India has huge potential in rare earths, needs to focus on processing capabilities: World Energy Council Chairman

Abu Dhabi [UAE], November 6 : India has access to rare earth elements and can be part of the global supply chain if it focuses on refining and processing capabilities, Adnan Amin, Chairman of the World Energy Council, has said.
Amin, who served as CEO of COP28, said that rare earth minerals are not actually that rare, and the key lies in developing processing infrastructure and industrial capacity.
"The critical minerals issue is very, very topical right now. And I think there are a few fundamentals we need to understand about this. The first point is that when we discuss rare earth minerals, they are really not that rare. They're available in many places, including in India. The real issue is how do you develop the capacity to refine and process these rare earth minerals into usable elements for energy transition," Amin said in an exclusive interaction for ANI.
Reflecting on China's progress in this space, he said that over the last 25 years, the country has invested in creating an ecosystem that focuses on rare earth processing and has established a market dominance in this field.
He explained that recent discussions around trade disruptions and geopolitical tensions have created "a kind of supply situation and a sense that there is a monopoly environment in these minerals."
He said India has the potential to be part of the supply chain.
"India has the possibility, but again, it's the same as scaling up renewables, which is developing the industrial capacity for processing and refining that is going to be at the crux of this," Amin said.
Amin sees several countries jumping on the rare earth bandwagon. The US recently announced an agreement with Japan for the supply of rare earths.
"...this (rare earths) is going to be an area where many are going to be looking at how to diversify the supply chains. And I think within that, India has an important role to play," Adnan Amin said.
As demand for copper, lithium, and rare earths skyrockets worldwide, Amin's remarks reaffirm the importance of industrial capability in ensuring self-reliance.
For India, he believes the path forward lies not just in resource extraction but in developing a robust ecosystem for refining, processing, and innovation.
Touching upon the AI aspect that can shape up the energy domain, Adnan Amin said artificial intelligence (AI) will be "revolutionary for the energy industry".
He described it as a transformative moment, similar to the rise of mobile technology.
"I think the advent of AI is going to be revolutionary for the energy industry. And in my mind, it's a little bit like - when we got mobile telephony. When we had a fixed landline infrastructure, it was very hard for people actually to get access to telephony. With the mobiles, it was revolutionary," Amin said.
He said AI offers "the opportunity for developing countries in terms of planning their energy infrastructure, in terms of making their energy infrastructure efficient, in terms of designing a bridge for the future."
He stated that countries like India, which have made significant strides in the field of AI, are well-positioned to benefit from this technology.