New Delhi, Jan 16 (IANS): Shares of Hindustan Copper and NALCO were up on Tuesday after India’s KABIL and Argentina’s CAMYEN SE signed a landmark agreement for first-ever exploration and mining of Lithium.

Shares of Hindustan Copper were up 3.7 per cent in trade on Tuesday. NALCO shares were up 2.5 per cent.

The Ministry of Mines announced a significant milestone achieved by Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) by signing an agreement with the state-owned enterprise of Catamarca province of Argentina.

With this Agreement, KABIL has obtained exploration and exclusive rights for five blocks to evaluate, prospect and explore and subsequent to existence/discovery of lithium mineral exploitation rights for commercial production.

This will not only boost its quest for sourcing lithium for India but will also help in bringing in technical and operational experience for Brine type lithium exploration, exploitation and extraction.

A joint venture company namely (KABIL), has been set up with the participation of three Central Public Sector Enterprises namely, National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd. (HCL) and Mineral Exploration Company Ltd. (MECL) for exploration of critical minerals across the globe, with Navratna CPSE NALCO as the leading partner.

This is a significant step towards critical mineral security for the Nation and a step towards ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.

Argentina is part of the 'Lithium Triangle' along with Chile and Bolivia with more than half of the world's total lithium resources and has the distinction of having 2nd largest lithium resources, 3rd largest lithium reserves and 4th largest production in the world.