Minerals Security Partnership

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India is exploring the possibilities of joining the Minerals Security Partnership.

• Minerals Security Partnership is an ambitious new US-led partnership to secure supply chains of critical minerals, aimed at reducing dependency on China.
• Major members are US, Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the European Commission.
• The new grouping could focus on the supply chains of minerals such as Cobalt, Nickel, Lithium and also the 17 “rare earth” minerals.

Significance for India

• Given the push of India towards Electric Vehicles, it needs to secure the supply of critical minerals.
• China has created a processing infrastructure in rare earth minerals and has acquired mines in Africa for elements such as cobalt.

Rare Earth Element

• Rare earth comprises seventeen elements and are classified as light RE elements (LREE) and heavy RE elements (HREE).
• Scandium and yttrium, while not true rare earth elements, are also included. 
• REEs are key components in many electronic devices that we use in our daily lives, as well as in a variety of industrial application.
• Some REs are available in India such as Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Praseodymium, and Samarium.
• While others such as Dysprosium, Terbium, Europium that are classified as HREE are not available in Indian deposits in extractable quantity.