This move is part of New Delhi's strategy to ensure important mineral supply and reduce dependence on China - the world's largest producer of rare earths.
Accordingly, Indian company IREL (formerly Indian Rare Earths Limited), a pioneer in efforts to find sources of rare earths abroad, wants to study the mineral composition at the Tomtor mine in Siberia before considering further cooperation steps. Rosneft acquired the Tomtor mine last year.
Rare earth magnets are an important component in the energy transition process, used in many fields from electric vehicles to renewable energy production.
India currently possesses the 3rd largest rare earth reserves in the world, with about 7.23 million tons. However, this country has not yet produced rare earth magnets domestically. Demand for this item is forecast to double by 2030.
Last year, there was information that IREL was negotiating with Japanese and Korean companies to commercially produce rare earth magnets.
Globally, countries are accelerating the search for rare earth resources in the context of geopolitical fluctuations related to the largest sources of supply. In addition to Russia, India is also seeking agreements on rare earth exploitation with Australia, Argentina, Chile and some African countries.
In February this year, India set a target to start producing rare earth permanent magnets by the end of the year with the participation of the private sector. Previously, in November last year, the Indian government allocated 802 million USD for the domestic rare earth permanent magnet production program.
In the same month, India also joined the Pax Silica alliance led by the US, to build a supply chain for artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor chips and important minerals.
Most recently, in May, JSC Giredmet, a scientific research unit of Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom, signed a memorandum of understanding with Nexon Geochem of India to research and develop raw material processing technology for the production of rare earth magnets.
Giredmet also signed a letter expressing its intention to cooperate with the Technology Innovation Fund for Exploration and Mining (TEXMiN) of India to develop permanent magnet manufacturing technology.
Besides rare earths, India is also studying the possibility of purchasing metallurgical coal mining assets and increasing nickel imports from Russia.
