On March 15, 2023, Indian Ministry of Minerals announced discovery of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium in Salal-Haimna areas of Reasi district in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).[1]
Why this Discovery Important for India?
Lithium is a critical mineral that is the main component used in making rechargeable batteries for gadgets like laptops, solar panels, smartphones and most importantly, electric cars. India had been importing lithium from Australia and Argentina.[2] During 2020 – 2021, India imported lithium worth more than 722.5 million dollars. Additionally, being one of the leading importers of lithium-ion batteries from countries like South Korea, Japan and China, India imported 617 million units of lithium-ion batteries for 1.8 billion dollars. [3] Dubbed as ‘white gold’, the demand for lithium is projected to reach 3 million to 4 million MT by 2030 from 500,000 MT of lithium in 2021.[4] Additionally, of the global 98 million tonnes of lithium resources, following this discovery of resources in IIOJK, India held 5.5 per cent of the total global resources.[5] Later, Lithium resources were also found in Karnataka.
