India’s first ever lithium reserves found in Karnataka’s Mandya

Team Udayavani, Jan 11, 2021, 3:29 PM IST

Source: Unsplash

Mandya: India has discovered its maiden lithium reserves in the Marlagalla-Allapatna region of Mandya in Karnataka.

India has initiated a domestic exploration push for a vital ingredient of the lithium-ion rechargeable batteries and 1,600 tonnes of lithium resources were discovered in the igneous rocks of Marlagalla-Allapatna region by the preliminary surveys conducted by Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD).

Despite the discovery being small in size, it marks an initial success for India’s attempt to domestically mine lithium in the country as India currently imports all its lithium needs.

There is some potential for recovering lithium from the brines of Sambhar and Pachapadra in Rajasthan and Rann of Kachchh in Gujarat, along with the rock mine at Mandya.

Last year, India got into an agreement with an Argentinian firm to jointly prospect lithium in South American country which has 17 million tonnes of lithium making it the third largest reserve of lithium in the world.

Reports cite that over 165 crore lithium batteries are estimated to have been imported into India in 2016-2017. There has been an estimated bill of $3.3 billion between 2019-2020.

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