Minerals Security Partnership:
There is growing concern in the Government over India not finding a place in the Minerals Security Partnership.
- Minerals Security Partnership is an ambitious new US-led partnership to secure supply chains of critical minerals, aimed at reducing dependency on China.
- Demand for critical minerals, which are essential for clean energy and other technologies is projected to expand significantly in the coming decades.
Critical Minerals:
- Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
- These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.
Major Critical Minerals:
- Graphite, Lithium and Cobalt are used for making EV batteries.
- Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
- While Cobalt, Nickel and Lithium are required for batteries used in electric vehicles, rare earth minerals are critical, in trace amounts, in the semiconductors and high-end electronics manufacturing.
Minerals Security Partnership (MSP):
- It is an initiative by the United States to bolster critical mineral supply chains.
- Partners: Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Commission.
- Objective: The goal of the MSP is to ensure that critical minerals are produced, processed, and recycled in a manner that supports the ability of countries to realize the full economic development benefit of their geological endowments.
- Focus would be on the supply chains of minerals such as Cobalt, Nickel, Lithium and also the 17 “rare earth” minerals.
