Why In News?

• The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has found lithium resources in Jammu & Kashmir for the first time.
  • The GSI has established “inferred” lithium resources of 5.9 million tonnes in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir.

About Lithium

• Lithium is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal.
• Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid element.
• Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly reactive and flammable, and must be stored in vacuum, inert atmosphere, or inert liquid such as purified kerosene or mineral oil.

Significance of Findings

• Lithium also called “white gold” is a metal of strategic nature with following applications for india.
  • Electric mobility.
  • Climate change mitigation.
  • Energy Transition.
  • Energy security.
  • Economy and so on.

Global Reserves

• Chile, Australia, Argentina, Bolivia and China contain most of the reserves discovered so far globally.
• In South America, 54% of the world's Lithium reserves are found in Argentina, Bolivia & Chile. The area is referred to as the ‘Lithium Triangle’ and is concentrated in various salt pans present in the Atacama Desert and neighbouring arid regions.
• Lithium in India : There is some potential to recover lithium from brines of Sambhar and Pachpadra areas in Rajasthan, and Rann of Kutch, Gujarat.

About GSI

• GSI established in 1851. It is an attached office to the Ministry of Mines.
• The principal function of GSI relates to creation and updation of national geoscientific data and mineral resource assessment, air-borne and marine surveys and conducting multifarious geotechnical, geo-environmental and natural hazards studies.