New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI) State-owned NLC India Ltd is exploring possibilities to source rare earth element from overseas and the company has also begun preliminary talks for lithium blocks in Mali, West Africa and for copper and cobalt mines in the Republic of the Congo, its CMD Prasanna Kumar Motupalli said.

The remarks came amid China’s recent curbs on exports of rare earth elements, impacting the global supply chain of the critical mineral which has diverse usage ranging from the manufacturing of home appliances to electric vehicles.

In an interview to PTI, Motupalli said that both mines and coal ministries have very clearly communicated to the Navratna firm to “aggressively” explore and mine both critical mineral blocks and rare earth elements.

“We are in touch with the Ministry of Mines and Ministry of Coal, and based on the advice from them we have started taking initial steps of some of the mines abroad. So as on date we are studying some lithium mines in Mali and copper and cobalt mines in the Republic of the Congo,” the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) said.

The CMD said that the things are still at the preliminary stage and future course of action will be decided after the signing of the non-disclosure agreement which is expected this month.

“But we will be cautious while finalising this. We will be taking all the factors of socio-economic condition, stability in the respective countries and then we will move forward,” he explained.

The company, he said, is targeting to produce one million metric tonnes of critical mineral in the next five years from both domestic sources and overseas.

The company had earlier bagged two critical and strategic mineral blocks located in Balod district of Chhattisgarh. The blocks — Semhardih Phosphorite and Limestone Block and Raipura Phosphorite and Limestone Block — were awarded to NLCIL through an auction route.

The CMD exuded optimism that the exploration of both the blocks will begin at the earliest.

NLC India’s core businesses include mining of coal and lignite as well as power generation.