The newly discovered lithium, found by Geological Survey of India, estimated at 59 lakh tonnes and according to the current market price it is worth INR 3400 billion.
In 2022, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was estimated at 37,000 U.S. dollars per metric ton. This figure is by far the highest price for battery-grade lithium carbonate recorded in the period of consideration. Lithium is a highly reactive soft and silvery-white alkali metal.
The Geological Survey of India discovered a new lithium deposit containing 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources in the country's Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi District of Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian government said on Thursday February 9.
The live Lithium price today is $0.000291 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $191,146 USD. We update our LITH to USD price in real-time. Lithium is up 3.55% in the last 24 hours. The current CoinMarketCap ranking is #1220, with a live market cap of $1,414,780 USD.
Some 96% of Australian exports are destined for China. Lithium hydroxide prices in 2023 are forecast to be almost a third below last year's average of $69,370 a tonne and will decline further next year to $35,415 a tonne before easing to just above $30,000 in 2025.
The report confirms Australia's status as the world leader in the production of five important commodities - bauxite, iron ore, lithium, rutile and zircon. In fact, we produced more than half of the world's lithium with record production in 2021, producing 55 kilotonnes compared to 40 kilotonnes the previous year.
The Geological Survey of India has estimated the area holds 5.9 million metric tons of lithium valued at around $410 billion, although further studies will be needed to determine the quality of the lithium and confirm it can be recovered.
India's imports of lithium-ion batteries jumped 54 percent to US$1.83 billion from a year earlier in the year ended March, Trade Ministry data show and almost 87 percent of the purchases came from China and Hong Kong.
The Union Government in February this year said that 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves had been found for the first time in the country in Jammu and Kashmir.
Approximately 2.2 million litres of water is needed to produce one ton of lithium. The production of lithium through evaporation ponds uses a lot of water - around 21 million litres per day.
A typical EV battery has about 8 kilograms of lithium, 14 kilograms of cobalt, and 20 kilograms of manganese, although this can often be much more depending on the battery size – a Tesla Model S' battery, for example, contains around 62.6 kg (138 pounds) of lithium.
Lithium carbonite (a compound in which most lithium is mined) is currently selling for about $7.25 per kilogram. Battery-grade lithium which has been processed from lithium carbonite, in contrast, is selling for prices that are closing in on gold, which is currently selling for about $58,000 per kilogram.
“As India discovers significant lithium reserves in Rajasthan, in addition to the previously discovered reserves in Jammu and Kashmir, the country is well positioned to become the 3rd largest market for EVs in the next 4 years," said Varun Goenka, CEO & Co-Founder, Chargeup.
For the first time, lithium reserves were found in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi in February this year. Lithium reserves found in Rajasthan. After Jammu and Kashmir, lithium reserves have been traced in Rajasthan's Degana, according to media reports citing state government officials.
China's the largest consumer of lithium because of its booming electronics and electric vehicle industries.
China holds lithium reserves of 2,000,000 MT, and last year it produced 19,000 MT of the mineral, a 500 MT increase from the previous year. While it does have significant production and is working to increase it, the Asian nation currently still imports most of the lithium it needs for its battery cells from Australia.
India's lithium cell production is projected to be 70-100 GWh by 2030.
Most Australian lithium is exported to China, accounting for over 85% of total value in each month of 2021 and over 94% in each month of 2022 (year to date).
Australia mines about 53 percent of the world's supply of lithium, and virtually all of it is sold to China.
Most Australian lithium is produced from hard-rock spodumene, in contrast to other major producers like Argentina, Chile and China, which produce it mainly from salt lakes.
Canada, China and Australia have significant resources of lithium minerals, while lithium brine is produced predominantly in Chile, followed by Argentina, China and the USA. Lithium brines are the dominant feedstock for lithium carbonate production.