Daily Static Quiz Prelims Practice 2027
India's Ministry of Mines published its Critical Minerals list in 2023, identifying 30 minerals including lithium, cobalt, nickel, graphite, and rare earth elements as critical for clean energy, electronics, defence, and strategic industries. Option (a) is wrong on both the year, since the list was published in 2023 rather than 2020, and the scope, since it covers broad sectors beyond defence and space alone. Option (c) is incorrect since India's list was developed independently based on its specific economic and strategic needs rather than copied from the EU list, and option (d) wrongly conflates two separate legal categories, since Critical Minerals and Atomic Minerals, such as uranium and thorium, are governed by distinct laws, with atomic minerals falling under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
- Lithium — Australia, Chile, and China are the top three producers globally.
- Cobalt — The Democratic Republic of Congo accounts for over 70% of global cobalt production.
- Rare Earth Elements — India is the world's largest producer.
- Graphite — China dominates with over 60% of global production.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct, while Statement 3 is wrong. Australia, Chile, and China are consistently the world's top three lithium producers, with Australia leading in volume while the Lithium Triangle of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia holds the largest reserves, the DRC accounts for roughly 70-75% of global cobalt mine production, creating a single-country concentration that poses significant EV battery supply chain vulnerability, and China dominates graphite production, critical for lithium-ion battery anodes, with 60-65% of global natural graphite output. China, not India, is overwhelmingly the largest rare earth element producer at roughly 60-70% of global production and controls an even higher share of processing, while India holds reserves but is not the top producer.
Neodymium, a rare earth element, is essential in NdFeB (Neodymium-Iron-Boron) permanent magnets used in EV motors and wind turbines, and China controls roughly 85-90% of global neodymium processing, one of the most strategically sensitive supply chain dependencies. Lithium is instead critical for battery electrolytes and cathodes rather than permanent magnets, cobalt is used in battery cathodes across NMC and NCA chemistries rather than magnets, and nickel is used in battery cathodes and stainless steel rather than in permanent magnets.
Reason (R): Critical minerals require centralised coordination to prevent fragmented exploitation, particularly as many deposits straddle state boundaries.
Both A and R are correct, but R does not precisely explain A. The MMDR Amendment Act, 2023 did empower the Central Government to auction blocks for 24 critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and rare earths, bypassing the typical state-level auction process, and centralised coordination to prevent fragmented exploitation is indeed cited as a general policy rationale in parliamentary debates. However, the specific legal trigger for this amendment was national strategic interest and the need for coordinated foreign investment and technology partnerships, rather than primarily the fact that deposits straddle state boundaries, which is why R, while true, is not the precise explanation of A.
- India is a member of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) — a US-led coalition to secure critical mineral supply chains.
- KABIL (Khanij Bidesh India Limited) was established to acquire mineral assets abroad for India's domestic requirements.
- India discovered significant lithium reserves in the Salal-Haimana area of Reasi district, Jammu & Kashmir, in 2023.
- India has signed critical mineral agreements with Australia under a bilateral Critical Minerals Investment Partnership.
All four statements are correct. India joined the Minerals Security Partnership, launched by the USA in 2022, as a key multilateral framework to diversify critical mineral sourcing away from Chinese dominance, and KABIL, a joint venture of NALCO, HCL, and MECL, was established to identify, acquire, and develop strategic mineral assets overseas for India's supply security. In February 2023, the Geological Survey of India announced roughly 5.9 million tonnes of lithium inferred resources in Reasi district, J&K, India's first significant lithium discovery, and India and Australia have formalised a Critical Minerals Investment Partnership, with Australia serving as India's key bilateral partner given its vast lithium, cobalt, and rare earth reserves.
