India is exploring the establishment of a strategic reserve of minerals for use in times of crisis for defense production, a senior official said, following other nations in moving at a faster pace to develop a domestic supply chain.
The buffer stock of critical minerals and metals will be employed to “tide over immediate requirement” whenever it is required, said a senior Ministry of Defence official, Rajesh Kumar Singh. He was addressing a media conference organized by the Business Standard newspaper in New Delhi on Saturday.
This is the first time India has gone on record with its intention to create such a strategic reserve. All major military equipment, like missiles, aircraft, radars, and warships, needs critical minerals, and their shortage can cripple defense readiness.
China’s rare earth flows fell from a high in early April this year when Beijing imposed export curbs on several of them. The curbs specifically risked rare earth magnets, a sector where China dominates 90% of international production, affecting key industries ranging from electric cars to wind turbines.
Although China has recently relaxed its rare-earth restrictions, Beijing’s previous weaponization of its market power has encouraged Western businesses to seek alternative suppliers.
India’s cabinet cleared a 15 billion rupee ($170 million) incentive scheme for accelerating recycling of key minerals from batteries and electronic waste, ramping up the effort to gain access and supplies of rare earths, Bloomberg News reported previously.
Earlier this month, India resolved to treat rare-earth mines as “strategic projects,” a term that would minimize processes and provide speedy environmental clearances, making rare-earth mining easier, Singh said.
“India does have reasonable stocks of critical minerals by all accounts, and we should be able to better utilize them in the future,” he said.
