India’s ministry of mines is likely to unveil an estimated $317 million incentive package to create domestic capacities for processing nickel and lithium, government sources said on Monday, June 22.
To qualify for fiscal incentives under the scheme, investors must set up lithium processing plants with a minimum capacity of 30,000 mt per year and a nickel processing plant with a capacity at least 50,000 mt per year.
Nickel is a critical input in making stainless steel and is also used as additive in smaller quantities in heavy-duty structural carbon steel.
While lithium is extensively used in manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs), it is also used in steelmaking in form of lithium carbonate. The latter is also added to mould fluxes to lower the melting point of slag and is used in specialized iron-based alloys.
