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| CGPWA to honour KK Sharma, SC Uppal for discovery of Lithium | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 17: The Central Govt Pensioners' Welfare Association, Jammu has decided to honour two of its Life Members, K.K. Sharma & S.C. Uppal, former Geologists of GSI for their pioneering exploratory survey of area in Reasi -Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine that led to discovery of Lithium ores in abundance for the first time in India.
This was announced by the general secretary, CGPWA, KB Jandial, saying that the services of the former Geologists of GSI need to be recognised by the Govt and the Society for their painstaking exploratory work. Their work has finally led to discovery of crucial reserves in abundance that can be the game changer in the economic development of Jammu and the country.
The President of the CGPWA Kuldeep Khoda, former DGP and CVC, will honour both K.K. Sharma & S.C. Uppal at the next meeting of the Association in recognition of their laudable efforts.
Both Sharma & Uppal had surveyed the area as a GSI team for two years in 1995-97 and submitted the Final report in December 1999. Lithium reserve ores found in Reasi are said to be of best quality. The 5.9-million tonnes reserve of Lithium, a critical mineral for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and solar panels, is said to be of the best quality of Lithium. It is claimed that the Lithium reserves at Reasi is 500 parts per million (PPM) against 220 PPM elsewhere.
With discovery of these 5.9 million tonnes reserves, India comes next to Chile which has 9.2 million tonnes reserves followed by Australia with 5.7 million tonnes while China has 1.5 million tonnes reserves.
On February 9, the Union Secretary, Mines Vivek Bhardwaj handed over the complete GSI report to J&K Secretary Mining, Amit Sharma at a function at Delhi. Amit Sharma said that GSI has already conducted G3 level study and G2 & G1 study would be conducted before actual extraction starts.
Sharma & Uppal team had conducted geochemical survey of 350 sq. km area for base metal and lithium in Sirban group of rocks in Katra-Muttal-Pres-Salal-Pouni-Chakar and collected 804 samples. The survey arrived at a conclusion that "the higher values of Lithium are persistent throughout the belt in the Bauxite column". In the 69-page report submitted by them in December 1999, they concluded that "the Bauxite column in Salal-Panasa-Sangarmarg (Saro da Bas) and Chakar areas appears to be a promising horizon for Lithium and may be taken up for further detailed work". The detailed work was undertaken, as recommended by the Sharma-Uppal team, only in 2020-22. More such promising rocks are expected in the belt.
According to J. K. Vaid, former Director, GSI and former General Secretary of the Association, the investigation of the rare strategic mineral was conceptualised and framed by the then Director GSI late M R Kalsotra, also a Life Member of the Association, in 1995.
He said that mineralization is discovered in the Bauxite/Laterite- Clay column of 1-2.5 metres thickness occurring on the surface over the Limestone. Bauxite/ Laterite occurs in isolated patches and 6 to 7 such patches have been identified in about 35 kms strike length from Muthal- Junglegali to the east and Chakkar to the west. The average thickness of deposits at Salal, investigated in detail in 2020-2022, is around 1.5 metres.
He discounted a misleading talk of any negative fallout environment due to Lithium ore mining in the area in a section of the media and said that Li exploration in similar Geological set up is taking place all over the country and around the globe. He clarified that the deposits are occurring as blanket deposits on the surface and mining would involve just scrapping of the upper infertile crust of the ore with hardly any environmental concern. |
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