India's Critical Resources: Perspective for Cement Industry

The Indian economy appears to be robust while facing global headwinds of runway commodity prices led by oil and natural gas. Notwithstanding these pricing pressures, it is expected to be the world’s fastest-growing economy. The sustainable growth of our economy will require massive upgradation of housing, health, transport, and energy infrastructure. There are key challenges going forward:.

• Adherence to the decarbonisation (low carbon) pathways being determined by the Government of India; commitment to implementation by the private sector 

• Expanding and securing the availability of critical material resources; minerals and metals .

A first-of-its-kind study by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) has identified over a dozen critical mineral resources required for meeting the future needs of the aerospace, automobile, defence, and energy industries (Gupta, Biswas, & Ganesan, 2016).

A pioneering study, titled ‘Environmental and Resource Assessment for Uptake of LC³ in India’s Cement Mix’ by TARA, has identified cement-grade limestone as a mineral resource that will assume criticality in the foreseeable future (TARA, 2020). The current availability of the resource is 14,000 million tonnes. By 2047, additional limestone resources of 9,400 million tonnes will be needed by the cement industry. These resources may be available but would require mining in eco-sensitive zones and inaccessible areas; posing severe environmental risks.

The study further proposes the introduction of Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC³); a blend of clinker with 30% calcined clay and 15% non-cement grade limestone. The LC³ cement reduces carbon emissions by 30% and the use of cement grade limestone by 45%; thereby extending the tenure of availability of the critical resources.

Multiple scenarios have been developed that consider different levels of production of LC³ cement. The most ambitious levels project that up to 2,380 million tonnes of clay would be needed. Based on the latest data provided by the Indian Bureau of Mines, India has sufficient resources of China Clay to fully cater to the expected demand for LC³.

The Indian cement industry has set ambitious decarbonisation targets, with the LC³ option considered integral to its pursuits of expansion. With BIS certification of the LC³ under consideration, the industry has already set its sight on the rapid rollout of production.