Master10
Mining, Minerals & Strategic Metals Module

Critical Minerals, Lithium Reserves & Rare Earth Elements

Critical minerals—including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earth elements (REEs)—are foundational to modern semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace technologies, and renewable energy transitions. In 2023, the Geological Survey of India identified substantial inferred lithium resources in the Salal-Haimana region of Reasi district in Jammu & Kashmir, and spodumene pegmatites in Mandya, Karnataka. India's rare earth reserves are primarily concentrated in coastal placers as monazite and ilmenite sand deposits along the shores of Kerala, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu, processed by Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL). To secure overseas supplies of critical mineral assets, the joint venture Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) was established by the Ministry of Mines, partnering with resource-rich nations like Argentina, Australia, and Chile.

Key Concepts & Examination Highlights

  • In 2023, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) established 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources (G3 stage) in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi, Jammu & Kashmir.
  • Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) is a joint venture of NALCO, HCL, and MECL set up to acquire strategic mineral assets abroad.
  • Monazite sands found along the coast of Kerala and Odisha contain significant concentrations of thorium, cerium, lanthanum, and neodymium.
  • The Ministry of Mines identified a list of 30 critical minerals essential for India's economic development and national security in 2023.
  • Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a CPSE under the Department of Atomic Energy established in 1950, extracts and processes heavy minerals and rare earths from beach sand deposits.
  • Spodumene and lepidolite pegmatite deposits containing lithium mineralization have been identified in the Mandya and Yadgir districts of Karnataka.
  • The 17 Rare Earth Elements (REEs) comprise the 15 lanthanides on the periodic table along with Scandium and Yttrium due to similar geochemical properties.
  • Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium are critical permanent magnet rare earths essential for electric vehicle (EV) traction motors and wind turbine generators.
  • KABIL signed a milestone agreement in January 2024 with Argentina's state-owned CAMYEN to explore and develop 5 lithium brine blocks in Catamarca province.
  • Cobalt and nickel occurrences in India are associated with the chromite-bearing ultramafic rocks of the Sukinda valley in Jajpur, Odisha.
  • Graphite deposits in India are concentrated primarily in Arunachal Pradesh (which holds nearly 43% of resources), Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu.
  • The Ministry of Mines released a list of 30 Critical Minerals for India in June 2023 to secure strategic clean tech, defence, and high-tech manufacturing value chains.
  • The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023 omitted 6 minerals (including lithium, titanium, and beryllium) from the list of specified atomic minerals, allowing private sector mining auctions.
  • The 2023 MMDR Amendment introduced an 'Exploration Licence' (EL) to encourage private junior exploration companies to prospect for deep-seated and critical minerals.
  • India became the 14th member of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a US-led multilateral coalition established to accelerate global critical mineral supply chains, in June 2023.
  • Beryllium resources in India are located in pegmatite belts of Rajasthan, Bihar, and Andhra Pradesh, essential for aerospace structural components and nuclear moderators.
  • Tantalum, a rare transition metal with high corrosion resistance used in micro-capacitors, was discovered by IIT Ropar researchers in the Sutlej river sand of Punjab in 2023.
  • Titanium mineral deposits in India are predominantly found as ilmenite and rutile in the beach placer sands of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
  • Zirconium occurs as zircon (ZrSiO4) in beach placer sands, extracted by IREL and used extensively in nuclear reactor cladding tubes due to its low neutron absorption cross-section.
  • Tellurium and Selenium are critical by-products recovered during the electrolytic refining of copper slimes at the Ghatsila smelter of Hindustan Copper Limited.
  • Vanadium reserves in India are primarily found in titaniferous magnetite ores of Mayurbhanj district in Odisha and the Palaeo-proterozoic carbonaceous phyllites of Depo and Tamang in Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Tungsten (Wolframite) mineralization is known at Degana in Nagaur district of Rajasthan and Chendapathar in Bankura district of West Bengal.
  • The 'Lithium Triangle' of South America, which holds over 50% of the world's identified lithium brine resources, consists of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile.
  • Monazite is legally designated as a prescribed atomic mineral under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, and its processing is strictly restricted to government agencies like IREL.
  • Centre of Excellence for Critical Minerals (CECM) was established by the Ministry of Mines to formulate domestic processing frameworks, recycling roadmaps, and supply chain security.
  • In June 2023, the Ministry of Mines released a landmark report identifying 30 Critical Minerals essential for India's economic development, green energy transition, and national security.
  • The 30 identified critical minerals include Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel, Graphite, Rare Earth Elements (REE), Titanium, Vanadium, Tantalum, Niobium, Gallium, Germanium, and Platinum Group Metals (PGMs).
  • The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023, introduced Section 11D empowering the Central Government to exclusively auction exploration and mining leases for 24 critical and strategic minerals.
