Srinagar, 03 May (CNI) : The Government of India will auction the 5.9 million tons (mt) of lithium reserves found in Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) Reasi district in December this year, the Secretary of the Ministry of Mines Vivek Bharadwaj said.
The Secretary said that the ministry has written to the J&K administration seeking a transaction advisor for the auction.
Bharadwaj said at an industry event, “We have been lucky to discover 5.9 mt of lithium. We were looking for limestones which are available in Jammu Kashmir. We found limestone, bauxite, and lithium together. There has been renewed interest in exploring these minerals.”
“We have completed the consultation process with stakeholders on the amendment of the Offshore Mining Act. Hopefully, we will soon bring it to Parliament for discussion.”
The discovery of lithium, a non-ferrous metal and a key component in electric vehicle batteries, is considered significant given that it is currently mined only in a few countries. Given its use in energy storage, lithium will play a vital part in the global energy transition to cleaner sources.
Earlier in February 2023, the Ministry of Mines had announced that the Geological Survey of India (GSI) had established stablished “lithium inferred resources” — calculated on the basis of physical and chemical study of the surface and samples — in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir.(CNI)
