Lithium

News Excerpt: 

According to the Union Mines Ministry, exploration of lithium, a critical mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries, in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district has moved a step further with one block advancing to the second round of auctions and promising deposits now being found in the initial exploration of another block.

More about the news: 

  • In Korba, a private exploration company funded by the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) has found hard rock lithium deposits ranging from 168 to 295 parts per million (ppm).
  • Further exploration could pin down the reserves estimate to a large number. Lithium exploration in other states, however, has not been as fruitful, latest meeting minutes of a top NMET committee revealed.

About Lithium:

  • Lithium is an element valuable for the production of glass, aluminum products, and batteries.
  • It is mined from ores of petalite (LiAl(Si2O5)2, lepidolite K(Li,Al)3(Al,Si,Rb)4O10(F,OH)2, spodumene LiAl(SiO3)2 and subsurface brines. 
    • Subsurface brines trapped in the Earth’s crust are a major source material for lithium carbonate. 
    • These sources are less expensive to mine than from rock such as spodumene, petalite, and other lithium-bearing minerals.
  • Commercial quantities of these three minerals are found in a special igneous rock deposit that geologists call pegmatite.
    •  In pegmatites, magma cools so slowly that crystals have time to grow very large. 
  • Australia and Chile are the world’s largest producers of lithium.
  • According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) figures, India will become the sixth-largest holder of lithium resources worldwide, ahead of China, the largest importer of raw lithium and producer of lithium-ion batteries.

Uses of Lithium:

  • Lithium compounds are used in 
    • Ceramics and glass
    • Primary aluminum production
    • The manufacture of lubricants and greases
    • Rocket propellants
    • Vitamin A synthesis
    • Silver solders
    • Underwater buoyancy devices
    • Increasingly in batteries
  • Lithium batteries are proving to be an effective and affordable alternative to traditional batteries, and also used in new battery applications. More than 80% of lithium mined is used in batteries.  This use has recently increased rapidly spurring an increase in lithium mining to provide the lithium for batteries.
  • Lithium is mixed with other light metals such as aluminum and magnesium to form strong, light-weight alloys (an alloy is a mixture of metals).
  • Some lithium, in the form of lithium carbonate or lithium citrate, is used as medicine to treat gout (an inflammation of joints) and to treat serious mental illnesses like bipolar I disorder.

Lithium reserves in India:

  • Jammu & Kashmir: The Geological Survey of India (GSI) had for the first time in India's history established Lithium inferred resources of 5.9 million tonnes in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.
  • Rajasthan: Degana in Rajasthan's Nagaur district, it is expected to meet 80% of the total country's demand.
  • Other potential sites are:
    • Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.
    • Pegmatite belts in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Indian contribution in Overseas:

  • Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL), a joint venture of three public sector companies under the Mines Ministry, secured rights to explore, develop, and extract lithium across five blocks in Argentina’s Catamarca province..

Conclusion:

The discovery of lithium reserves in India could help the country to become a leading green industrial power. It could change the outlook for lithium availability in the medium and long term. It may help to avoid tensions in the EV supply chain between the US and China.

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