Following prime minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to India, the Australia-India Critical Mineral Investment Partnership has been extended.
On Friday, resources minister Madeleine King spoke with her Indian counterpart, coal and mines minister Shri Pralhad Joshi.
Through the bilateral talks, five target projects were identified — two lithium and three cobalt.
King said they were “delighted” to announce the completion of the first step of work, calling it an important milestone in building a sustainable supply chain between India and Australia for battery materials.
“Through market soundings and working with commercial advisers, we have identified five projects on which the parties will proceed to sign non-disclosure agreements and begin undertaking detailed due diligence,” King said.
“Working together, both the nations are committed to reducing emissions, guaranteeing energy security and diversifying global markets for critical minerals and clean technologies.”
Lithium is a metal used to make batteries for things such as mobile phones and electric cars.
Speaking on Sky News, King added Geoscience Australia had been “ahead of the game”.
“They’re indiscriminate with their exploration. They look for anything and when it becomes of value, they look even further,” King said.
“And now, obviously, critical minerals is a really important part of their, what we call pre-competitive exploration work, which identifies potential and then private companies come in and dig a little bit deeper, do a bit more exploration to find the actual important, commercially viable part of that deposit.”
Earlier this month, Geoscience Australia published Australia’s Identified Mineral Resources (AIMR) 2022 report.
The report found Australia provided 53% of the world’s lithium, with Geoscience Australia naming the rising demand for electric vehicles a factor.
“Growing demand for rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles and portable devices continued to stimulate lithium production in Australia,” the report said.
According to the AIMR report, Australia is second in the world in terms of lithium resources, at 29%.
When it comes to cobalt, the other critical mineral in the Australia-India projects, Australia is the third-ranked producer (3%) and is second for cobalt resources (11%).
An updated critical minerals strategy was published by the government earlier this year, as previously reported by The Mandarin.
Note: An earlier version of this article referred to Catherine King, not Madeleine King. We apologise for the error.
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