India Finds Lithium Resources in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka

India Finds Lithium Resources in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka

Minister of State For Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh in his recent statement before the Parliament talked about the steps taken by the government to expedite the exploration of Lithium in areas beyond Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan. The minister shared that Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), a constituent unit of Department of Atomic Energy, has found presence of Lithium resources in Mandya and Yadgiri districts, Karnataka.

He said that further preliminary surveys and limited subsurface exploration have been carried in Yadgiri district, Karnataka to identify and estimate the Lithium resources. AMD has established 1,600 tonnes (G3 stage) Lithium resources in Marlagalla area, Mandya district, Karnataka, the minister said in a written reply before the Rajya Sabha.

Highlighting the presence of lithium reserves Singh stated that presently, AMD is carrying out exploration for Lithium in the potential geological domains in parts of Korba District, Chhattisgarh. However, the major mica belts located in Rajasthan, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh and Pegmatite Belts in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are the potential geological domains in the country for Lithium resources.

Jitendra Singh shared that preliminary survey carried out recently by Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), a constituent unit of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in Himachal Pradesh has led to the identification of surface Uranium occurrence in Masanbal, Hamirpur district. He categorically mentioned that Atomic Energy Commission has not conducted any study to establish atomic energy plant in Himachal Pradesh.

According to the reply given by Jitendra Singh in council of states, the Department of Atomic Energy is taking note of the developments and recent trends worldwide in the field of small modular reactors. While the different technologies and designs of small modular reactors, as published by different countries and foreign-based vendors, are being studied for gathering technical details, no proposal to collaborate with foreign vendors/ countries is under consideration at present. He also shared that at present, no private player has shown interest in producing small modular reactor. However, a few private players have shown interest to deploy small reactor in their captive site.

Singh shared that Government of India and Government of Russian Federation have expressed interest to expand the cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes including cooperation in the field of Small Modular Reactor.