India: Critical minerals supply chain observatory project enters second phase

• The UK-India initiative’s second phase has attracted £1.8 million 
• New campus to be set up in the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad

The governments of India and the United Kingdom announced the second phase of the UK-India Critical Minerals Supply Chain Observatory, which will attract £1.8 million to scale the data infrastructure and expand coverage of the critical minerals value chain across both nations. The investment also entails setting up a new satellite campus at the Indian School of Mines in Dhanbad, Jharkhand.

The UK-India Critical Mineral Supply Chain Observatory has brought together academia, governments and industry to build the digital infrastructure. It is a collaboration between the International Centre of Excellence in Mining (iCEM), promoted by the Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC), with the Industrial Resilience Research Group at Cambridge University’s Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), and the Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.

The iCEM has funded a third of the investment in the observatory project that is also aimed towards skill development in mid-stream operations of critical minerals. “The project will generate recommendations to strengthen global supply chains, mitigate disruptions, and enhance circular economy practices across sectors,” stated the IfM earlier this year. The scope of the observatory was for critical minerals, such as lithium, copper, nickel, and cobalt.

Roopwant Singh, managing director of GMDC, said the UK-India initiative is evolving into a platform for academic and research centres to partner with institutions like iCEM, and solve real-world challenges faced by companies like GMDC. “By building the largest data infrastructure for critical minerals, we aim to identify supply chain vulnerabilities, enhance capabilities, and promote ESG and sustainability,” said Mukesh Kumar, Head of IfM’s Industrial Resilience Group.

On 10 October, the governments of India and the UK also announced the UK-India Critical Minerals and Downstream Collaboration Guild in Mumbai to deepen partnerships that strengthen and diversify critical mineral supply chains and deliver investment and growth in both nations. It builds on the UK-India Technology Security Initiative (TSI) launched a year ago, and will focus on critical minerals and rare earth elements. In his remarks, prime minister Narendra Modi has highlighted these as “strategic sectors” alongside emerging technologies like telecommunications, AI, and health tech.

The UK-India Critical Minerals Supply Chain Observatory is part of the UK-India Critical Minerals and Downstream Collaboration Guild, which also announced a new satellite campus at the IIT-ISM Dhanbad. The IIT-ISM is an Indian Institute of Technology in the mineral-rich region of Dhanbad, Jharkhand. It was founded in 1926 as the Indian School of Mines and comes under the aegis of the mines ministry.