The Australia-India Critical Minerals Research Hub (AICMRH) has been approved by India’s Ministry of Education (MoE) to offer advice on critical minerals extraction and processing, criticality assessments, economic geology, sustainable mining practices, and supply chain analyses.
The MoE and the Government of India have formed an Empowered Committee for Industry and International Collaborations (ECIIC). Critical minerals has been chosen as one of the 12 themes on which ECIIC would focus and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad has been asked by the MoE to lead the country on this theme.
A Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers (SPARC) proposal, led by IIT Hyderabad and Monash University has brought together various Indian and Australian Universities, Research and Development (R&D) labs and industries in the field of critical minerals. This has been sanctioned by MoE recently with funding of $1.15m and is expected to strengthen India-Australia collaborations in the field of critical minerals. This was stated in a press release shared by Monash University.
The collaboration aims to develop skills and talent to drive a transition towards sustainable resource management by following the G20's commitment to diversify supply chains for energy transitions.
This is a fantastic achievement that will greatly enhance collaborative research across India and Australia in a number of critically important areas,” said Professor Craig Jeffrey, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) and Senior Vice-President
Professor BS Murty from IIT Hyderabad signed the Memorandum of Agreement for the project with Professor Susan Elliott AM, Provost and Senior Vice-President, last year.
“The AICMRH provides an exciting opportunity for India and Australia to work together to expand its increasingly important mineral resources partnership,” said Professor Murty.
The AICMRH aims to develop pioneering technologies for a competitive and environmentally sustainable future, playing a vital role in supporting the objectives outlined in India's National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the G20 New Delhi Leaders' Declaration.
