India discovers another lithium reserve in Degana

New Delhi: After Jammu and Kashmir, lithium reserves have been found in Rajasthan’s Degana, and are in greater quantity than the previous ones discovered recently, as per media reports citing state government officials.

Officials claim that the quantity of lithium found now can meet around 80 per cent of India’s demand. Earlier, 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves were discovered in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi in February 2023.

Lithium which is often called ‘white gold’ has come out as a metal in need, given India’s ambitious targets of achieving 30 per cent electric vehicles sales of total new vehicle sales and a rise in non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030

“India’s annual lithium-ion battery market is expected to grow to 116 GWh by FY2030 from 2.6 GWh in FY2021, with EVs accounting for 90 per cent of the overall market (according to a report by JMK Research and The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis),” said Prahalathan Iyer, Chief General Manager – Research & Analysis, India Exim Bank.

Statement by Ministry of Mines

“Geological Survey of India for the first-time established Lithium inferred resources (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Ministry of Mines had said.

Quartz report

Quartz’s report says that India is the world’s fifth-largest lithium reserve just above the United States with its first discovery of lithium in bulk two years ago in Karnataka.

The report further added that until now, India has been dependent on Australia, Chile and Argentina for imports of lithium for its manufacturing sector. However, since refining lithium ore to turn it into the material to produce batteries is a hard process, India will be continuing to rely on imports for at least two years.

Why is it important?

Battery made of lithium is the only possible alternative for electric vehicles as it has a high power-to-weight ratio, which enables it to provide last long while keeping the vehicle’s curb weight low. Lithium is more energy efficient and acts better under different temperatures, making it a much safer and more reliable method than other materials.