Indian co’s eye critical minerals mining in Lanka, Aus as govt expands search.

Syllabus: GS-I, Subject: Geography, Topic: Resources – World and India, Issue: Critical Minerals

Context: The Ministry of Mines discuss opportunities for the mining of critical minerals by Indian companies in Sri Lanka and Australia.

Sri Lanka:

• Significant reserves of vein graphite, a highly pure form of natural graphite.
• Graphite is a critical mineral that is extensively used as the anode material in lithium-ion batteries.
• Graphite in India is largely concentrated in Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Jharkhand

Australia :

• Produces almost half of the world’s lithium and is the second-largest producer of cobalt.
• Both lithium and cobalt are used in Electric Vehicles and consumer electronics.

Prelims Connect: Lithium Triangle:

Source: Indian Express