High Grade Lithium in Nigeria

High Grade Lithium in Nigeria

News: High-grade lithium has been discovered in Nigeria.

About:
• Lithium is a soft, silvery metal.
• It has the lowest density of all metals. It reacts vigorously with water.
• Lithium and most lithium minerals are mined along with other high-value metallic minerals such as tin, niobium-tantalum (columbite-tantalite), and uranium (in pyrochlore).

Why is demand for Lithium increasing?
• Greenbushes mine in Western Australia is the largest hard-rock lithium mine in the world.
• Global lithium mine production hit a record high of 100,000 tonnes in 2021, a 21 per cent increase over 2020 (82,500 tonnes).
• Globally, the demand for Lithium has been increasing because of its vast application mainly as a Lithium-ion battery.
• Lithium-ion batteries are generally more expensive but have better performance and are becoming the preferred technology.
• Also, due to the growing interest in clean energy, the demand for lithium has skyrocketed as most countries draw plans to phase out fossil fuel and switch to zero emission electric vehicles.

What is the status of Lithium in India?
• Researchers at the Atomic Minerals Directorate (under India’s Atomic Energy Commission) have estimated lithium reserves of 14,100 tonnes in a small patch of land surveyed in Southern Karnataka’s Mandya district.
• It is India’s first ever Lithium deposit site.

What are steps taken by India to reduce import dependency of Lithium?
• India has adopted a multi-modal strategy to reduce its dependence on imported lithium and give fresh impetus to the growth of the local electric vehicles (EV) industry.
• State-run Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) is working with the authorities in Argentina, Chile, Australia and Bolivia for acquiring lithium and cobalt mines overseas. It also carries out exploratory work to extract lithium from the brine pools of Rajasthan and Gujarat and the mica belts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
• The country is also working on urban mining where recycled materials remain in circulation and this reduces the dependency on fresh lithium inputs. This will further bring down the requirement for imports.
• ISRO has commercialized indigenously developed lithium ion battery technology and has selected 14 companies for transfer of technology.
• A policy is proposed to incentivize companies for setting up recycling facilities for lithium ion batteries and make it incumbent on producers to collect used batteries.