  • The MMDR Amendment Act, 2023, delisted six atomic minerals—Lithium, Beryllium, Titanium, Tantalum, Zirconium, and Niobium—from Part B of the First Schedule, permitting private commercial exploration and mining.
  • The MMDR Amendment Act, 2023, introduced a new mineral concession called the 'Exploration Licence' (EL) granted through competitive auction to incentivize private reconnaissance and prospecting for deep-seated critical minerals.
  • In February 2023, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) established an inferred G4 resource of 5.9 million tonnes of Lithium ore in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district in Jammu and Kashmir.
  • The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) identified pegmatite-hosted lithium resources in the Marlagalla-Allapatna area of Mandya district, Karnataka.
  • Rare Earth Elements (REEs) comprise a group of 17 chemical elements: 15 lanthanides (lanthanum to lutetium) on the periodic table, along with Scandium and Yttrium due to similar geochemical properties.
  • Rare Earth Elements are classified into Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE: Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Samarium) and Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE: Europium to Lutetium, plus Yttrium).
  • Neodymium and Dysprosium are critical permanent magnet rare earths essential for the manufacturing of traction motors in electric vehicles and direct-drive wind turbines.
  • Monazite is a radioactive phosphate mineral containing Thorium, Cerium, Lanthanum, and Neodymium, found abundantly in the coastal placer beach sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
  • IREL (India) Limited, formerly Indian Rare Earths Limited, is a Mini-Ratna CPSE under the Department of Atomic Energy established in 1950, holding statutory monopoly over monazite sand processing.
  • The Chavara beach sand deposit in Kollam district, Kerala, is one of the richest heavy mineral placer deposits in the world, containing ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, and sillimanite.
  • Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) is a joint venture company set up in 2019 by three CPSEs—NALCO, Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL), and Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL)—to acquire strategic mineral assets abroad.
  • In January 2024, KABIL signed a historic agreement with Argentina's state-owned CAMYEN to explore and develop five lithium brine blocks in the Catamarca province of Argentina.
  • The 'Lithium Triangle' of South America, which holds over 50% of the world's identified lithium brine resources, comprises Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.
  • In June 2023, India was inducted as the 14th member of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), a US-led multilateral initiative to build resilient and secure global critical mineral supply chains.
  • Significant Vanadium mineralization was identified by the Geological Survey of India in the palaeoproterozoic carbonaceous phyllite rocks of Depo and Tamang areas in Papum Pare district, Arunachal Pradesh.
  • Tantalum, a rare transition metal with atomic number 73 used extensively in capacitors for semiconductors and smartphones, was discovered in the Sutlej river sand in Punjab by IIT Ropar researchers in 2023.
  • Cobalt is primarily recovered in India as a secondary byproduct during the refining of nickel and copper from imported concentrates or ocean polymetallic nodules.
  • Polymetallic Nodules (PMN), also called manganese nodules, found on the seabed of the Central Indian Ocean Basin at depths of 4,000-6,000 metres, contain Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, and Manganese.
  • The International Seabed Authority (ISA) has allocated a 75,000 sq km pioneer exploration area in the Central Indian Ocean Basin to the Ministry of Earth Sciences under India's Deep Ocean Mission.
  • Graphite, an allotrope of carbon critical for electric vehicle battery anodes, is mined primarily in Arunachal Pradesh (which holds over 40% of national resources), Jharkhand, and Odisha.
  • The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) is India's single largest iron ore producer and is expanding into critical mineral exploration and processing.
  • The Geological Survey of India (GSI), founded in 1851 and headquartered in Kolkata, is the premier scientific organisation conducting baseline geological mapping and mineral resource assessments across India.
Curriculum & Reference Sources: Ministry of Mines Critical Minerals Report 2023, Geological Survey of India (GSI), Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL).

Sample Solved Questions & Concept Explanations

8 Verified Concept Questions
Q1.EASY

In 2023, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) announced the discovery of 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources in which district of Jammu & Kashmir?

Q2.MEDIUM

Monazite sands found along the coastal placers of Kerala, Odisha, and Tamil Nadu are a world-renowned source of which radioactive nuclear fuel element?

Q3.MEDIUM

What is the primary objective of Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL), a joint venture formed by NALCO, HCL, and MECL under the Ministry of Mines?

Q4.HARD

The Sukinda Valley in the Jajpur district of Odisha is globally recognized for holding more than 90% of India's total recoverable reserves of which strategic mineral?

Q5.EASY

Which trio of South American nations is globally known as the 'Lithium Triangle', holding over half of the world's identified lithium reserves in salt flats?

Q6.EASY

How many chemical elements comprise the group known as 'Rare Earth Elements' (REEs), consisting of 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium?

Q7.EASY

Which public sector enterprise under the Department of Atomic Energy is mandated with the mining and commercial separation of heavy beach sand minerals and rare earths in India?

Q8.EASY

In June 2023, the Ministry of Mines released India's first official list of Critical Minerals essential for economic development and national security, identifying how many minerals?