Discovery of Lithium Deposits

Context: 

The 5.9 million tonnes of Lithium inferred resources have been discovered in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.

About Lithium:

• It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal.
• Under standard conditions, it is the lightest metal and the lightest solid element.
• Lithium is highly reactive and flammable, and is stored in mineral oil.

• Uses:

• • Lithium is one of the key components in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
  • Lithium is used also in batteries for gadgets like laptops and mobile phones. 
  • It has also found application in the glass and ceramics industries.

World Lithium reserves:

• Lithium resources are concentrated in a few places. 
  • For Example: Around 50 percent of the world’s lithium deposits are found in the salt flats of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. 
• Lithium Triangle: 
  • It is an intersection of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, known for high quality salt flats.
  • Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, Salar de Atacama in Chile and Salar de Arizaro in Argentina contain over 50% of known global lithium reserves.
• Australia also has around 2.7 million tonnes of lithium resources.
• China controls 60 percent of the world’s capacity for processing raw lithium products into batteries. 

Lithium and India:

• The Mines ministry had said that to strengthen the critical mineral supply chain for emerging technologies, the government was taking several measures to secure minerals, including lithium, from Australia and Argentina. 
• Currently, India is import dependent for many minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt.
• Recently, Khanij Bidesh India Ltd has inked a pact with an Argentine firm to jointly prospect lithium in Argentina. 

                                                                                                                                 News Source: The Hindu

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