India’s first Lithium find: Hopes and Concerns

By Aayushi Sharma

The Union Ministry of Mines recently announced that lithium reserves have been found in Jammu and Kashmir, a first in the country. The Geological Survey of India established 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District in Jammu and Kashmir.  

However, the resource is inferred and not proven yet. The “inferred” mineral resource is part of a resource for which quantity, grade, and mineral content are estimated only with a low level of confidence based on information gathered from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings, and drill holes.

The GSI’s report and 15 other resource-bearing geological reports and 35 Geological memorandums were handed over to respective state governments during the 62nd Central Geological Programming Board (CGPB) meeting held on 9th February 2023. The blocks were prepared based on the work carried out by GSI from field seasons 2018-19 to till date. Out of these 51 mineral blocks, 5 blocks pertain to gold and other blocks pertain to commodities like potash, molybdenum, base metals, etc. spread across 11 states of Jammu & Kashmir (UT), Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. 

Lithium and its uses

Lithium is a silvery-white, lightest solid element and a key component of batteries that power our phones, laptops, pacemakers, solar grids, and most importantly electric vehicles (EVs). Lithium is geologically rare as it is unstable atomically because of low binding energies than any other stable nuclide. Though, it is used for nuclear reactions but is hard to find in nature. Lithium due to its volatility will combust if allowed to come in contact with elements it reacts with, such as those found in the air. Pure lithium needs to be stored in oil and is to be transported safely.

Why is it crucial for India?

India currently imports its lithium from Australia and Argentina. Being a late mover, India attempts to enter the lithium value chain, at a time when electric vehicles are seen to be the future of the automobile industry. Over 165 crore lithium batteries are estimated to have been imported into India between the financial year 2017 and 2020 at an estimated import bill of upwards of $3.3 billion. Lithium resource is viable for economic extraction and is being seen as a huge boost for India’s ambition to expand EV penetration by 30 percent by 2030.

Lithium reserves will provide a significant boost to India’s energy transition as it is one of the key components of batteries for Electric vehicles. However, there are a few concerns involving lithium, especially the post-extraction phase.

Lithium Mining – Risks involved

Lithium can be extracted from hard-rock extraction of the ore through mining. Mining activities in a geologically and eco-sensitive region have disastrous impacts on the environment. The newly found inferred resources identified in the Salal-Haimana of Jammu and Kashmir is a seismically active area. It is placed in seismic zone IV according to the Indian seismic zone map, meaning it lies in a high-damage risk zone. Multiple low-intensity earthquakes have hit this district during the months of August and September in 2022. Scientists have predicted a “great” earthquake of magnitude over 8 in this region. Tectonic activity is very active in the region and every year, the Indian plate shifts northward by about 5mm, and the Himalayas elevate by about 1 cm.

The continuing movement has resulted in numerous faults, with sheets and slabs of deformed and sheared rocks that are weak and loosely bound. The Himalayan region between J&K is an eco-sensitive region, and mining could lead to a significant loss of biodiversity. The fact that the Himalayas are the source of so many rivers, any mining activity is going to pollute the entire riparian ecosystem. 

Mining and processing lithium can further jeopardize food security through its excessive carbon emissions, water, and land use methods. In Chile, it took about 500,000 gallons of water to extract one tonne of lithium. Thus, in areas that already struggle with clean water availability and accessibility, lithium water-mining techniques could lead local water basins to contaminate. 

Amidst all these hopes and planning, there are words of caution that should not be ignored either. Apart from the probability of significant earthquakes, the area is prone to landslides, often claiming lives. Forests in the region are home to leopards, panthers, Himalayan black bears, foxes, wild goats, and wild cows. The biggest concern many express is that mining companies do not follow eco-friendly practices, which is more pronounced in India because of its lax environmental regulations.

The Way Forward

“The discovery of large lithium reserves in the J&K region unleashes the possibility of India’s becoming self-reliant in the near future in the production of lithium at home and using the same for critically important industrial sectors like the Electric Vehicles(EV), solar panels and wind turbines, for achieving just energy transition to renewables and net zero by the year 2070, which is a national mission for India,” says Dr. Partha Das, in-house expert Climate Fact Checks. 

“However at the same time, concerns have been raised about the probability of undesirable impact of mining the lithium and allied minerals on the environment, society, and thus on the lives and livelihood of the local people. This is a valid concern especially when one considers the seismic sensitivity of the region on the basis of several earthquakes that have been experienced in the last two decades. If you consider the fragile Himalayan geological structure and the susceptibility of the entire landscape to landslides the risks are more serious. On top of it the frequent reports of cloud bursts and other heavy rainfall episodes, attributable mostly to climate change make any large manipulation of the landscape more risk-prone, geo-climatically,” Dr. Das added. 

“I think the pragmatic approach to be adopted in such cases is following the principles and practices of ‘sustainable and responsible mining’. The purpose of sustainable mining is to reduce the detrimental environmental, social, and governance impact of mining activities by deploying new technologies for reducing pollution(of land, water, and air), and redesigning operations and management with a focus on the socioeconomic development of affected communities with people-centric stewardship. Confirming the goals of the ESG(Environment-Society-Governance) framework and its protocols will be crucial. Sustainable and responsible mining practices can help in achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envisaged by the UN by the end of 2030 for each country. The National Mineral Policy of India, 2019 also empathizes with sustainable mining operations and provides relevant guidelines, which need to be followed earnestly,” said Dr. Partha Das. 

“If lithium mining projects are going to be pursued, there must be fair and thorough assessments of its effects on agricultural production, especially since the sector is already susceptible to climate change. It is also important to ensure we extract these materials as responsibly as possible, otherwise, it mitigates the very reason for building these green technologies in the first place,” said Shailendra Yashwant, senior adviser to Climate Action Network South Asia.