Faiza Tehseen

The exploration and mining of battery minerals can present Pakistan with an unprecedented economic opportunity.

“Battery minerals refer to minerals used to produce the rechargeable batteries. Despite Pakistan being rich in battery mineral sources, serious efforts have never been made to exploit their potential. Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan are rich in battery minerals rock formations,” says Muhammad Yaqub Shah, principal geologist with an Islamabad-based firm, Global Mining Company Private Limited.

Sharing about the host rocks of possible battery minerals, he told WealthPK that flakes of crystalline layers graphite were primarily formed in metamorphic rocks – marble, schists, gneisses, quartzites, coal beds, and organic-rich shales. “Ultramafic igneous rocks are rich in iron and magnesium and are usually associated with nickel mineralisation.” He said: “Tin can occur within granite or in aplite and pegmatite associated granites. Sedimentary, metamorphic, and marine rocks are rich sources of manganese extraction.

Bauxite, a sedimentary rock is the principal source to extract aluminium. Igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks host vanadium. Magnesium carbonate forms in ophiolitic ultramafic rocks.” Yaqub said that tantalum and niobium-rich minerals were formed in syenites, alkaline granites, carbonatites, or within hydrothermally altered rare-metal granites. “Spodumene is the principal ore to extract lithium. Naturally, cobalt does not occur in pure form but forms within igneous, sedimentary, and laterite rock formations in conjunction with other elements.”   

He said: “In value-added form, the high prices of these minerals can be potential source of income generation for the country. To produce smart batteries for electric vehicles, and energy storage, different widely-used minerals include graphite, nickel, tin, manganese, alumina, vanadium, magnesium, tantalum, lithium, and cobalt. So, they are high in demand globally.” The geologist said that battery usage was now an indispensable part of domestic and industrial gadgets, including renewable energy storage systems, consumer electronics and automobiles.

“It is high time for the policymakers to focus on the extraction and processing of battery minerals to strengthen both the local and national economies,” Yaqub emphasised.  Discussing with WealthPK the importance of exploring and extracting battery minerals in Pakistan, Muhammad Yousuf, a mining engineer, said: “Globally, the transition to green energy is accelerating the need for raw material to power the renewable energy systems. So, the demand for clean energy solutions is continuously rising. The international industrial players related to battery production are scrambling to secure access to the raw material sources – minerals.”

He said that the partnership between the local and multinational companies would help open opportunities for trade, business and job creation. “The joint ventures can put the mineral-rich areas on the path of sustainable progress and prosperity.” Yousuf said: “A robust regulatory framework also needs to be put in place to ensure the equitable distribution of financial benefits gained through battery minerals’ extraction. It is high time for Pakistan to tap the potential to extract the minerals required to produce smart batteries.”

Credit: INP-WealthPk