Strategic minerals in India: present status and future challenges

Abstract

Strategic minerals have a substantial role to play in the development and security of the nation and play a critical role in the development of the national economy. The paucity of strategic minerals in India has been a serious concern for the last several decades. Growing global demand, high value, declining production and constant pressure for finding new mineral deposits captivate not only India’s but also the world’s outlook towards strategically important minerals. At present, India is having resources worth 87.39 million tonnes of tungsten, 24.63 million tonnes of vanadium, 189 million tonnes of Nickel, and 25.50 thousand tonnes of REE’s, but these reserves are almost negligible as per National Mineral Inventory (NMI) (01.04.2015). Hence, India is highly dependent on imports for the supply of strategic minerals. It is a major area of concern for India, since regular supply from foreign countries may be interrupted for obvious reasons such as changing the geopolitical situation or the foreign mineral producers forming cartels to dictate the prices. Hence, in the present geopolitical scenario, India needs to focus on adopting superior technology for recycling, exploring substitutes, retain and modernize the stockpiling of strategic materials, and encourage research and development in this area. Also, the supply of these minerals should be secured through the strategic acquisition of overseas mines by forming diplomatic ties and trade agreements. In this paper, an attempt has been made to discuss the present status, consumption, import, and respective substitutes in the context of current Indian economy.