Lithium reserves: Our J&K find could put India on the lithium map

Source: The post is based on the article “Our J&K find could put India on the lithium map” published in the Livemint on 13th February 2023.

Syllabus: GS 1 – Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent).

Relevance: About Lithium reserves.

News: Recently, the Geological Survey of India has for the first time discovered Lithium reserves in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District of Jammu & Kashmir(UT).

About the Lithium reserves around the globe

According to the US Geological Survey, the world has 98 million tonnes of Lithium reserves. Of that, half of it is in South America’s ‘lithium triangle’ of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Apart from that, the US, Australia and China also have some Lithium reserves.

The recent Lithium discovery in Jammu & Kashmir is about 5.9 million tonnes which is about 5.5% of the world’s total Lithium reserves.

What is Lithium?

What are the applications of Lithium?

What is the importance of Lithium reserves in India?

Reduce Chinese dominance: China dominates the lithium supply chain. China has agreements with South American suppliers, and it is refining about two-thirds of the world’s lithium cell assembly.

What is the importance of Lithium reserves?

Reducing global warming: The aim of carbon neutrality has begun to set economic terms amid global trade wars and outright de-globalization.

Ability to pack energy: Lithium’s lightness and ability to pack in energy make it a good pick for vehicles and devices that run on rechargeable batteries since lithium ions can store and release electricity without adding much body weight.

Hence, according to McKinsey report, annual demand for lithium could reach 3-4 million tonnes by 2030 (about five times the usage estimate of 2022).

The discovery of reserves in India relieves us of a key import dependency and helps to electrify Indian traffic faster.