TELF AG examines some of India’s recent initiatives in the mineral sector
Domestic and international progress
Among the nations most involved in the global dynamics related to strategic minerals, in recent months, we must certainly include India, a country that is making several steps forward both internally, with the launch of new sourcing initiatives, and internationally, through new important partnerships signed with some of the major global players in the mineral industry.
A few days ago, New Delhi officially joined the Minerals Security Finance Network, a new project led by the United States that aims to protect and strengthen the global supply chains of the most important minerals. In addition to India, the new initiative includes the European Union and 14 other nations, all united by similar strategic objectives in the raw materials sector. The new project represents a sort of derivation of the broader initiative known as Minerals Security Partnership, an association of nations born in 2022 at the initiative of the United States and animated by the same desire to strengthen mineral supply chains, and of which India has been a partner since June 2023.
Last year, Washington and New Delhi confirmed the intention of their respective governments to collaborate to guarantee mutual accessibility to minerals considered strategic for their national economies, giving a further boost to bilateral cooperation in the sector. In July of this year, India also released a list of the 30 minerals it considers most strategic for the nation’s interests, including resources such as gallium, copper, cobalt, and beryllium.
New Delhi’s strategy
It is no coincidence that India is dedicating itself with such attention to the geological resources sector: one of the cornerstones of the Indian strategy for economic growth in the coming years is represented by the progressive conversion of public and private transport, in which there will be more and more space for electric vehicles. Other sectors considered of central importance for developing the Indian economy are those related to electronics and semiconductors, which, together with the automotive industry, need a constant supply of strategic minerals to support the various phases of industrial production.
Important signals also come from the domestic front, where several initiatives to develop the Indian strategic minerals sector have recently been launched. Recently, the Indian authorities have confirmed that they launched 200 new mineral exploration projects throughout the country during 2024, in particular in the northeastern portion of the country, where about a quarter of the initiatives are concentrated.
The exploration projects would aim not only to increase the number of geological resources available in India, but they would also play a leading role in meeting the demand for such resources for several sectors considered strategic by New Delhi, such as those already mentioned above but also for renewable energy. As stated in a recent analysis, among the most promising projects are those under development in the Assam region, which, according to some observers, could contribute to a real boom in mineral exploration in the region.
Over the years, India has stood out internationally for its important reserves of bauxite, iron, manganese, and other important geological resources, some of which are directly involved in the production processes of modern energy infrastructure.
