Securing India’s Critical Metals, From Scrap to Supply Chain

Critical minerals have moved from a specialist mining topic to a boardroom and policy priority, but the vocabulary has not kept pace for most teams. This glossary defines the 40 terms that come up most often across procurement, recycling, manufacturing and policy discussions in India, from processing methods like beneficiation and hydrometallurgy to policy instruments like EPR and the National Critical Mineral Mission. Each entry is written to stand on its own, so you can jump to the term you need.

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Explore India's Reasi lithium reserves, failed auctions, mining challenges, and why battery recycling could shape the country's lithium future.

Lithium-ion battery recycling in India is a kind of five-step process that ends up turning end-of-life cells into reusable critical minerals: you know, collection, then testing and discharge; after that, mechanical shredding into black mass, followed by chemical extraction via hydrometallurgy; and, finally, refining into battery-grade lithium, cobalt, and nickel salts. The economic and strategic value is basically parked in that last stage, where black mass turns into material that a cell maker can actually purchase. In India the country imports nearly all of its lithium, cobalt, and nickel. Domestic mining feels like it’s still maybe a decade away. So recycling ends up being the only near-term path to a homegrown supply of these minerals. Figuring out where the real value gets created, and also where it leaks out, across the whole chain is now important for recyclers, battery companies, OEMs, and investors too.