Industry leaders urge India to foster collaboration in development of rare-earth ecosystem

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], November 8 : Industry stakeholders have said that India should open the floor for cooperation in the development of the rare-earth materials in the country.

Speaking at the CII Conference on 'Building Resilient Rare Earth Metal (REM) Supply Chains Through Technology Localisation' in Chennai on Friday, experts advocated that the nation needs to collaborate with friendly countries to succeed in the field of rare-earth materials.

"We cannot have any yardstick by which to partner or not to partner. Our idea is to open the floor, actually. Whichever country they want to come and join hands with us, we are ready to take it forward," said R Saravanabhavan, Deputy Adviser (Minerals), NITI Aayog.

Air Marshal M Matheswaran (Retd), former Deputy Chief of the Indian Integrated Defence Staff, stated that the country needs to develop capabilities "much more than what we have right now."

Emphasising the need to work with the friendly countries, Matheswaran said, "Right now, we've just realised that we need to create capabilities much more than what we have right now, right? There is, however, a very big mountain to climb. Let's focus on that first, rather than becoming a leader in rare earths later. We can see that later."

"In terms of partnership, yes, we have to work with friends. Japan, Australia, Singapore, Korea, US, UK. These are all countries with which we have industry and trade relations. But nobody gives you tech," Matheswaran added.

Rare earth materials are a group of 17 chemical elements15 lanthanides, plus scandium and yttriumthat are not actually rare, but are difficult to extract and purify from the Earth's crust.

They are crucial for modern technology due to their unique properties, such as high magnetic strength, luminescence, and catalytic capabilities, and are found in a wide range of applications, including smartphones, electric vehicles, medical equipment, and lasers.

Wing Commander P Madhusoodhanan, Vice President - Aerospace and Defence at Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO) said that the organisation is "working towards ensuring the requirement of the aerospace and defence industries".

"One of the things is that rare earths are available in plenty in Tamil Nadu. Monazite is available in the southern parts of the state, and if you look at the maximum amount of availability of rare earth elements, they are in Tamil Nadu and Kerala," he said. "It's a question of processing them. There is a limited amount of processing which is happening. It's not actually matching the resources."

He added that while mining is already taking place, "refining does not exist as of now. Once refining and recycling are in place, this becomes an end-to-end ecosystem in the state."

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