New Report on Heavy Metal Deposits Vital for India’s Strategic Industries

India has some deposits of heavy metals and critical minerals essential for crucial industries such as Li-Ion batteries, semiconductor technology, and computing. However, the extent to which these deposits are significant and financially viable varies. These deposits are scattered across different regions of the country, with varying levels of accessibility and extraction feasibility. The details are as under:

 

  1. Lithium – India has discovered lithium reserves in the states of Karnataka and Jammu & Kashmir.
  2. Cobalt & Nickel – Cobalt, & Nickel is generally found in association with copper ores. Small deposits are known to exist in Odisha and Jharkhand. India’s reserves are relatively modest.
  3. Rare Earth Elements (REEs) – India has significant reserves of rare earth elements in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, and Kerala. The monazite sands in Kerala are particularly rich in REEs.
  4. Graphite – India has substantial reserves of high-quality graphite. Graphite is found in Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu.
  1. Further, as per National Mineral Inventory (NMI) as on 01.04.2020, the reserve/resources of critical minerals is given in Annexure-I.

 

No. Currently, there are no working mining leases for cobalt, nickel, lithium, and neodymium in the country for production purposes.

However, India has mining and production of some critical metals, although it still largely depends on imports to meet its demand. There are 54 mining leases of critical minerals viz. graphite, rock phosphate and tin ore, in the country and the details are as follows :

 

Mineral Number of Leases Working Non-Working
Graphite 32 9 23
Rock Phosphate 7 6 1
Tin Ore 15 5 10
Grand Total 54 20 34

 

The projected annual requirement of critical minerals such as cobalt, nickel, lithium, neodymium etc. in the next few years is as follows:

(in tonnes)

Mineral 2025 2026 2027 2030
Cobalt 17 49 147 3,878
Lithium 58 174 517 13,671
Nickel 2,629 3,057 6,663 17,492
Neodymium 223 261 830 766

 

As regards the steps being undertaken to conduct the exploration of such resources, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) is involved in exploration of critical minerals/metals with special emphasis on exploration of areas, which are potential for critical and strategic minerals and has given thrust to increase the number of exploration projects across the country. GSI has increased its exploration projects for critical and strategic minerals from 118 nos. in 2021-22 to 196 nos. in 2024-25. Since amendment of MMDR Act, 2015, the details of cumulative resource augmented by GSI for critical and strategic minerals at various cut off and different average grade is as follows:

 

S.No. Commodity Resource

(in million tonnes)

1 Rare Earth Elements (REE) ore 230.0
2 Lithium 12.3
3 Gallium ore 74.0
4 Graphite ore 32
5 Niobium ore 282.0
6 Vanadium ore 71.0
7 Cobalt 275 tonnes
8 Tin ore 3.0
9 Tungsten ore 21.5
10 Molybdenum ore 1.7
11 Platinum Group Elements (PGE) ore 1.0
12 Nickel ore 4.7

 

In order to promote exploration of critical and deep-seated minerals, a new mineral concession namely, Exploration Licence has been introduced for 29 deep-seated minerals, of which many are of critical minerals, which will permit the licencee to undertake reconnaissance and prospecting operations for these minerals. GSI has handed over 20 blocks for auction as exploration license to State Governments of which 12 blocks are notified for auction by State of Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

In order to encourage private participation in exploration, Ministry of Mines has notified 23 private exploration agencies (NPEAs). These agencies are taking up exploration projects through funding from National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET).

As regards the mining of such resources, the Central Government has amended the “Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957”, in 2023 to empower Central Government to exclusively auction blocks for 24 critical and strategic minerals mentioned in part D to the Schedule-I of the MMDR Act, 1957. So far, 14 critical mineral blocks [Mining Lease-2, Composite Licence-12] have been successfully auctioned having minerals viz., Lithium, Rare Earth Elements (REE), Graphite, Vanadium, Nickel, Chromium, Glauconite, Platinum Group of Elements (PGE) and Phosphorite. These blocks are spread across the States of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Earlier, State Governments had auctioned 30 blocks of critical minerals. So far, a total of 44 blocks of critical minerals have been auctioned by the Central Government and various State Governments as per table given below:

 

Mineral Auctioned Blocks Mining Lease Composite Licence
Basemetal 4 0 4
Glauconite (Potash) 5 0 5
Graphite 14 6 8
Graphite Vanadium 2 1 1
Lithium and Rare Earth Elements

(REE)

 

1

 

0

 

1

Nickel, Chromium and associated Platinum Group Elements (PGE)

minerals

 

 

4

 

 

0

 

 

4

Phosphorite 6 1 5
Rock Phosphate 4 1 3
Graphite and Manganese 2 2 0
Basemetal & Associated Minerals 2 0 2
Grand Total 44 11 33

 

This information was given by Union Minister of Coal and Mines Shri G. Kishan Reddy in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

 

Annexure-I

Reserves/resources of Critical minerals as per NMI as on 01.04.2020

 

Sl.No. Mineral Unit Reserve Remaining

Resources

Total Resources
1. Cobalt (Ore) Million

Tonnes

0 45 45
2. Graphite Tonne 85,63,411 20,30,60,176 21,16,23,587
3. Molybdenum
Ore Tonne 0 2,72,03,398 2,72,03,398
Contained MoS2 Tonne 0 16,890.56 16,890.56
4. Nickel Ore Million

Tonnes

0 189 189
5. Rock Phosphate Tonne 3,08,76,093 28,03,77,392 31,12,53,485
6. Platinum group of metals (PGM) Tonnes of Metal

Contained

0 20.92 20.92
7. Potash * Million

Tonnes

0 23,091 23,091
8. Rare Earth Elements

(REE)

Tonne 0 4,59,727 4,59,727
9. Tin        
Ore Tonne 2,101 8,37,20,794 8,37,22,895
Metal Tonne 973.99 1,02,782.91 1,03,756.90
10. Titanium @ Tonne 1,59,98,625 41,11,08,526 42,71,07,150
11. Tungsten
Ore Tonne 0 8,94,32,464 8,94,32,464
Metal Tonne 0 1,44,650.07 1,44,650.07
12. Vanadium        
Ore Tonne 0 2,46,33,855 2,46,33,855
Contained V2O5 Tonne 0 64,594.01 64,594.01
13. Zircon Tonne 6,69,466 16,74,435 23,43,901

Figures rounded off

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