Chile keen to assist India on lithium capacity development: Report

India wants to become a player in the lithium supply chain, underscoring the need to reduce dependence on China for developing critical technological capacity

Chile, home to the world’s largest Lithium reserves, is keen to partner with India in exploring the possibilities offered by the discovery of the estimated 5.9-million-tonne reserve of lithium in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, The Indian Express reported. Chile is “willing” to engage in technology transfers and help India build up its industrial capacity in Lithium exploration so that the country can become a major player in the metal's supply chain.

Alex Wetzig, Secretary General, Chile’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told IE, “We are open (to it) if the Indian Government were to initiate anything formally,” adding, “Currently we have an agreement on trade of goods. And of course, we want to improve our exchange by adding services and investment in a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. We are trying to have better relations with all the markets, especially in the Asia Pacific region. And, of course, India is a very interesting market because it’s growing, the number of potential consumers”.

Also Read | China could control a third of the world’s lithium by 2025

Citing Australia’s lithium industry as proof of the Chile's commitment to helping emerging players in the supply chain, Wetzig said, “…there is a private company with the experience in this progression of lithium called SQM. They have even invested in Australia, where they have a Chilean-Australian joint venture called Covalent. They basically produce battery-grade lithium to export from Australia. So, Chile has a record of being able to help develop lithium industries in other countries… it depends on the size of the find… if the Indian Government is interested to have an expertise of a Chilean company on lithium, of course, we are open to it”.

Lithium is critical to producing batteries that power electric vehicles, and thus plays a major role in the transformation to sustainable automobile solutions. Lithium-ion batteries are also most commonly used in grid energy storage systems, making use of solar power and wind turbine systems possible. Medical devices like pacemakers use the resource, too.

Much of the world’s supply comes from the lithium triangle in Bolivia, Argentina and Chile, but the refining capacity is concentrated in China. India wants to become a player in the supply chain, and this desire is born out of necessity — the need to reduce dependence on China for developing technological capacity.

Also Read | India can become number one EV manufacturer by using lithium reserve in J&K: Gadkari

Just last month, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that if India can use the reserves discovered in Jammu and Kashmir, it can become world's number one electric vehicle manufacturer. "Now, in Jammu and Kashmir, we have found lithium. If we can use this lithium-ion, we will be the number one automobile manufacturing country in the world," he said.

Underscoring the importance of the discovery, J&K mining secretary Amit Sharma told news agency PTI, "Lithium falls in the critical resource category, which was earlier not available in India and we were dependent for its 100 per cent import. The G3 (advanced) study of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) shows the presence of best quality lithium in abundant quantity in the foothills of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Salal village in Reasi district".