India is now taking a big step towards reducing China’s dominance in terms of rare earth elements. Rare Earth Elements are minerals that are very important for the world’s green and digital future and now India can get a great opportunity to reduce dependence on China. This change may be due to an important discovery in Papum Pare district of Arunachal Pradesh, where recently it has been claimed to get a large store of Rare Earth Elements.
A large store of ree found in Papum
According to the Economic Times, in June, the Ministry of Mines released a report, which has said that a lot of neodymium (neodymium) has been found in this area. Neodimium is an important metal, used to make electric vehicles (EVs), modern electronics and magnets. This metal is in excessive demand in the global market nowadays, especially when every country is moving towards electric vehicles and green technology.
If the work of extracting this metal starts in the Papum Pare region, then electric vehicles and automobile industry in many major cities of the country such as Gurgaon, Pune and Chennai can get a tremendous boost. Similarly, soil rich in Karbi Anglong of Assam and Sung Valley of Meghalaya have also been found to be rich in ree. Apart from this, there are signs of ree in Singrauli region of Madhya Pradesh.
Dependence on China may be less
This discovery is very important for India because China has been highly dependent for ree. About 85-90% of ree imports of India are from China itself. However, now by getting these new reserves, India can get an opportunity to become self -sufficient in the supply of these metals.
This will not only boost the electric vehicle construction sector, but it will also help in the technical and industrial development of the country. Also, it can exclude India from China’s supply policy, so that it will not have to face any kind of interruption in future.
Can India challenge the whole world?
Currently, India’s share in the production of ree is less than about 1%. On the other hand, China produces 70% Ree and owns 90% of the refinement capacity. Given this imbalance, India will have to take several steps to increase its production capacity, so that it can completely eliminate its dependence from China. However, if India takes fast steps in this direction in the coming few years, it can make an important place in the ree supply in the whole world.