Araudra Singh
The critical minerals sector has attracted significant global attention, including from New Delhi and Astana. On November 4, India and Kazakhstan partnered to produce titanium slag, a critical mineral. Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) and Kazakhstan’s Ust-Kamenogorsk Titanium and Magnesium Plant (UKTMP) have signed an agreement to establish an Indo-Kazakh joint venture company (JVC), IREUK Titanium Limited, which is set to process low-grade Ilmenite reserves in Odisha into high-grade titanium feedstock. UKTMP, besides providing the technology and capital investment, would also offtake agreed quantities of titanium.
This initiative aims to develop the titanium value chain within India. According to the official press release, the arrangement “shall be instrumental in bringing valuable forex for [India] and aid UKTMP JSC in raw material security.” Synergizing the strengths of both sides, the joint venture is expected to enhance the brand equity of both companies while serving as a hub for India and Kazakhstan in the titanium value chain, aligning with the broader strategic objectives of both sides in securing critical mineral supply chains.
The new India-Kazakhstan titanium deal reflects three important aspects. First, the agreement represents a positive yet incremental development in India’s long-term goal of developing a critical minerals supply chain and a way to compensate for previous lapses. India’s attempts to auction off mining rights for critical minerals have received lackluster responses in the past. Given the costly extraction process, Indian investors have been reluctant to invest due to the outdated official resource classification rules, which lack the necessary information on the economic viability of mining a block. The Ministry of Mines (MOM), having failed to receive a minimum of three required domestic bidders on multiple occasions, has had to scrap the auctioned mineral blocks. In the third tranche of auctions, for example, MOM annulled three out of the total seven auctioned blocks – including the one containing titanium.
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