India is kicking off exploration efforts for cobalt and copper deposits in Zambia by sending a team of geologists to the African country known for its critical minerals reserves, sources at the Indian government told Reuters on Tuesday.
In March this year, India bought land in Zambia to explore copper and cobalt, signaling a significant move to secure its mineral supply chains in Africa.
India’s government has acquired greenfield land in Zambia’s northwest province with plans to explore copper and cobalt.
Zambia’s economy is mainly based on export of minerals, most notably copper and cobalt, as well as gold, zinc, and lead. At the end of 2020, mining accounted for 12% of Zambia’s GDP and provided about 70% of foreign exchange earnings, according to EU data.
India’s Ministry of Mines is also in talks with other African nations such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Tanzania, and Mozambique for similar deals in which it would acquire critical mineral assets for exploration, the Indian Express reported earlier this year.
India is moving to secure access to the minerals critical to its energy transition. Although coal is still king as regards power generation, India has bold renewable energy ambitions and is actually on track to achieve its solar power installation targets.
India is also interested in acquiring lithium and copper assets in Chile and is negotiating a trade deal, the India-Chile Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which could also include critical and strategic minerals trade.
In recent weeks, following the disruption to the global rare earth supply chain after China’s export curbs, India has also been looking at ways to keep its own rare earths at home.
The government has asked state-owned minerals and metals mining enterprise IREL (India) Limited to halt a more than a decade-old supply agreement to export rare earth elements to Japan, Reuters reported last month, citing sources with knowledge of the development.
India has facilities for mining, separation, and refining in oxide form, and has also developed capability of metal extraction. However, the country lacks industrial-scale facilities to make alloys, magnets, and other products from rare earths.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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