New Delhi [India], December 4 : Novasensa, a US-based recycling company working in India, says the country can move faster toward securing critical minerals by fixing gaps between policy plans and industry realities. The company's co-founder and COO, Vanessa Lacayo, speaking to ANI, says the most urgent task is to match what companies face on the ground with what policymakers plan at the top. She says this will help India strengthen its position in the global race for rare earths and other essential minerals.
Lacayo says there are still areas where the policy can improve, but ongoing talks between industry and government are the most important step. She says it is necessary for officials to "hear directly from the industry partners" about the challenges faced while working in the field.
She says Novasensa has been selected as the "only industry recycling partner" for IIT-ISM Dhanbad under one of the seven Centres of Excellence set up under the National Critical Mineral Mission. Through this, the company is working with Cambridge University in the UK and Curtin University in Australia. Lacayo says these partnerships can help turn laboratory research into real solutions that can be used widely in India.
On the larger goal of India becoming self-sufficient in critical minerals, Lacayo says it will take steady work. She says recycling can grow strongly in the next few years, but full self-sufficiency may take 10 to 15 years as mines and processing systems take shape. She says India is catching up with countries that started earlier, but the government is "pushing hard" to speed up progress.
Lacayo says recycling of e-waste is the quickest way for India to access critical minerals today, because many important minerals already exist inside discarded electronics. She says extracting them and feeding them back into production can support sectors such as semiconductors and lithium-ion batteries. She says manufacturers will buy these recycled materials, especially as India moves toward new battery goals for 2030.
She says India can also learn from global examples. She points out how technology transfers in China helped industries grow rapidly, from lithium-ion batteries to electric vehicles. She says India should also find safe ways to collaborate, learn, and innovate so it can build strong domestic industries.
Lacayo says startups like Novasensa face challenges because many schemes require companies to invest money first and receive support later. She says this makes it hard for smaller players to grow. She says policies should also support startups, as they are often the ones driving new ideas in the market. She adds that the industry should work together, with both large companies and smaller ones helping each other so the sector grows as a whole.
Lacayo says Novasensa focuses on extracting critical minerals from e-waste and lithium-ion batteries, and on dry coal beneficiation using x-ray technology. She says the aim of the event she attended was to bring industry and government together to shape policies that help India become more self-reliant in critical minerals.
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