Lithium reserves have been discovered for the first time in India, according to the Geological Survey of India (GSI). It claimed to have discovered 5.9 million tonnes of lithium inferred resources (G3) in the Salal-Haimana area of Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi district. India now imports most of its minerals, including lithium, nickel, and cobalt.
The Salal-Haimana area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi District has 5.9 million tonnes of lithium inferred resources (G3), according to the Ministry of Mines.
Since the government has been focusing on electric cars, particularly in the metropolises like Delhi, Mumbai, and others, the lithium deposits are extremely important for India.
Fifty-one mineral blocks, located in the 11 states of Jammu & Kashmir (UT), Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, include five blocks related to gold and other blocks related to commodities like potash, molybdenum, base metals, etc.
The GSI will embark on 966 programs and 318 mineral exploration projects this fiscal year, including 12 marine mineral research projects.
The government has emphasized the need to explore strategic, vital, and fertilizer minerals. The GSI has developed 16 projects on fertilizer minerals and 115 projects on strategic and vital minerals.
The Mines ministry reported that “155 programs for training and institutional capacity building have also been taken up,” in addition to the “55 programs on geo-informatics, 140 programs on fundamental and multidisciplinary geo-sciences, and 155 programs for training.”
In 1851, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) was founded. It was first established to locate coal deposits for the Indian Railways. But the GSI has now developed into a database of geo-science data.
