New Delhi: Auction of lithium reserves found in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi will be started by December, said Secretary Ministry of Mines India Vivek Bharadwaj.
Speaking at an industry event on Tuesday, the secretary said the ministry has written to JK 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 in 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 government of India 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 and 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 JK,” the Ministry of Mines earlier said.
