Mineral dilemma

The Quad can help secure resources, but India must convert them into strategic strength

10 min read

Updated On: Jul 10 2026 | 2:03 PM IST

A smelting plant that processes extracted copper ore, a critical mineral for India, into pure metal in Dahej, Gujarat. Photo: Hindalco

Among a range of discussions focused on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, ranging from maritime security, infrastructure and emerging technologies, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) Critical Minerals Initiative stood out at the foreign ministers’ meeting in May.

Launched by the Quad partners — India, the United States (US), Japan and Australia — the framework aims “to mobilise up to $20 billion in government and private sector support through new and existing efforts” to strengthen supply chains in critical minerals.

The proposed support is expected to cover the entire value chain, including mining, processing and recycling. These minerals are essential for batteries, semiconductors, clean-energy technologies, and defence applications, sectors where China dominates global processing and refining capacity.

The announcement raises a larger question for India: Even if access to critical minerals improves through partnerships with Quad and overseas assets, does India possess the industrial, technological and scientific capacity required to convert those resources into items of strategic and economic advantage?

Quad: The strategic reality check

The answer lies not merely in acquiring mines, but in building capabilities in processing, refining, recycling and scientific research, which India lacks.

According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, tabled in Parliament in January 2025, India faces significant vulnerabilities in its supply chains. Of the 33 minerals identified as vital to the country’s economic security, 24 are assessed to be at high risk of supply disruption.

The survey further notes that India is 100 per cent dependent on imports for 10 critical minerals — lithium, cobalt, nickel, vanadium, niobium, germanium, rhenium, beryllium, tantalum and strontium.

Nitin Gupta, chief executive officer and cofounder of Attero, an ewaste and battery-recycling company, said: “China supplies more than 90 per cent of the world’s critical minerals. Depending on the mineral, its share ranges from 70 per cent to 99 per cent. India imports almost all of its requirements of critical minerals, with a majority of those coming from China.”

Gupta noted that the Quad initiative was intended to help member countries reduce their dependence on China, but added that India’s success would depend on building domestic capabilities rather than merely securing access to resources.

The challenge, clearly, is not limited to mining.

Chaitanya Giri, fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a New Delhi-based think tank, argued that China built an integrated ecosystem, spanning mining, refining, manufacturing and logistics over several decades.

“China is an end-to-end manufacturer. From mines to electronics, it controls the entire value chain,” Giri said. He added that replicating such an ecosystem would require far more than financial announcements. The scale of the problem becomes evident when India’s processing capabilities

are examined. “If the Quad countries want to pursue large-scale refining, they will have to invest heavily in R&D (research & development) to make refining environmentally cleaner and more efficient. In that context, $20 billion seems minuscule,” said Giri.

The challenges

India lacks commercial-scale facilities for refining key battery materials such as lithium carbonate, graphite and nickel-cobalt sulphates. Despite holding roughly 6 per cent of global rare-earth deposits, the country still lacks large-scale refining and separation capabilities.

To address these gaps, the government last year launched the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM), with an outlay of Rs 16,300 crore until 2030-31. The mission aims to boost domestic exploration, processing, recycling and overseas acquisition of critical mineral assets while reducing dependence on imports required in sectors such as electric vehicles (EVs), semiconductors, clean energy, and defence.

Amit Barnwal, assistant professor at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, pointed to a deeper technological challenge. “In India, we do not yet have sufficient expertise to extract critical minerals from ores. That is the truth.”

The challenge becomes even greater in the case of rare-earth elements because, unlike many other critical minerals, they are difficult to separate and refine. Their nearly identical chemical properties require advanced processing technologies and specialised hydrometallurgical expertise — areas where India currently has limited commercial-scale capability.

“For critical mineral extraction, most technologies require hydrometallurgy. In India, there are very few hydrometallurgists.”

Barnwal said that while laboratory-scale research was developing and undergoing small projects, commercial-scale separation remained limited.

Giri reiterated a similar concern. “India does not possess commercial-scale rare-earth processing technology based on its own intellectual property whereas countries such as Japan do.”

The implications extend beyond industrial production and directly affect both civilian and defence applications.

Critical minerals will remain indispensable for modern defence systems, including advanced radars, missile guidance systems, sensors, electronic warfare platforms, communication equipment and aerospace programmes.

While India has made some progress in manufacturing defence platforms, experts argue that self-reliance remains incomplete if the raw materials required to build those systems continue to come from overseas.

“Defence indigenisation will not succeed if there is no parallel self-reliance in critical minerals,” said Giri. Emphasising the need to secure supply chains in critical minerals and upstream resources, he added: “When it comes to the brass tacks, especially raw materials, this whole concept of indigenisation goes away.”

However, even if India succeeds in acquiring mining assets overseas, experts warn that access to raw materials alone will not solve the problem.

Giri pointed to how major powers have long secured access to critical resources beyond their borders. “The US has military bases and commercial assets across the world. China has built assets throughout Africa and South America and exercises significant control over natural resources.”

India has been pursuing critical mineral assets overseas through state-backed entities such as Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL) and partnerships with resource-rich countries. KABIL and other state-owned firms have secured blocks in countries including Argentina and Australia for minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare-earth elements.

