The Ministry of Mines said, “Geological Survey of India, for the first time, established Lithium inferred resources (G3) of 5.9 million tons in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The government said on Thursday that 5.9 million tons of lithium reserves have been found in Jammu and Kashmir. This is for the first time that lithium has been found in India.

Lithium is one of the key components in EV batteries.

The Ministry of Mines said, “Geological Survey of India, for the first time, established Lithium inferred resources (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir.”

The ministry further said, “Fifteen other resource-bearing geological reports (G2 & G3 stage) and 35 Geological memorandums were handed over to respective state governments during the 62nd Central Geological Programming Board (CGPB) meeting held on 09th February 2023.”

“Out of these 51 mineral blocks, 5 blocks pertain to gold, and other blocks pertain to commodities like potash, molybdenum, base metals etc., spread across 11 states of Jammu & Kashmir (UT), Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana,” the ministry added.

The blocks were prepared based on the work carried out by GSI from field seasons 2018-19 till date.

Apart from these, 17 reports of coal and lignite with a total resource of 7897 million tonnes were also handed over to Ministry of Coal. Seven publications on different themes and intervention areas in which GSI operates were also released during the meeting.

The ministry added, “The proposed Annual Program for ensuing Field Season 2023-24 was presented and discussed during the meeting. During the ensuing year 2023-24, GSI is taking up 966 programs comprising 318 mineral exploration projects, including 12 marine mineral investigation projects. A major thrust has been given on the exploration of strategic-critical and fertilizer minerals.”

A total of 115 projects on strategic and critical minerals, including 16 projects on fertilizer minerals, have been formulated. In addition, 55 programs on Geo-Informatics, 140 programs on fundamental and multidisciplinary geosciences and 155 programs for training and institutional capacity building have also been taken up.