Mitsubishi, Tesla, Ola Electric to bid for India's lithium reserves

Automakers appear to be at the forefront of bidders for the recently uncovered lithium reserves in the Jammu and Kashmir region

Mitsubishi, Tesla, and Ola Electric are among the top contenders who are seeking to win the bid on lithium found in the Jammu and Kashmir region of India.

Lithium is a non-ferrous metal and is widely used in manufacturing batteries for various electronic items such as laptops, phones, and pacemakers, it is also used in glass and ceramics industry. It is an important growth driver due to its use in batteries of electric vehicles.
 

In March 2023, the Minister of Coal, Pralhad Joshi announced that lithium had been discovered in India's northern federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Minister Pralhad Joshi told Reuters, "The exploitation of lithium will depend upon a successful auction of the mineral block".

He added that the auction would be decided by Jammu and Kashmir authorities.

The block was estimated to hold reserves of 5.9 million tonnes and is the first known lithium reserve in the country.

The minister, in early May, announced the commencement that the auction may occur as early as December this year.

According to Moneycontrol, lithium was dubbed ‘white gold’ due to its sheer widespread use and could be a game changer for the Indian economy and its contribution to the global market. 

In a report by ET Now on Monday, three unnamed firms are looking to source lithium requirements from India. It also highlighted that Elon Musk had stated that Tesla’s focus was more on refining lithium than mining the metal back in March. However, none of the named companies have commented on the report.

The same report states that the lithium reserves could make up 80 per cent of India’s demand.