However, experts note that acquiring mining assets is only one part of the supply-chain challenge. India must also develop capabilities in refining, processing and logistics to convert overseas mineral access into strategic and economic advantage.

Giri pointed out that minerals sourced from countries such as Argentina might need to travel thousands of kilometres before reaching processing facilities in India, making logistics a costly affair.

Barnwal also questioned India’s ability to process large volumes of imported minerals. “Even if India acquires overseas mines, we do not have sufficient industrial-scale infrastructure to process those materials,” he said. According to him, India continues to rely heavily on foreign-processing facilities for lithium, cobalt and rare-earth elements because domestic industrial capacity remains limited.

This reality has shifted attention to an alternative source of critical minerals: Recycling.

Secondary resources such as batteries and electronic or ewaste could become a major pillar of India’s strategy on

critical minerals. “We do not have enough primary resources in India. But, the future could be in extracting critical minerals from secondary sources such as ewaste, batteries, medical and defence waste,” Barnwal said.

Waste batteries often contain higher concentrations of lithium, cobalt and nickel than many natural ores, according to him.

Giri also viewed recycling as an important strategic option. “What countries can do, apart from developing their own mines, is emphasising electronic waste recycling. That is the surest way of gaining access to rare-earth elements and other critical minerals that are not immediately available domestically,” he said.

Reducing dependence

But questions arise on how much of India’s critical mineral demand recycling can cover.

Gupta, an industry expert working on recycling ewaste, believes recycling can significantly reduce India’s dependence on imports — between 20 per cent and 70 per cent, depending on the metal.

According to him, recycling could meet up to 70 per cent of India’s rare-earth demand and around 50 per cent of the demand for lithium and battery materials.

However, India’s recycling ecosystem remains underdeveloped.

“Of the roughly 900,000 tonnes of ewaste processed annually, only about 1.5 per cent is refined into critical minerals and precious metals,” said Gupta.

He explained most recyclers in India currently carried out only the initial stages of processing, such as dismantling and material segregation. The fractions containing critical minerals and precious metals are often either exported for further refining or they end up in the informal sector, limiting India’s ability to recover these materials domestically.

The discussion ultimately returns to refining, which experts repeatedly identified as the most important missing link.

“There are two ways to extract critical minerals: Mining and recycling. In both cases, refining is the most critical part of the value chain,” Gupta said. He noted that China became dominant not because it owned every mine but because it established itself as the world’s refining hub. India’s challenge, therefore, is to build refining capacity at scale.

According to a paper published by the ORF, China controls 100 per cent of global graphite processing, 90 per cent

of rare-earth refining and manganese refining, and 75 per cent of cobalt processing.

The dependence became particularly visible in the rare-earth sector when in April last year, China put export restrictions on seven heavy and medium rare-earth elements and permanent magnets, exposing India’s dependence.

The paper notes that India in 2024-25 sourced 81.3 per cent of its permanent magnets from China, while China accounted for 73 per cent of India’s imports of rare-earth elements such as scandium and yttrium, both of which were covered under export control.

The restrictions highlighted the risks associated with concentrated supply chains for materials critical to sectors such as defence, automotive manufacturing, and advanced technologies.

The paper identifies the country’s lack of commercial-scale processing facilities as one of the biggest barriers to supply-chain security. It argues that India must invest not only in domestic facilities but also in overseas midstream processing partnerships, where refining and value addition occur before minerals reach manufacturers.

Experts also say that solving the technology challenge requires long-term investment in R&D.

“India should prioritise R&D because without that, everything remains only a concept,” Barnwal said.

Many useful technologies are being developed in academic institutions but often fail to progress beyond the laboratory stage either due to lack of funding or the manpower shift from core research area to other sectors, according to him. “India has the manpower, but the challenge is to effectively utilise that,” Barnwal said.

According to him, many highly trained graduates move abroad or enter non-core sectors because metallurgy and extraction often offer lower salaries than competing fields do. He called for greater collaboration between academia and industry, along with funding for pilot plants and prototype facilities that can bridge the gap between research and commercial deployment.

Giri also called for a similar all-in approach. “We need a whole-of-country approach if we want secure supply chains,” he said.

He also raised concern about India’s dependence on imported scientific instruments, noting that laboratories across sectors remained heavily reliant on foreign equipment.

Gupta said government initiatives, including the NCMM and incentive schemes, which are aimed at strengthening domestic capabilities, could accelerate investment.

For India, the larger concern lies in commercial-scale refining, rare-earth processing, and hydrometallurgical expertise.

As Barnwal pointed out, many of the technologies required for extracting critical minerals remain at the laboratory stage and need support to move towards pilot plants and industrial-scale deployment.

The question emerging from the Quad initiative, therefore, is not whether India can gain access to overseas critical minerals. It is whether India can build the scientific capability, industrial infrastructure, and processing ecosystem needed to convert those resources into magnets, battery materials, semiconductors and defence components.

The success of Quad’s push for critical minerals may ultimately be measured not by the mines it helps secure but by whether countries such as India can close the gap with partners such as the US, Japan and Australia in refining, processing and advanced manufacturing. For India, the real test begins after the ore is extracted.

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Written By :

Martand Mishra

Martand Mishra has started his reporting career with defence coverage. He is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication. He enjoys reading books on defence, history and biographies.