After the discovery of lithium deposits in Jammu and Kashmir, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) discovered lithium reserves in the Degana municipality of Nagaur district in Rajasthan.
This recent finding is said to be larger than the GSI found in Jammu & Kashmir a few months back, which was around 5.9 million tonnes valued at $410 billion.
There has yet to be an official statement from the GSI, Central and State Governments about the quantity of lithium discovered. But as per the reports, GSI and State Government officials have said that this discovery can fulfil India’s 80 per cent demand.
A senior geologist from the state mines department said, “Exploration was completed in March in a couple of blocks. But testing, analysis and 4-5 months will be needed to ascertain the lithium content to determine whether it will make mining financially viable”.
According to reports, this reserve is still in the pre-mining stage, and officials will only be able to confirm the quantity of lithium once more exploration has taken place.
The reserve was reportedly found in Renwat Hill of Degana, famous for its tungsten reserves which are supplied all across the country to make weapons and surgical goods.
This second discovery of this vital mineral will boost India’s ambition of having zero carbon emissions and change the landscape of electronic-based products such as mobiles, laptops and electric vehicles (EV).
It is known as the softest and lightest metal in the world, which helps manufacture chargeable electronic and battery-powered goods. It’s a nonferrous metal and is one of the main components in EV batteries, which converts chemical energy into electrical energy.
In recent times in the market, there has been an increase of such devices, which has increased the demand for this metal worldwide; that’s why it’s also known as the ‘white gold’.
This finding may end China’s monopoly over the supply of this metal. Many Indian entrepreneurs have commented on this discovery.
The CEO & Co-Founder of Chargeup, Varun Goenka, said, “As India discovers significant lithium reserves in Rajasthan, in addition to the previously discovered reserves in Jammu & Kashmir, the country is well positioned to become the 3rd largest market for EVs in the next 4 years”.
He further said this discovery would end dependency of India on foreign countries and boost the ‘Make in India’ initiative of indigenous manufacturing of lithium-based products.
The founder & Lead Investor of Capital A, Ankit Kedia, said, “Lithium-ion batteries are by far the most efficient, safer, and lightweight battery options for the electric vehicles. This is where the discovery of Lithium reserves in different parts of India augurs very well for Indian EV ecosystem. It is true that the mere discovery of the Lithium reserves isn’t automatically going to change everything as we will need to build processing infrastructure and expertise. This is an area where countries like China and the US are far ahead of us in terms of sophistication and maturing of markets.”
He added, “At the same time, a start has to be made somewhere, and this potential of domestically produced Lithium usage in supporting the battery manufacturing industry and the overall EV ecosystem is huge. This would bring much needed encouragement in the domestic markets that have currently been affected by the withdrawal of the FAME II scheme. It must be noted that EV adoption in India has taken off in a big way and people are going to continue buying the EVs regularly when the holistic and supportive ecosystem is in place. That’s where I believe India has made great progress, and the recent discoveries of Lithium reserves will be highly instrumental”.
