India needs significant investment in R&D, people and environment-friendly government regulations so as to break China’s supply chain
By Tej Singh Kardam
In 1817, Johan August Arfwedson, a Swedish chemist, while investigating and experimenting with the mineral petalite (Lithium aluminium silicate), discovered Lithium (Li). As the metal was not found in pure form, William Thomas Brande isolated the element using electrolysis of Li-oxide in 1821. Since then, there was hardly any use of the metal, except using it as a lubricant and in the glass industry, etc. The manufacturing of Li batteries took off in the 1990s and today an estimated 70% of Li production goes to the battery.
Lithium is the lightest of the solid elements and the metal itself is soft, silvery-white and lustrous. Li-ion batteries are used in wind turbines, solar panels, smartphones, laptops, cameras and devices which use rechargeable batteries. Given its potential to revolutionise other industries like electric vehicles (EVs), which are crucial to the green economy, Li is often called ‘white gold’. Li is being hailed as the future of clean energy with the eyes of the world on this metal and the mining industry. Due to their unique chemical properties, Li-ion batteries are able to store large amounts of energy, which can help pave the way to a decarbonised future.
In Abundance
Lithium is abundant in the earth’s crust but is very finely distributed. Researchers estimate the amount of the light metal in the world’s oceans at around 200 billion tonnes. Deposits in rocks and salt lakes are believed to add up to 98 million tonnes, 26 million of which would be economically mineable in the coming decades. In the global scenario, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile account for 21 million tonnes (mt), 19 mt and 9.8 mt, respectively, constituting about 65% of the world’s Li reserves. Of this, these three countries account for 42 million tonnes of Li in underground salt lakes. Around 45,000 tonnes were mined from there in 2022. The process involved, pumping salty brine from depth into basins for evaporation, then concentrated brine is filtered to get Li-carbonate, the basic material for battery production. The US with 9.1 million tonnes and China with 5.1 million tonnes are the other countries which have significant reserves.
Recently, India discovered an estimated reserves of 5.9 million tonnes, in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district of Jammu & Kashmir. As per an expert from the International Institute of Sustainable Development, Li deposits in this area can be a potential game changer for the country’s clean energy ambition goals. If mining is taken up in this area, it will reduce India’s dependence on China and other countries, in addition to saving foreign exchange and strengthening the country’s energy security. This discovery is also being viewed as a huge boost for India’s ambition to expand electric vehicle penetration to 30% by 2030.
The largest volumes of Li are currently extracted by mining solid rocks in open pits in Australia – about 61,000 tonnes was extracted in 2022. This constituted 47% of global Li demand. Li ore is mined by drilling, blasting, crushing lumps in a plant, and Li is separated from overburden by chemical and mechanical processes. Further 35% of the demand was met from South America’s salt lakes, 15% from China and about one per cent each from Zimbabwe, Portugal and North America. Li mined from these countries is mostly exported to China, where it is processed into battery cells. According to the US R&D centre, Li extracted from ore is about six times more energy-intensive than from salt lakes.
Challenges in Production
Major challenges in the production of Li in South American countries are soil degradation, water shortage and contamination, air pollution and biodiversity loss. In addition, more than 2 million litres of water is required for the production of one tonne of Lithium, according to Saleem Ali, professor of Energy and Environment, University of Delaware, US. The International Energy Agency has mentioned that about half of the Li-producing areas are water stressed.
Further, the main Li-producing areas in China, Africa and Australia are subjected to heat or flooding, posing challenges to sustainable supplies. Regarding India’s discovery, experts and environmentalists are concerned about the impact of mining development activities in the fragile and disaster-prone Himalayan region. The biggest concern is that mining companies do not follow eco-friendly practices because of lax environmental regulations in India.
The Himalayan region in J&K is eco-sensitive and mining could lead to significant biodiversity loss. Further, extracting Li from hard rock mines entails open-pit mining followed by roasting the ore using fossil fuels. This process may release 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every tonne extracted. Mining Li in the Himalayan region may pose significant risks such as subsidence like Joshimath. The Himalayas are the source of so many rivers, any mining activity is going to pollute the entire riparian ecosystem.
In addition, open-pit mining, refining and waste disposal from these processes will substantially degrade the environment, including depleting and contaminating waterways and groundwater, diminishing biodiversity and releasing considerable air pollution.
Opportunity for India
India plans to buy Li to ensure supplies that could potentially last for decades and make India self-reliant. The government has started a massive effort to make India a world leader in Li batteries. Li is the driver of the technology age and could dictate the future of civilisation. The metal is of utmost importance as it powers our smartphones, tablets, cameras, laptops and cars. Consequently, India spent $1.2 billion in importing batteries mainly from China during 2019-20.
India is going to sources like Bolivia, Chile and Argentina which possess maximum reserves as the country wants to make batteries at home by importing raw materials from these countries. At present, India is collaborating with Australia for the supply of Li, and an Li refinery in Gujarat is on the cards, which will process Li ore to produce battery-grade Li. Once the country starts manufacturing Li-ion batteries, it will corner the supply of China to the global market.
India can learn a lot of lessons from China. Over the past 10 years, China has aggressively developed the EV battery market, capturing every link in the supply chain to become the industry leader in e-mobility. Therefore, India needs significant investment in R&D, people and environment-friendly government regulations, foreign direct investment flow and aggressive acquisition of raw material resources globally, accelerating manufacturing processes so as to break China’s supply chain and become a market leader for next-generation electric vehicles.