Western Australia working on critical minerals JVs with Indian mining majors

livemint.com:

Mint. “Not only are we a major supplier of critical minerals, we're also home to a buzzing ecosystem that is developing lithium and is looking at the future of lithium-ion technology for batteries and vanadium redox flow batteries, which will be a very key opportunity to grow and address the demands—be it for vehicles or for storage," she added. While Japan, Korea and European nations have been Australia’s traditional partners, Choudhury sees an increasing opportunity for Indian firms.

The focus of these emerging partnerships will be on lithium, vanadium and green steel as well as nickel, copper and magnetite. Western Australia has already seen investments from major Indian mining firms. Legacy Iron Ore Ltd, a subsidiary of state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), has invested in a gold mine in WA’s Mount Celia.

NMDC has also struck a deal with Hancock Prospecting, a major Australian mining firm, for a joint venture deal to secure supplies of lithium and other critical minerals from Western Australia’s Central Yilgarn area. In 2021, India and Australia signed a Critical Minerals Partnership with a focus on securing supplies for India’s energy transition. Earlier this year, this partnership announced that it had identified two lithium and three cobalt projects in Australia for due diligence.

Australia is a major player in critical minerals and rare earths, producing about half of the world’s lithium. It is also the fourth largest producer of rare earths and the second largest producer of cobalt. Amid a global race to source critical minerals, all large economies including China and the US are eyeing international acquisition of critical mineral mines.