India has committed to invest $6 million jointly with the Australian government as it explores lithium and cobalt mines in Australia in the next six months. The move comes as India looks to secure supplies of key minerals for its electric vehicle plans.

The Khanij Bidesh India Ltd or KABIL – a mining joint venture between the State-run National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd and Mineral Exploration Corp Ltd – has signed a preliminary agreement with Australia’s Critical Minerals Facilitation Office (CMFO), a government statement said, on Tuesday.

Engagements are also underway with other source countries (primarily LATAM nations) such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile etc (which are endowed with lithium and cobalt in hard rock formations and in brine), the government statement added.

Lithium is a key component used in the battery used in Electric Vehicles (EV). And India, through its ₹18,100-crore PLI scheme is offering incentives for companies to build battery cells locally for EVs.

China and Hong Kong are the biggest lithium battery suppliers to India.

“Under the aegis of the G2G MoU, now a detailed MoU with a collaborative framework has been signed between KABIL and CMFO for carrying out joint due diligence of select greenfield and brownfield projects to identify lithium and cobalt mineral assets for the final joint investment decisions and acquisition of the assets in Australia,” it read.

Inclusion of investment partner

The MoU has also outlined inclusion of any other Central Public Sector Enterprise as investment partner in the asset acquisition process.

It also includes a collaborative framework for building an Australia-India partnership in critical mineral eco-system; development of a robust and commercially-viable critical mineral supply chain to support sustainable production; and ensure reliable supplies of the materials needed to fuel sectors such as transport, energy, telecommunications, medicine, aviation and defence.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW