US teams up with India to explore critical minerals in third countries
www.rt.com
Filed under: Decoupling is real and happening AND India is not really a friend to the global south but happy to join with the US to backstab China for some very limited gain of its own
New Delhi and Washington are seeking to reduce their dependence on China, which dominates the lithium supply chain
India and the US have signed an agreement to “expand and diversify” critical supply chains for lithium, cobalt and other critical minerals, New Delhi announced on Friday.
Both countries are seeking to overcome their reliance on China, which dominates the global supply of lithium, a mineral essential for electric vehicle manufacture and the clean energy economy.
The pact, signed on Thursday by Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who is visiting Washington this week, and his US counterpart Gina Raimondo, will “leverage complementary strengths to ensure greater resilience in the critical minerals sector.”
The two countries are focusing on “identifying equipment, services, policies, and best practices” to explore, extract, process, and refine critical minerals.”
According to Reuters, Goyal described the partnership as multi-dimensional, encompassing open supply chains for materials, technology development, and investment flows to promote green energy. He noted that the US and India will need to engage with third countries, including mineral-rich nations in Africa and South America.
India has been exploring ways to boost lithium production, both domestically and in third countries. New Delhi is particularly looking to Africa to meet its mineral demands, especially Zambia, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, and Mozambique. Several African nations have approached the Indian government, offering access to their resources in exchange for repayment of part of their development loans.
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China currently controls nearly 70% of the global lithium supply, and larger shares of cobalt, graphite, and manganese – other minerals vital for green technology. India recently discovered lithium reserves in Jharkhand, Rajasthan, and Jammu and Kashmir, but does not yet produce lithium domestically, relying entirely on imports.
This comes off the back of the EU signaling it has the votes and has agreed to implement tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in the bloc. China's electric vehicle makers are doomed to be excluded from the core west (population 750 million - 1 billion depending on if all countries eventually are pulled in or just EU+US) and confined to China and limited sales in various developed and semi-developed regions in the global.