltd, Hindustan Copper Ltd and Mineral Exploration and Consultancy Ltd, is already looking to acquire overseas mineral assets of critical & strategic nature that include lithium, cobalt and others.
KABIL is already taking initiatives “with few companies/ projects” in Australia, Argentina and Chile for securing long term supply.
“The Ministry of Mines has increased focus for exploration of these minerals in the country through GSI and other exploration agencies to become self-reliant in critical and strategic minerals sector,” he said in response to another question in the Rajya Sabha.
A comprehensive list of 30 critical minerals, the first for India, was recently identified and announced by the Ministry. These include, antimony, beryllium, bismuth, cobalt, copper, gallium, germanium, graphite, hafnium, indium, lithium, molybdenum, niobium, nickel, platinum group elements (PGE), phosphorous, potash, rare earth elements (REE), rhenium, silicon, strontium, tantalum, tellurium, tin, titanium, tungsten, vanadium, zirconium, selenium and cadmium.
“India has also become the member of the Mineral Security Partnership formed by United States to bolster uninterrupted supply chains of critical minerals. In addition to United States, the other member countries are Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Union,” Joshi said in his response.