Salal-Haimana, a quaint, picturesque village in the contested region of Jammu and Kashmir, has conjured a new identity as India’s lithium village in the last two years. Google Maps calls it Lithium Village Salal and pins the location inside the forest with the Chenab River, the area’s main water source, flowing around it.
This designation was made after Feb 9, 2023, when the Indian government announced the discovery of 5.9 million metric tons of lithium reserves in the Salal-Haimana district of Reasi. The news flashed in breaking headlines: “India discovers one of the world’s largest lithium reserves!” “White Gold in J&K.” The white, shiny metal is the 21st century’s gold. However, very few countries can boast of having large reserves.
On the same day, 32-year-old Manmohan Singh sipped tea in his kitchen. Singh, a laborer and farmer, had taken a day off to regain his health, but the news of the lithium discovery in his village renewed his excitement. “I thought this could change everything for us,” said Singh. He meant it in a good way.
The hyper-response was real. Several big companies showed excitement, though the Indian government’s two attempts at mining auctions have since failed. Many reasons could explain why: the environmental fragility of the area, geopolitics in the contested region, a militia group threatening to attack companies who would “steal the resources” and lithium in clay-deposit forms will make commercial mining difficult.
“In the past two years, many teams have come here, surveyed the land and drilled holes,” Kulwant Raj, an activist in Salal-Haimana, said in an interview for this story.
Anindita Sinh, an expert on critical minerals who works for a New Delhi-based think tank, said that the Indian government has been building partnerships with countries in the critical mineral field, including the United States.
In February 2025, the Indian and US governments signed an agreement for the exploration of critical minerals, including lithium. The press release stated: “. . . . Strategic Mineral Recovery initiative, a new U.S.-India program to recover and process critical minerals (including lithium, cobalt, and rare earths) from heavy industries like aluminum, coal mining, and oil and gas.”
Sinh said that the agreement would focus on “deepening cooperation on exploration.” Yet, she expects a lot of development happening in the “downstream” aspect: “processing and recycling technology.”
Yet new tensions between the US and India, related to steep US tariffs, could jeopardize the agreement. Additionally, mining in the contested region of Jammu and Kashmir comes with geopolitical and other risks, analysts say. (The US is actively exploring lithium mining ventures elsewhere, including in Mali.)
Mining and exploration are long-term collaborations, and “the reason India has become such an important actor in all of these discussions, at least geopolitically, is because of the China plus one strategy,” Sinh said. The world has a “crazy dependence” on China. With the China plus one strategy, companies maintain their presence in China while diversifying their supply chain out of China.
In building India as the “plus one” in some parts of the supply chain, the government has been “forthcoming in their critical mineral mission,” Sinh added.
The reasons for India’s “plus one” promotion are also related to the country’s global commitments. Electric vehicles (EVs), and lithium batteries for energy storage are essential for India’s 2030 targets of reducing per capita emission 45 percent. Subsequently, the EVs are expected to dominate the estimated $400 million global lithium market by 2030.
The Salal-Haimana village is situated almost an hour from the Line of Control border, between the India- and Pakistan-controlled parts of Jammu and Kashmir. Although the United Nations has kept a ceasefire mission in Jammu and Kashmir since 1949, the Security Council takes few actions regarding the mandate, including during the military standoff in May between India and Pakistan, which is currently is a Council member. Some experts on the UN suggest that both countries prefer to keep the Council out of Jammu-Kashmir matters.
Indeed, the military standoff presents more geopolitical complexities to the region. Mining could become the tipping point in the simmering conflict.
“The idea of tapping mineral wealth from a contested territory not only deepens political unease but also raises serious environmental and human security concerns,” Raza Rumi, a Pakistani policy analyst, said. Pakistan has not officially reacted to the discovery of lithium reserves. He added that the Pakistani administration would look at the US-India agreement closely and would keep back doors open for deals with the US as well.
“But Islamabad would have no issue so long as resources in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir are used for the development of the occupied region rather than to benefit the Indian economy,” Abdul Basit, a Pakistani diplomat and former high commissioner of Pakistan to India, said.
The region is in Seismic Zone IV with risks of earthquakes, and Sarah Qazi, a hydrogeologist and professor at the University of Kashmir, warns that mining and drilling could further deplete groundwater levels and increase contamination risk, particularly into the Chenab River. A major part of Pakistan’s water supply is sourced through the Indus Water Treaty, which includes the region’s six rivers, including Chenab.
“Islamabad must be watching the situation very closely,” Basit said. “So long as Pakistan continues to get its share of water that I think is 135 MAF [million-acre feet], it may not have an issue.”
Rumi, the Pakistani analyst, said, “There is a growing undercurrent of concern — both over the territorial implications and the broader shift in US-India strategic cooperation.”
Even with the India-US agreement, the countries align on more than 40 out of 50 critical minerals beyond lithium. This would foster long-term collaboration on various exploration stages. Sinh said the critical mineral and rare earth minerals found in Orissa — a state on India’s east coast, near the Bay of Bengal and far from Jammu-Kashmir — might have better prospects.
Along the same lines, Rumi said, “Pakistan sits on considerable reserves of other critical minerals — particularly rare earth elements and copper.” Copper is important for semiconductors manufacturing. This might allow Pakistan to follow “mineral diplomacy” with their “dual-track approach — seeking to balance its engagements with both the US-led and China-led blocs.”
With the unpredictable Trump administration, dynamics have changed between February and August in Pakistan and India. There is major friction between the US and India because of US tariffs and additional penalties on India, which include secondary sanctions for India’s purchasing of Russian oil. This tension could “create barriers to technology transfer and investment” and potentially “delay or have scaled-back ambition” for key initiatives like TRUST and the Strategic Recovery Initiative, bilateral initiatives between India and US for cooperation in the critical mineral sector.
Amid the geopolitical pressures, the basics of US-India cooperation on critical minerals will remain intact, thus reducing reliance on China and building resilient supply chains, Sinh says.
“Both partners are likely to leverage forums such as the Quad, a diplomatic grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the US, and the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) to sustain cooperation, even if progress slows until relations stabilize,” she added.
The future of lithium mining in India is tied to its economic viability and geopolitical realities. “I don’t know if a private mining company will even want to invest in such a turbulent environment,” Sinh said.
Amid all the developments, the villagers, including Manmohan Singh, remain ever-uncertain about their future. To him, lithium exploration was the opportunity to “afford a vehicle, a house in the city.” He lives with his parents, wife and two children in a mud house with wooden pillars and has spent years working wherever he finds a job — construction, farms, or other labor-intensive work — earning 400 rupees, or about $5 a day. Agriculture is difficult in the rocky fields of Salal, and the idea of leaving behind the hard work in the fields had seemed plausible.
“I don’t want my children to struggle like we did. I want them to get a good education and have better opportunities,” he said.
Wahid Bhat, a Kashmir-based journalist, contributed reporting to this article.
Rajeev Tyagi
Rajeev Tyagi is a science journalist and documentary filmmaker enrolled at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.