 "Tata Steel to explore opportunities in lithium, other battery-minerals")
Tata Steel, through its Natural Resources Division, will consider economically viable opportunities in the battery-minerals-related segment, including lithium, said a spokesperson for the company.
The Natural Resources Division has been in operation for several decades assisting in captive mining-related services. In 2021, the division started offering commercial services under Tata Steel Industrial Consulting to other companies in the mining space. The division may now also consider participation as an exploration agency in battery minerals, subject to economic viability, according to the company spokesperson.
“Yes, if there are economically viable opportunities to explore resources of various battery minerals, we will consider participating in it as an exploration agency along with our partners,” said the Tata Steel spokesperson responding to a query on whether opportunities in lithium and other related minerals will be considered under this division.
In April, Tata Steel announced a business cooperation agreement with MN Dastur & Company Pvt. Ltd, a consultant engineering organisation. “This agreement with M N Dastur & Company will complement our capabilities and capacities especially in the area of mine infrastructure planning and preparation of bankable feasibility report,” the company said in its April announcement.
The Tata Group, in June, also signed a deal with the Gujarat state government for setting-up a lithium-ion cell factory with an investment of about Rs 13,000 crore for an initial manufacturing capacity of 20 Gigawatt hours (GWh).
At present, India does not have any operational domestic source of lithium and depends on imports for lithium-ion battery requirements. In February, the Geological Survey of India for the first time established lithium inferred resources (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir. The steelmaker’s Natural Resources Division is one of the 14 companies listed as Notified Private Exploration Agencies (NPEA) by the Ministry of Mines.
“Typically, metal companies have a significant mining experience for their own raw material requirements, hence mine development, exploration and extraction each have dedicated teams. These companies may be interested to look at a specific product owing to demand,” said an industry expert who did not wish to be identified.
Tata Steel did not disclose the orderbook size for this division won post commencement of commercial operations. The spokesperson added revenue generated from the commercial services is also expected to help reduce administrative costs for the company.