Critical minerals

India - Critical minerals overview

Country profile

• The United States Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries 2021 ranked India as the 5th largest rare earths producer in the world.
• The Critical Non-Fuel Mineral Resources for India’s Manufacturing Sector report, jointly prepared by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water, underlines the essentiality of critical minerals supply for India’s ambitious ‘Make in India’ initiative. It also states that India has identified 12 critical minerals as strategic for building its domestic manufacturing capability.

Policies and initiatives

• The National Geoscience Data Repository is being set up by the Geological Survey of India to aid mineral exploration and exploitation.
• The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 2021, and The Mineral Laws (Amendment) Act 2020 both amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 (MMDR Act). The 2021 Amendment Act builds on its predecessor by removing the distinction between captive and non-captive mines, allowing existing captive mines to sell 50% of their production, and allowing the Centre to step in if States are unable to conduct auctions. These amendments together with the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 (CMSP Act aim to increase competition, get more firms to mine, increase the ease of doing business in the sector, and make it easier for firms and States to operate.
• The National Mineral Policy, 2019 in conjunction with the National Minerals Exploration Policy, 2016, aims to have an effective, meaningful and implementable policy that brings in further transparency, better regulation and enforcement, balanced social and economic growth as well as sustainable mining practices.
• In 2019, three of India’s Public Sector Enterprises entered into a Joint Venture named Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. (KABIL) to ensure a consistent supply of critical and strategic minerals to the Indian domestic market.
• The National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) was set up in 2015 to expedite mineral exploration in the country, with an emphasis on critical and strategic minerals.
• The 12th Planning Commission in 2011 introduced a Working Group on Mineral Exploration and Development (Other than Coal and Lignite) which focused on critical minerals and flagged sectoral issues.
• India has set its renewable energy targets at 175 GW by 2022, and this, coupled with the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, is expected to drive the demand for critical minerals.

Governance structure

There exists dual jurisdiction on minerals resources in India, where “major minerals” come under the jurisdiction of the Union Government, while for “minor minerals”, State governments have the power to make rules and regulations with regard to concessions in the extraction of minor minerals and to levy and collection of royalties. Critical minerals fall under the purview of “major minerals”, and thus come under the Union’s jurisdiction. Most of India’s present production of rare earths come from the processing of Monazite sands in Kerala, which is a State Monopoly of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Any processing of beach sands for critical minerals processing requires a license from the DAE. Except for beach sands, other minerals require licenses from the Ministry of Mines as well as due clearances from the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.

Australia - Critical minerals overview

Country profile

• The United States Geological Survey’s Mineral Commodity Summaries 2021 ranked Australia as the 4th largest rare earths producer in the world. Australia is the world's largest producer of lithium and a top five producer of the rare-earth elements: cobalt, manganese ore, antimony, zirconium and titanium mineral sands.
• A joint report by Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), Geoscience Australia and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources titled Australian Critical Minerals Prospectus 2020 provides a comprehensive profile of the industry as well as highlights its importance.

Policies and initiatives

• The Critical Minerals Facilitation Office, launched in 2020, connects Australian critical minerals projects to investors, regulators, government financing facilities and Australia's strategic partners.
• Australia’s 2022 Critical Minerals Strategy aims to promote investment in the sector, provides incentives to innovation, and connects critical minerals projects with infrastructure development.
• Export Finance Australia provides support to critical minerals projects through its Defence Export Facility with financial expertise and solutions.
• Launched in 2016, Geoscience Australia's Exploring for the Future Program is a concerted minerals exploration effort aimed to boost Australia’s resource potential.
• CSIRO (Australia's National Science Agency) and the Cooperative Research Centre - Mining came together in 2016 to form Mining3, bringing together significant mining research capabilities to effectively deliver research and innovative technologies for members and the global mining industry.

Governance structure

The Australian Constitution shares responsibility between Commonwealth and State governments for Mining operations. In addition, a multitude of agencies support the minerals industry in Australia, such as Geoscience Australia, Mining3, Austrade, and CSIRO.

Bilateral frameworks for cooperation between India and Australia

• The  Australia-India Critical Minerals Investment Partnership will see Australia work closely with India to identify potential critical mineral investment opportunities to meet India's growing needs. During a recent meeting between Australia's Resources Minister Madeleine King and her Indian counterpart, the Honourable Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines, Shri Pralhad Joshi, Australia confirmed its commitment of $5.8 million to the three-year Partnership.
• In 2015, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Geoscience Australia signed an MoU in 2015 relating to deep-mining capabilities and exploration, where short and long term roadmaps would be prepared for GSI.

Trade and investment opportunity

• Critical minerals are identified as a strategically significant sector in Australia's Update to the India Economic Strategy to 2035. Its action plan includes the Australia-India Clean Technology and Critical Minerals Package which will share share innovations as the two countries transition to the new energy economy, and jointly take advantage of opportunities to boost jobs. 
• Recent amendments in India’s mining policies provide an attractive an opportunity for foreign investors interested in exploration, extraction, and processing through multiple avenues.
• The Fourth Tranche of India’s Coronavirus Stimulus Programme “Atmanirbhar Bharat” of 2020, titled "New Horizons for Growth", gave a stimulus to multiple sectors integral to critical minerals: mining, solar panels, electric vehicles, IT, aviation equipment, and renewable energy. Investments in these sectors have been made easier and have been offered a range of incentives.
• India’s flagship production promotion scheme, the Production Linked Incentive Scheme 2020, includes important downstream industries such as batteries, consumer electronics, automobiles, telecom etc. which have the ability to bolster domestic critical minerals production and processing.
• India has been pushing for faster adoption of electric vehicles, which is a critical minerals intensive industry. To this end, the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II (FAME India Phase II) Scheme was established in 2020.
• The Defence Procurement Procedure 2020 provides a thrust to indigenous manufacture and eases foreign investments in India’s defence sector. This provides a much needed boost to the downstream uses of critical minerals, and augurs well for the critical minerals ecosystem.
• India’s Australia Economic Strategy 2020 provides key data and invites Australian firms with a focus and emerging sectors, one of which is mining and its related, equipment, technology and services sectors.

Cooperation and collaborations

• CSIRO was recently awarded Australian Government funding to establish the India-Australia Critical Minerals Research Partnership. The national science agency will work closely with the Government of India to deliver the partnership. The Partnership will support resourcing of the renewable energy transition and help to unlock the commercial benefits of integrating Indian and Australian critical minerals value chains. 
• According to Austrade, more than 45 Australian Companies are active in the Indian METS Sector.
• In cooperation with India Inc., Australian officials led by the Head of Mining and Resources for the Australian Trade and Investment Commission held a YouTube Stream Session for parties interested in the minerals futures of Australia and India.
• Australia and India are founding members of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure as well as the International Solar Alliance.
• The Indian firm Sterling & Wilson stands as Australia’s dominant Engineering, Procurement and Construction firm in Photovoltaics, boasting a 1.1 Gigawatt pipeline as of September, 2020.
• India’s TATA Group signed an MoU with Tritium for its DC fast-charging expertise for its electric vehicle chargers in March, 2019.
• The Indo-Australian Joint Research Initiative, IIT (ISM) has established an Australia-India Centre for Clean Coal and Energy Technologies (AICCET), with three Australian Universities / Organisations, viz. Curtin University of Technology, the University of Newcastle and CSIRO.
• The Centre of Excellence in Mining Technology (CEMT) was established at IIT(ISM) Dhanbad in collaboration with Australian institutions and research organisations for conducting research in the areas of Advanced Mining Technology and Mines Safety.