By AFP - Agence France Presse
India approves US$1.9 billion tender to boost supply of essential minerals
India has given the green light to a US$1.9 billion plan to help boost supplies of several critical minerals vital to the country's green energy and defense sectors.
The world's most populous country needs raw materials, including lithium and cobalt, to boost electric vehicle production and achieve its goal of becoming a net-zero carbon emitter by 2070.
But New Delhi relies on imports to meet its needs, with China being a major supplier.
Although the once frosty ties with Beijing are slowly thawing, India is still keen to diversify and encourage local exploration and production.
On Wednesday, India's cabinet approved a mission to “intensify exploration of essential minerals” both at home and offshore.
“The mission will provide financial incentives for exploration of critical minerals and promote recovery of these minerals from overburden and tailings (waste left over from mining operations),” said a statement from the Ministry of Mines.
Indian state-owned companies are also expected to invest 180 billion rupees (around 2.1 billion dollars), the statement added, and will be encouraged, along with private companies, to “acquire key mineral assets abroad” and “increase trade with resource-rich countries”.
Last year, India bought the rights to explore and produce lithium blocks in Argentina in its first overseas deal.
The five-block agreement was signed between state-owned Khanij Bidesh India and Argentine state-owned Camyen SE in Catamarca province, the source of some of Argentina's largest lithium deposits.
A year earlier, India found its first lithium deposits in the north of the country, with reserves estimated at 5.9 million tons.
asv/gle/dhc
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