An Exploration Of India’s Mineral Diplomacy

India is actively seeking to secure critical minerals like Lithium, Cobalt, and Nickel to ensure energy security and avoid over-dependence on China, which currently controls global supply and processing.

Significance of Critical Minerals

• Import Dependence: India cannot meet its clean energy goals without imported rare earths and critical minerals.
• China Supply Risk: China’s tightening controls have heightened urgency and vulnerability.
• Global Policy Shift: India is committing to diversified trade, responsible mining, and standards-based markets.
  

India’s Two-Pronged Strategy

• Domestic Capability Building: India is strengthening long-term mineral capability at home through policy reforms.
• Overseas Resource Access: India is securing short-term access abroad through partnerships.
• Scale of Engagement: Nearly a dozen partnerships in five years raise questions about actual delivery and impact.

Assessment of Key Partnerships

• Australia: It offers political stability, large reserves, and strategic alignment.
  • Cooperation includes supply agreements, joint research, and investments.
  • In 2022, five lithium and cobalt projects were identified as part of a joint partnership.
• Japan: It adopted diversification, stockpiling, recycling, and R&D after Chinese export curbs.
  • Cooperation now includes joint extraction, processing, and stockpiling, including in third countries.
• Africa:  Countries like Namibia and Zambia are rich in minerals, but they now demand that foreign partners set up local processing factories and create jobs
• United States: Despite existing frameworks for processing, recycling, and separation technologies, cooperation remains largely at the dialogue stage due to tariffs, shifting trade rules, and restrictive provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
  • India aims to acquire processing and recycling technology through the TRUST Initiative.
• European Union: Collaboration depends on following ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) norms and circular economy principles.
• West Asia: The UAE and Saudi Arabia are “midstream partners” that provide capital to purchase mines in third countries, which can then be processed and used in India.
• Russia: Despite large reserves, sanctions, financing, and logistics constraints limit its role, making it useful only as a hedge and not a primary pillar.

New Frontiers for Critical Minerals Cooperation

• Latin America (Argentina, Chile, Peru, Brazil): Focus on copper, nickel, and rare earths; KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Limited) has signed a ₹200 crore agreement with Argentina, but engagement must shift toward value-chain partnerships rather than extraction-only deals.
• Canada: A re-emerging strategic partner with strong reserves and part of a trilateral framework with India and Australia, but an effective partnership depends on stable political relations.

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Conclusion

India’s strategy is divided into Upstream (raw material extraction from Canada or Australia), Midstream (refining in places like the UAE or Japan), and Downstream (final product R&D in the EU or USA).