There, but rare
On February 9, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) announced that lithium reserves have been found for the first time in India, in Jammu and Kashmir. “…GSI, for the first time established 5.9 million tonnes inferred resources (G3) of lithium in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district of J&K,” a statement read.
With a specific gravity of 0.534, it is about half as dense as water. In its pure elemental form it is a soft, silvery-white metal, but is highly reactive and therefore never found like this in nature.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) says lithium occurs in most rocks as a trace element, substituting for magnesium in common rock-forming minerals. “Lithium has an average concentration of 20 parts per million in the Earth’s continental crust. It is more abundant than some of the better-known metals, including tin and silver,” says the USGS.
According to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2022, identified lithium resources globally have been revised to 80 million tonne. However, reserves from which the element can be accessed as on date is pegged at just over 22 million with Chile leading at 9.2 million tonne.
What are Inferred Resources?
Inferred Resources means “part of a mineral resource for which tonnage, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a low level of confidence”. It is inferred from geological evidence and assumed but not verified.
The United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Fuel says that with the exception of past production that may be measured, quantities are always estimated and there will be a degree of uncertainty associated with the estimates.
“A low estimate scenario is directly equivalent to a high confidence estimate (G1), whereas a best estimate scenario is equivalent to the combination of the high confidence and moderate confidence estimates (G1+G2). A high estimate scenario is equivalent to the combination of high, moderate and low confidence estimates (G1+G2+G3),” UN says.
The G4 class means the project is still at an exploratory stage, which is mostly the case in India, according to the Union ministry of mines and coals.
India needs core competencies
The introduction of Lithium-ion Batteries (LiB) has revolutionised numerous sectors, most prominently the EV industry. The adoption of LiB is accelerating in India. Specialist consultancy firm for renewable energy JMK Research estimates that the annual LiB market in India will reach 116 GWh in 2030, with EVs accounting for around 90% of the overall market on the back of huge government targets of adding variable renewable energy sources to the grid.
Of the total cost of LiBs, cells account for 65%, battery pack 15%, battery management system(BMS) 15% and the balance being the outer box, as per JMK Research.
So far, battery packs and associated BMS manufacturing have entirely dominated the space in India and Indian manufacturers are able to produce most of the sub-components that go in a battery pack while thermal pads still need to be imported.
Similarly, BMS and outer box are also primarily supplied by the Indian battery pack assemblers.
A step forward
In what was the first for the country, the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (Isro) Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) successfully developed and qualified lithium ion cells of capacities ranging from 1.5Ah to 100Ah.
After successful deployment of the indigenous lithium ion batteries in various satellites and launch vehicle missions, Isro dedicated to transfer this technology to the industries to establish production facilities to cover the entire spectrum of power storage requirements of the country.
The Centre has a target of ensuring at least 30% of new vehicle registrations to be the electric ones by 2030. In view of this, it has focused on developing the value chain for batteries — cells — and for the same, it encourages local manufacturing of lithium-ion cells.
In April 2021, the Centre doubled import duty on lithium-ion cells to 10% and later announced a Production-linked Incentives (PLI) scheme, including financial allocations for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries under the National Programme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (NPACC), for automobiles and auto components.
