How and why India got inducted into elite anti-China critical minerals club
critical minerals that, among other things, are key to transitioning to clean energy with some prodding from the US in the run-up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit.
The major factors aiding India's induction into this group included the sheer size of its market, criticality in meeting the global goals for mitigating greenhouse gases and, as the voice of the Global South, a phrase used for less developed and developing countries.
The Minerals Security Partnership, as the group founded in June 2022 is called, seeks to offer an alternative to China's dominance in mining and processing critical minerals such lithium, cobalt, copper and others.
Lithium is a key component of batteries and demand for it is estimated to go up by more than 40 times in view of the large-scale transitioning to electric vehicles of all kinds — cars, buses and two-wheelers — over the next couple of years.
Australia, a member of the MSP, is the largest producer of this mineral and China is the third largest. These countries want to put together a supply chain in critical minerals — from exploration to mining to processing to distribution — that is safe from disruptions, the kind triggered by unforeseen events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, or manipulation by monopoly majority stakeholders.
Geoffrey Pyatt, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, set the conversation rolling during a visit to India prior to the Prime Minister's visit.
Though he wouldn't say that this was like an «American demand», he said this when asked if India sought membership of the group or it was persuaded to join it.
«We were both pushing on an open door.
