J&K lithium find promises sustainable supplies of critical mineral (Opinion)

By Dr Akshay Singhal

Amid the recent favourable announcements in the Union Budget for the EV industry and the exponential growth in the penetration of EVs across the country over the last year, the lithium reserves finding in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir comes in as a "commendable development" by the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

India's cell production capacity is projected to reach 70-100 GWh by 2030. Currently, the biggest challenge in procuring lithium from foreign countries is the financial impact due to imports and increasing freight and logistics costs, leading to the high price of the crucial elements.

Alongside the lack of lithium resources, the country struggles to source minerals like cobalt and nickel, which are equally critical for EV battery manufacturing.

All these challenges further create an adverse environmental impact due to the non-sustainable supply chain operations while the country strives to achieve their net-zero objectives.

The 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves explored in Resai, if extractable, will enable India to have a massive cell production capacity of 6 TWh, surpassing the global cell production capacity of 500GWh. The discovery will facilitate the nation to expedite its journey of becoming Atmanirbhar for its EV mobility and energy needs.

With the latest finding of lithium reserves arises a hope of accentuating the domestic manufacturing of Li-ion cells and batteries in the country.

However, this is still an inferred reserve and requires validation for extraction potential. The government must also establish frameworks to ensure viable lithium mining in the region, considering the social, economic, and political aspects.

Lithium mining comes with pertinent ecological challenges, which is a matter of concern, given the country's ambition of becoming net zero by 2070. The process involves extensive water consumption - 1 tonne of lithium ore utilises 2.2 million litres of water. It also releases a large amount of CO2 into the atmosphere, which could result in adverse health hazards for the locals in the region.

Some foreseen challenges in setting up an end-to-end supply chain involve the conversion of raw lithium into battery-grade lithium and sourcing other EV components and materials, such as cobalt, nickel, etc., essential to develop high-quality li-ion batteries.

India has successfully positioned itself among the top 10 countries with the highest lithium reserves. The global lithium reserves are up to 88 million tonnes, with Bolivia sitting at the first position with 21 million tonnes of lithium, followed by Argentina with 20 million tonnes, the United States with 12 million tonnes, Chile with 11 million tonnes, Australia with 7.9 million tonnes, China with 6.8 million tonnes, and India at the seventh position with 5.9 million tonnes.

To ensure we can get maximum advantage of the find, it is imperative to confirm the type of material found, the total extractable quantity, and further convert it into battery-grade lithium.

For this, advancements in material sciences are the need of the hour as we must work towards reducing our dependence on foreign countries for technological prowess and to have an indigenous and sustainable end-to-end supply chain.

By having an indigenised cell and battery manufacturing line, India can reduce its dependency on neighbouring countries and protect its Forex capacity. Further, it will lower our trade deficit as the capital invested in lithium imports will remain locked in the country.

With gradual yet steady advancements in these areas, EVs will become cheaper, furthering its transition across the country. Parallelly, we should also explore possibilities of battery recycling and invest in developing high-quality batteries to move closer towards becoming a global EV battery supplier, taking India ahead on the world EV map.

While the crucial finding in J&K is a potential catalyst in taking India closer to becoming self-sufficient for its energy needs, its impact is far bigger as it will transform India from being just a big EV consumer market to giving India an end-to-end supplier position at the global level.

I am super excited to see further developments on this and I'm keen to be a part of the journey of making India a global superpower in the EV battery space.

(Dr Akshay Singhal is Founder and CEO at Log9 Materials, a Bengaluru-based advanced deep-tech startup)

Source: IANS