Srinagar: Days after the Geological Survey of India claimed to have “inferred” 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, locals have pinned hopes on the mining project saying it will provide employment to them. The Mining Ministry on Thursday said that the Geological Survey of India had for the first time established inferred Lithium resources (G3) of 5.9 million tonnes in the Salal-Haimana area of the Reasi district.
The development has caused a wave of excitement among the locals in Salal. The locals on Saturday said that once the actual mining work begins, it will create employment opportunities hoping that the locals will be prioritised in the manpower required for the project. “As you know that unemployment is on the rise. We hope that the mining project will create employment opportunities like the Salal hydropower project did when the dam was built way back in 1975.
Also read: In a first in the country, 5.9 million tonnes of Lithium deposits found in J-K
Likewise, the rail project had also provided employment to the local youth,”Bishen Singh, a local said. Singh demanded that the mining work be started in earnest so that locals are benefitted. Gurdeep, another local said that the discovery of the Lithium reserves is a “miracle”, which he said will provide employment to local unemployed youth.
He thanked the GSI and the Mining Department for the project. Gurdeep, too, demanded that locals be preferred in the manpower required for the project. For Mahindra Singh, local sarpanch representing panchayat Halqa Salal, the Lithium reserve will bring down the country's dependence on the precious mineral, which is otherwise largely exported from abroad.
“We have been importing the mineral from abroad, but now it has been found in our backyard. It will change the lives of people and will benefit the whole district. Our area of Salal will get famous across the world,” Singh said. Rajkumari, a local DDC member thanked the government of India for the project saying it will create employment opportunities in the area. The “inferred” Lithium reserves in Reasi are part of the “Reasi Sersandu-Kherikot-Rahotkot-Darabi” mineral block where the GSI has been carrying out the prospecting work since 2021-22. While the discovery per se has created excitement among locals.
