Critical Minerals Investment Partnership India – Australia
Source : PIB
GS I : Distribution of key natural resources across the world
What is discussed under Critical Minerals Investment Partnership India – Australia?
- What are Critical Minerals?
- Special Minerals used for
Why in News ?
India and Australia have reached a major milestone in working towards investment in critical minerals projects to develop supply chains between the two countries.
Key Facts
- Announced the Partnership has identified five target projects (two lithium and three cobalt) on which to undertake detailed due
Photo by Dion Beetson on Unsplash diligence.
- Ministers from the two countries have also agreed to deepen cooperation and extend their existing commitments to the India- Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.
- Build new supply chains underpinned by critical minerals processed in Australia.
- That will help India’s plans to lower emissions from its electricity network and become a global manufacturing hub, including for electric vehicles.
- Australia produces almost half of the world’s lithium, is the second-largest producer of cobalt and the fourth-largest producer of rare earths.
What are Critical Minerals?
- Essential components of advance technologies, known as critical minerals, are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
- The essential components like mobile phones, computer, batteries, electric vehicles, green technologies etc. requires critical minerals for its manufacturing.
- Demand for these minerals will grow quickly as clean energy transitions gather pace.
- According to International Energy Agency Since 2010 the average amount of mineral resources needed for a new unit of power generation capacity has increased by 50% as the share of renewables in new investment has risen.
- In order to hit net-zero globally by 2050, would require up to six times more mineral inputs in 2040 than today.
- Geoscience Australia refers to critical minerals as “metals, non-metals and minerals that are considered vital for the economic well-being of the world’s major and emerging economies, yet whose supply may be at risk due to geological scarcity, geopolitical issues, trade policy or other factors”.
- The European Union (EU) defines them as critical raw materials (CRMs).
Special Minerals used for
- Materials are inputs for conventional industries, and many are essential for the high-tech goods needed for clean energy, national security, computer technology, aviation, and space exploration.
- Some of the minerals are Cobalt, Lanthanum, Lithium, Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Cadmium, Indium, Gallium, neodymium, Dysprosium, Terbium, Titanium etc.
- Among these there are eight minerals considered to be of greatest interest and these include lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, LREEs, HREEs, titanium and vanadium.
- LREE : Light rare earth elements
- HREE : Heavy rare earth elements
Some examples are
- For the manufacturing of Electric Vehicles Cobalt, Lanthanum, Lithium are required
- For solar technologies minerals like cadmium, indium, gallium are required
- manufacture of magnets neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium required
Share of top producing countries in extraction of selected minerals and fossil fuels, 2019 Source IEA
What are the challenges?
- Supply-side risks for a mineral are based on the domestic endowment.
- Territorial Dispute : China suspended exports of REEs to Japan for 59 days over a territorial dispute.
- Sudden rise of demand leads to shortfall
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