India’s Critical Minerals Challenge

Context

This is a point in time during which critical minerals have become very relevant to the world. Smartphones or electric vehicles are not the only things that these minerals are being used in today; they are also being used in economic growth, national security, clean energy, and other advanced technologies. The thought of the 21 st century has been termed as the Critical Minerals Age just like previous eras were referred to as the Bronze Age or Iron Age. 

The Civilisation and its Evolution with Metals

• Humans entered the Chalcolithic Era 7000 years ago in which they led the first metals to be used by human beings such as copper.
• Subsequent ages (with copper and tin – the Bronze Age, and later iron – the Iron Age) opened up more powerful tools and weapons.
• The 19 th and 20 th centuries witnessed the Industrial Revolutions transformed by coal and oil which changed the way we live and work.
• Today, in the 21 st century, our planet has run out of clean energy, digital devices, and sophisticated machines without rare and critical minerals. That is why this is named the Critical Minerals Age.

Why are Critical Minerals so important nowadays?

1. Geopolitical Power

• Nations are struggling to gain access to these minerals. For example:
• The US (under Donald Trump) turned to acquiring minerals from Canada, Greenland, and Ukraine.
• China is short of rare earth minerals and controls them to attain economic benefits in world trade.

The new government policies in US have:

• Opened new areas of vast expanse to mine search.
• Feasible approvals were developed – mining in a year, less than a month.

2. Combating Global Warming

• A lot of minerals are required in clean energy:
• Each EV consumes 6 times the amount of minerals used in the conventional petrol/diesel vehicles.
• Wind power plants situated offshore require 9 times more mineral as fossil powered plants.
• In order to cut pollution and carbon emissions, the world requires:
• Copper- to use in wires and data centres.
• Lithium, cobalt, nickel Lithium, cobalt and nickel are used in batteries within EVs and solar power storage.

3. The Digital Age and technology

• The new technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (modern technologies such as AI, robotics, big data) require:
• Speciality and rare minerals.
• Secure and steady supply networks in order to prevent breakages.

Global Problem of Mineral Supply

1. Dependence on too Few Countries

• Cobalt: 70 percent of it is Democratic Republic of Congo.
• Nickel: More than half of them is extracted in Indonesia.
• Rare Earths: China promotes 66 percent of the entire world supply and handles in excess of 90 percent of the world supply.
• Lithium: It is dominated by Australia, Chile, and China.

2. Processing Bottlenecks

• Most of the mined minerals, even though harvested in a particular country, go to China where they are processed.
• This implies that China can regulate prices, supply as well as trade.
• A halt in exports by China will spell an end to other industries around the globe such as EVs and solar energy.

The Roles of India at Present and What It Should Do

• Problems that India Experiences

• • India has not been able to utilize its mineral resources much.
  • It relies so much on the importation of important minerals in other nations.
  • India does not have processing plants and modern infrastructure of these minerals.

• What India can Do

• • Accelerate the discovery of essential minerals nationwide.
  • Enact such policies like the US whereby mining and processing of materials can be approved conveniently.
  • Construct mineral processing plants in order to minimize dependence on China or other nations.
  • Make good use of the natural resources available in India to become self sustaining and also enter into the international market in a competitive manner.
  • Integrate critical minerals in the Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat plans.

Conclusion

• The Critical Minerals Age is no longer an upcoming phenomenon, and critical minerals now contribute to the central climate action, technology, international trade, and national security.
• These are necessities in the case of India. In their absence, India will be unable to develop as a world power in manufacturing, and realize any clean energy aspirations.
• The only way to become a successful nation in the 21 st century is by exploration, production, and processing of critical minerals in the country by India as this would ensure a stronger and an independent future.

Source: The Indian Express

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