India's quest for critical minerals must race the clock

A Quad-led effort could forge a realistic action plan to create a supply chain that won't need China

- ADITYA SINHA & AATMAN SHAH

Globally, critical mineral development is marked by long gestation cycles, taking 15–25 years from discovery to production, given the inherently uncertain nature of exploration and hurdles at multiple stages of mine development. Australia's Olympic Dam project took 13 years and Mongolia's Oyu Tolgoi took 20 years. Even in the US, the Thacker Pass lithium project was delayed by about a decade as it faced environmental litigation. These delays reflect universal geological, regulatory, social, and financial constraints.

India's critical mineral strategy faces added hurdles from legacy inefficiencies, under-resourced exploration, and fragmented institutional coordination. Geologically rich areas like Bastar Craton and Karbi Anglong are yet to move beyond early-stage exploration. The Geological Survey of India has historically focused on bulk commodities, resulting in inadequate pre-auction data on rare minerals under the post-2015 regime. Our lack of fully validated reserves tends to deter private sector participation. Infrastructure gaps, tribal rights issues, and delayed clearances further slow progress.

Also, India faces steep technical barriers in downstream processing. Rare earth separation requires up to 180 solvent extraction steps, demanding precision in chemical parameters and contamination control. Australia, while mining over half the world's lithium, processes only a fraction domestically and relies heavily on China. Indonesia's efforts to process nickel through 'high-pressure acid leach' (HPAL) plants have been marred by shutdowns, cost overruns, and corrosion-related technical failures.