Mine Auction in Chhattisgarh | 22 May 2024

Why in News?

The lithium mine in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, which was delayed because of the Lok Sabha elections, is expected to be put up for auction in the coming month of 2024.

Key Points

  • In March 2024, the Ministry of Mines had floated a tender for the auction, in which several companies, such as Coal India (CIL) had expressed their interests.
    • According to the officials, the election Code of Conduct, the bids could not be opened and the ministry would soon initiate the process.
  • In February 2023, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) discovered lithium in the Katghora tehsil. According to a preliminary report, lithium deposits were spread over 256.12 hectares, including 84.86 hectares of forest area.
    • The geochemical mapping brought out inconsistent values of lithium in seven composite samples in the Katghora area. These ranged between 82.606 and 155 parts per million.

Lithium

  • About:
    • Lithium (Li), sometimes also referred as ‘White gold’ due to its high demand for rechargeable batteries, is a soft and silvery-white metal.
  • Extraction:
    • Lithium can be extracted in different ways, depending on the type of the deposit — generally either through solar evaporation of large brine pools, or from hard-rock extraction of the ore.
  • Uses:
    • Lithium is an important component of electrochemical cells used in batteries of EVs, Laptops, Mobiles etc.
    • It is also used in thermonuclear reactions.
    • It is used to make alloys with aluminium and magnesium, improving their strength and making them lighter.
      • Magnesium-lithium alloy - for armour plating.
      • Aluminum-lithium alloys - in aircraft, bicycle frames and high-speed trains.
  • Major Global Lithium Reserves:
    • Chile > Australia > Argentina are top countries with Li reserves.
    • Lithium Triangle: Chile, Argentina, Bolivia.
  • Lithium Reserves in India:
    • Preliminary survey showed estimated lithium reserves of 14,100 tonnes in a small patch of land surveyed in Southern Karnataka’s Mandya district.
  • Other Potential Sites:
    • Mica belts in Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh.
    • Pegmatite belts in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
    • Rann of Kutch in Gujarat.

Geological Survey of India

  • Presently, GSI is an attached office to the Ministry of Mines. It was set up in 1851 primarily to find coal deposits for the Railways.
  • Over the years, it has grown into a repository of geo-science information and also has attained the status of a geo-scientific organisation of international repute.
  • It is headquartered in Kolkata and has six regional offices located at Lucknow, Jaipur, Nagpur, Hyderabad, Shillong and Kolkata. Every state has a state unit.
  • Central Geological Programming Board (CGPB) is an important platform of the GSI to facilitate discussion for synergy and to avoid duplication of work.