India to Invest in Exploring Lithium, Cobalt Mines in Australia

India is offering $2.4 billion (roughly Rs. 18,150 crore) of incentives for companies to build battery cells locally for electric vehicles.

By Reuters | Updated: 29 March 2022 18:19 IST

India to Invest in Exploring Lithium, Cobalt Mines in Australia

Lithium is a key raw material used to make EV batteries

Highlights

Lithium prices has surged in the recent days
India has also shortlisted Latin American countries mining of minerals
India's KABIL has signed a preliminary agreement with Australia's CMFO

India has committed to jointly invest $6 million (roughly Rs. 45.3 crore) with the Australian government to explore lithium and cobalt mines in Australia over the next six months, in a bid to firm up supplies of key minerals needed to further its electric vehicle plans.

India's KABIL, a mining joint venture between state-run firms National Aluminium Co, Hindustan Copper Ltd and Mineral Exploration Corp Ltd, has signed a preliminary agreement with Australia's Critical Minerals Facilitation Office (CMFO), the Indian government said on Tuesday.

The move comes at a time when India is offering $2.4 billion (roughly Rs. 18,150 crore) of incentives for companies to build battery cells locally for electric vehicles. Lithium, whose price has surged in the recent days, is a key raw material used to make electric vehicle batteries.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

CMFO and KABIL will carry out "joint due diligence of select greenfield and brownfield projects to identify Lithium and Cobalt mineral assets for final joint investment decisions and acquisition," the Indian government said in a statement.

The agreement also provides for inclusion of any other Indian state-run firm as an investment partner, and envisages the due diligence process will be completed and further investment decisions taken over the next six months.

India has also shortlisted Latin American countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile for exploring mines of strategic minerals abroad, the statement said.

Tata Motors Says Under Pressure Due to 20 Percent Rise in Battery Cell Cost

© Thomson Reuters 2022

Will the 2022 iPhone SE sink or swim? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.