India in talks with Africa, Latin America for critical mineral block

New Delhi: India is in talks with Africa as well as Latin America to get critical mineral blocks on a government-to-government basis, Veena Kumari Dermal, joint secretary of the Ministry of Mines, said on Tuesday.

Critical minerals such as lithium are essential components in many of today’s rapidly growing clean energy technologies, including wind turbines, electricity networks, and electric vehicles. Demand for these minerals is growing quickly with clean energy transitions gathering pace. “We are having lots of discussions with many other resources-rich countries both in Africa as well as in Latin America for getting... a block on a G2G basis or on a priority basis,” Dermal said at India Energy Storage Week (IESW) 2024 organised by India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA).

The mines ministry, she said, is giving more and more importance to the exploration of critical minerals in India.

At the domestic front, the government has successfully auctioned one lithium block in Chhattisgarh, the joint secretary added. She explained hopes that the Chhattisgarh government will take steps to start the exploration and production from the lithium block at the earliest. Maiki South Mining Pvt Ltd had last month bagged the country’s first lithium block in Chhattisgarh that was put up for sale. Meanwhile, the government cancelled the auction of 14 critical minerals that were on offer in the second round of auction. In June, the government had put on sale 21 blocks in the fourth round of auction of critical and strategic minerals.

The government received 56 physical bids and 56 online bids for 18 of the 20 blocks offered during the first tranche of the auction, which began on November 29, 2023. However, the auction for 13 of the 20 blocks was cancelled due to a lukewarm response. Seven of these cancelled blocks were re-notified for auction in the third round.