India's hunt for rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals-A comprehensive review

  • Unique Paper ID: 184887
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 4
  • PageNo: 4509-4515
  • Abstract:
  • Rare earth elements and critical minerals are very important for modern industries. China has the largest reserves of rare earth elements or critical minerals, and also has the largest refining capacity to mine and refine these minerals. This gives China a monopoly over the market. India has reserves of these minerals but lacks production and refining capability. India’s dependency on importing these minerals from outside makes the supply chain vulnerable. The WTO rare earth dispute is an example of how countries protect their trade rights. India is now focusing on partnerships and tie-ups overseas to secure its supplies. This review also examines the environmental issues that mining imposes on nature, like pollution and habitat loss. It also covers its ‘recycling potential’,i.e, by recycling the old electronics and batteries, their value can be used again. India is now emphasizing developing better R&D and better extraction and recycling technologies for and government initiatives like the National Critical Minerals Mission are helping them. India aims to reduce its import dependency and develop future strategies to secure its supply chain.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2025 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{184887,
        author = {Burhanuddin Untalawala and Dr. Bhavana Mehta},
        title = {India's hunt for rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals-A comprehensive review},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {4},
        pages = {4509-4515},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=184887},
        abstract = {Rare earth elements and critical minerals are very important for modern industries. China has the largest reserves of rare earth elements or critical minerals, and also has the largest refining capacity to mine and refine these minerals. This gives China a monopoly over the market. India has reserves of these minerals but lacks production and refining capability. India’s dependency on importing these minerals from outside makes the supply chain vulnerable. The WTO rare earth dispute is an example of how countries protect their trade rights. India is now focusing on partnerships and tie-ups overseas to secure its supplies. This review also examines the environmental issues that mining imposes on nature, like pollution and habitat loss. It also covers its ‘recycling potential’,i.e, by recycling the old electronics and batteries, their value can be used again. India is now emphasizing developing better R&D and better extraction and recycling technologies for and government initiatives like the National Critical Minerals Mission are helping them. India aims to reduce its import dependency and develop future strategies to secure its supply chain.},
        keywords = {Critical Minerals (CMs), Rare Earth Elements (REEs), China Dominance,  Supply Chain Vulnerability, WTO Rare Earths Dispute (2012–14), India’s Reserves (6–8 MT, ~6%), Import Dependency (~80%), National Critical Minerals Mission (NCMM), Circular Economy, Recycling (PLI Scheme – 40 KT/year), Innovation & R&D (1000 Patents, 7 Centres),International Partnerships (26 Overseas Projects), Rare-Earth Magnets (Imports from China), Self-Reliance / Atmanirbhar Bharat, Energy Transition & Net Zero 2070},
        month = {October},
        }

Cite This Article

  • ISSN: 2349-6002
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue: 4
  • PageNo: 4509-4515

India's hunt for rare earth elements (REEs) and critical minerals-A comprehensive review

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