New Delhi: Auction of lithium reserves found in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi will be started by December, said Secretary Ministry of Mines Vivek Bharadwaj.
Speaking at an industry event on Tuesday, the secretary said the ministry has written to the J&K administration for the transaction advisor for the lithium auction. “We have completed the consultation process with stakeholders on the amendment of the offshore Mining Act. Hopefully, we will soon bring it to the parliament for discussion,” Bharadwaj said.
“We have been lucky to discover 5.9 million tonnes of Lithium. We were actually looking for limestones which are available in Jammu Kashmir. We found limestone, bauxite and lithium together. There has been renewed interest in exploration in these minerals,” he said.
The central government in February this year said that 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves had been found for the first time in the country in Jammu and Kashmir.
Lithium is a non-ferrous metal and is one of the key components in EV batteries, among other industries.
“Geological Survey of India (GSI), an attached office of the Ministry of Mines, carried out a G3 stage mineral exploration project during Field Season 2020-21 and 2021-22 in Salal-Haimna areas of Reasi district, Jammu & Kashmir and estimated an inferred resource (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium ore and the report has been handed over to the Government of Union Territory of J&K,” the Ministry of Mines earlier said.
The Geological Survey of India has proposed more exploration activities in J&K for identifying lithium resources.