India plans to fund research institutes which would provide technical assistance to mining companies as the country increases efforts to develop its mining industry and reduce a near-total dependence on imported lithium and rare earth metals.
So far, India’s efforts to develop a critical mining industry have had limited success. In June, the country awarded mining rights to a lithium block in central India’s Chhattisgarh state, but a separate attempt to auction lithium blocks in Jammu and Kashmir failed to find buyers due to low mineral concentrations and high mining costs.
The government may spend up to $50 million to fund collaboration between research institutes and companies to develop mining technologies and better methods of beneficiating, or upgrading, mineral ores before processing them into metals. In July, the Ministry of Mines asked the National Institute of Interdisciplinary Science and Technology to provide miners with know-how on mining critical minerals.
“The auctioned blocks contain critical minerals associated with other minerals and/or metals, that need tailor-made case-specific extraction techniques,” the release said. “As most of the critical minerals are not extracted in the country, the economical and successful extraction of these critical and strategic minerals by companies requires support and guidance on extraction and beneficiation techniques.” Similar letters were sent to five other research institutes in India.
The government will invite joint proposals from institutes and companies, and approved projects will receive up to 75% of the total funding.
Hélène Tarin, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
