Huge Deposits of 15 Rare Minerals, Used In Phones And TVs, Found In Andhra Pradesh

The development comes after an estimated 5.9-million tonne lithium reserve was found in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in the country.

The Hyderabad-based National Geophysical Research Institute has found large deposits of 15 rare earth elements (REE) in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. According to a Times of India report, REE of the lanthanide series is a critical component used in many everyday electronic products like cellphones, televisions, computers and cars, as well as in a variety of industrial applications.

NGRI scientists conducted a survey looking for non-traditional rocks like syenites and successfully identified the host minerals. The major REE identified included ceriate, allanite, thorite, tantalite, columbite, apatite, monazite, zircon, pyrochlore, euxenite, and fluorite.

A subfield of geology known as "metallogeny" studies the genetic connection between a region's geological past and its mineral deposits. In the Anantapur district, west and southwest of the Paleoproterozoic Cuddapah basin, are the alkaline complexes.

Earlier this year, the Geological Survey of India (GSI) had found an estimated 5.9-million tonne lithium reserve in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in the country. Lithium is an essential mineral for the production of solar panels and electric vehicles .

"Lithium falls in the critical resource category, it was not earlier available in India, and we were dependent on its 100 percent import. The G3 (advanced) study of the GSI shows the presence of best quality lithium in abundant quantity in the foothills of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Salal village (Reasi)," J&K mining secretary Amit Sharma had told PTI.

Sharma said that lithium reserves were discovered in the foothills of the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district, and extraction from hills is always a challenge.

Jammu and Kashmir will put on sale the lithium block discovered last month, Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi recently said.

The minister had said that the expected date of extraction of lithium will depend upon the successful auction of the mineral block.

"GSI (Geological Survey of India) carried out a G3 stage project during Field Season 2020-21 and 2021-22 in the Salal-Haimna areas of Reasi district, Jammu & Kashmir, and estimated an inferred resource (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium ore and the report has been handed over to the government of the Union Territory of J&K," the minister said earlier.