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India’s import on four critical minerals – lithium (apart from lithium ion), cobalt, nickel and copper – was around ₹34,800 crore in FY23, and reliance across these minerals is anywhere between 93 per cent and 100 per cent.
Highest import was in copper ore and concentrate category which was to the tune of ₹27,400 crore-odd; and nearly 11,78,920 tonnes of the mineral were shipped into the country last fiscal. Import reliance was 93 per cent, as per a response by Union Minister of Mines, Pralhad Joshi, in Parliament.
The second most imported item was unwrought nickel (which is not in finished or processed form) worth ₹6,550 crore and nearly 32,300 tonnes of the mineral came in. India is 100 per cent import reliant in the segment.
Lithium ore (which does not include lithium ion imports), where the country is fully reliant on imports, was around ₹732 crore – across two categories that include lithium oxides and lithium carbonates. Around 2144 tonnes were imported.
Around 172 tonnes of cobalt, another critical mineral where dependence on imports is 100 per cent, came into the country at a cost of nearly ₹72 crore.
These minerals have various applications in space industry, electronics, communications, energy sector, electric batteries and are critical in net-zero emission commitment of India.
The country has, in a first, identified 30 critical minerals; and according to Joshi, Iover the last few years, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has shifted its thrust from bulk commodities to deep-seated and critical minerals.
“From field season 2015-16 to field season 2021-22, (the) GSI executed 503 mineral exploration projects on deep-seated and critical minerals. In field season 2022-23, 123 projects have been taken up in response to the increased thrust on exploration of deep-seated minerals; while in the current field season (2023-24), GSI has taken up 122 exploration projects on deep seated and critical minerals,” he said.
Extraction of Polymetallic Nodules
According to Joshi, the Ministry of Earth Sciences on behalf of the Centre has an ongoing poly-metallic nodules exploration contract in the central Indian Ocean Basin valid till 2027. However, for extracting poly-metallic nodules there is a need for having an exploitation contract to be issued by International Seabed Authority and issuing such contract by the Authority in deep seabed has not been started so far.
“As administrative clearance for deep sea mining of polymetallic nodules has not been made by the International Seabed Authority, no future plan for using polymetallic nodules for India’s energy security has been taken up,” he said.
Incidentally, the Ministry of Earth Sciences has informed that for extraction of poly-metallic nodules from the Clarion-Clipperton zone, it is necessary to have a contract with the International Seabed Authority. Presently, no contract has been signed with the International Seabed Authority, United Nations for Polymetallic Nodules at Clarion-Clipperton zone.
“A need for the same will be assessed based on technical factors and geopolitical situations,” Joshi said in his response.
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