India announced the major discovery of lithium for the first time on Thursday, 10 February. Around 5.9 million tons of lithium were discovered in the areas of Jammu and Kashmir. Lithium mineral is used in the manufacturing of solar panels and electric vehicles, etc.
India up to now was dependent on different countries such as Australia, Chile, and Argentina for the importation of lithium into the country for manufacturing purposes. Earlier to this discovery, the other reserves of Lithium in India were in Karnataka which had only 1600 tons of lithium two years ago.
With the joy of this discovery, Mines Secretary Vivek Bharadwaj informed the press that this finding will help the country to become “atma nirbhar” which means to become self-independent as promoted and stated by the Prime minister of the country, Narendra Modi.
India can take a global place in the manufacturing list after the US secretary of commerce declared its plans to create a strong partnership bond between the countries in order to fight against China.
Photo: John Moore (Getty Images)
India now stands at number five in lithium reserves around the globe with the size of deposits found during this discovery. The country can now compete with the United States which is leading with a small difference.
Although India has enough lithium, refining the mineral to make batteries is a long process therefore the country will still rely upon other countries for a year or two.
Lithium:
The lithium mineral is regarded as the “white gold” as the value of lithium batteries increased over the years. The batteries are further used to create phones, laptops, and vehicles that run on electricity. As electric vehicles are witnessing a major uprise in sales of more than $800 billion by the year 2030, the discovery is a big one for developing countries like India.
This will also help government officials to stand at their promise of providing a large number of electric cars by the year 2030. According to the World Bank, the objective of achieving climate goals is the mining of some crucial minerals like cobalt, graphite, and lithium to increase by 500% by the year 2050.
But the mining process of lithium is criticized by many environmentalists. The mineral is found deep underground which affects the water sources in many rural communities.
Moreover, the process to produce the mineral involves heating the ore at high temperatures which becomes very expensive for burning it, meaning that every ton of the mineral will emit 15 tons of carbon dioxide.
Where are the world’s largest lithium reserves?
Lithium is a very useful mineral. The majority of reserves are found in Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. Although Bolivia has the highest lithium reserves in the world due to underdeveloped infrastructure and technology, Bolivia doesn’t rank anywhere.
