India’s Trade Minister and US Commerce Secretary signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance cooperation on the critical minerals supply chain in the 6th commercial dialogue held in Washington. .

India-US Critical Minerals Pact

This India-US Critical Minerals Pact focuses on minerals like lithium and cobalt essential for electric vehicles and clean energy.

• Key Objectives:
  • Strengthening supply chains for critical minerals in both countries.
  • Building resilience in the critical minerals sector through cooperation.
• Focus Areas: The MOU aims to identify equipment, services, policies, and best practices for critical minerals exploration, extraction, processing, refining, recycling, and recovery.

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About Critical Minerals

• Definition: These are the minerals which are essential for economic development and national security but the scarcity and limitation of its geographical availability leading to supply chain vulnerability and disruption constitute to its criticality.
• Major Critical Minerals: The Report of the Committee on Identification of Critical Minerals constituted by Ministry of Mines has identified 30 critical minerals,
  • Antimony, Beryllium, Bismuth, Cobalt, Copper, Gallium, Germanium, Graphite, Hafnium, Indium, Lithium, Molybdenum, Niobium, Nickel, PGE, Phosphorous, Potash, REE, Rhenium, Silicon, Strontium, Tantalum, Tellurium, Tin, Titanium, Tungsten, Vanadium, Zirconium, Selenium and Cadmium.
• Top Producers: According to the International Energy Agency, the major producers of critical minerals are China, Congo, Chile, Indonesia, South Africa, and Australia. 
• China has global dominance in terms of processing.
• Usage: 
  • Advanced Electronics: They are critical for making semiconductors and high-end electronics manufacturing.
  • Clean Energy Technology: These minerals are an essential components in many clean energy technologies, from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles.
  • Transport and Communications: They are also used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, and radio sets, Aircrafts and mainly power the transition to Electric Vehicles
  • Diverse Sectors: To manufacture advanced technologies in diverse sectors such as mobile phones, tablets, electric vehicles, solar panels, wind turbines, fibre optic cables, and defence and medical applications.
  • Battery and Storage Technology: These minerals are critical to develop the storage technology in terms of advancements in battery technology like Lithium-Ion.

Significance of Critical Minerals

• Economic Development: Essential for industries like electronics, telecommunications, defence, and green technologies.
  • Critical for solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles.
  • Can boost jobs, income, and innovation.
• National Security: Vital for defence, aerospace, nuclear, and space applications.
  • Ensure use of reliable, high-quality materials.
• Environmental Sustainability: Crucial for transitioning to clean energy and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
  • Vital for India’s goal of 450 GW renewable energy by 2030.

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Challenges for India

• Dependency on China: India currently relies heavily on China for critical minerals, making it vulnerable to supply chain disruptions and price fluctuations.
• Limited Domestic Resources: India has limited domestic resources of critical minerals which  makes it difficult to achieve self-sufficiency.
• Technological Limitations: India lacks the necessary technology and infrastructure for efficient extraction, processing, and refining of critical minerals.
• Investment Barriers: India faces challenges in attracting foreign investment in the critical minerals sector due to regulatory hurdles and infrastructure constraints.
• Increasing Demand: Growing demand for minerals due to renewable energy and electric vehicles.

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