According to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water, around 55 percent to 90 percent of the reserves of the critical minerals required for low carbon technologies lie in 15 countries, said Vivek Bharadwaj, the secretary of the ministry of mines.
The 15 countries include — Australia, Brazil, China, DR Congo, Gabon, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, New Caledonia, Peru, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, United States.
Bharadwaj was speaking at the diversifying renewables and critical minerals supply chains to advance energy transition’ event in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on Monday, which was being held on sidelines of the second Energy Transition Working Group, under the India’s G20 presidency. The event is being hosted by the ministry of new and renewable energy as well as the ministry of mines and ministry of power and supported by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the Asian Development Bank.
The Addressing Vulnerabilities in the Supply Chain of Critical Minerals report was also unveiled during the event.
Minerals utilised to develop low carbon technologies (LCTs)
Copper is the most highly-utilised mineral for most of the LCTs — solar PV, wind, hydro power, CSP, bioenergy, nuclear, electricity networks and EVs and battery storage. And EVs and battery storage are the LCTs that require the most minerals — copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, REEs and aluminium. Rare earth elements (REEs) are a set of 17 chemical elements that are essential in many high-tech devices.
Aluminium too is used in solar PV, wind power, hydro power, CSP, bioenergy, and hydrogen. Geothermal energy and solar PVs require just two highly-utlised minerals — nickel and chromium and copper and aluminium, respectively.
Critical minerals — challenges and opportunities
Bharadwaj said that the ministry is aiming address the availability of critical minerals with extensive exploration, such as the the recent Jammu & Kashmir incident. In February, the Geological Survey of India said it had found 5.9 tonne lithium reserves in Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi district, for the first time in the country. Bharadwaj said that the mines ministry is also looking at acquiring mineral assets abroad to ensure they are easily available in India.
“A concentrated supply chain for critical minerals and renewable energy tech are both a risk and opportunity. It is an opportunity for innovation and collaboration among the G20 countries,” said Kenichi Yokoyama, the director general of the South Asia regional department, Asian Development Bank. The power ministry secretary Alok Kumar said that India will need a large number of modules for power storage and that the situation would become challenging post-2030. He said carbon capture and utilisation is still not promising and require work.
Kumar added that transition to renewables is not possible without enhancing, incentivising local manufacturing. “If we do not succeed in supporting local manufacturing, it will be very difficult. There is no alternative option,” he said. The renewable energy ministry’s secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla too said that the progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs) has been slower than expected. He said economic disruptions have slowed the energy transition, which has impacted the energy security across the world.
Talking about the polysilicon modules, he said the tranche 2 for the same was recently issued. By April 2026, India would have 48GW annual production capacity of solar PV modules that are made in India.
In conclusion
The critical aspect of the minerals depends on various factors— quantum present in a particular country, as well as their future demand. On the other hand minerals such as copper, cobalt, lithium, manganse, REEs and nickel are considered critical from the point of view of the manufacturing of LCTs. The report concludes that expanding exploration as well as responsibly developing mines would help ensure the production of minerals can be scaled to meet the demand, which is distributed across more geographies. New technologies are also being developed to reduce the dependence on these critical minerals in LCTs, the report stated.
“By deploying such substitutes and supporting the circular economy of these technologies, the criticality of these minerals can be reduced consdierably,” the report states, adding that countries would have to have a shared vision on critical minerals to secure their supply. This would involve tracking and assessing the critical minerals value chain periodically as well as strategic global stockpiling. Countries should also encourage recycling and reusing low carbon technologies, the report added.
Source: PTI
