"Leveraging wealth from e-wasteWe all have heard about LIAM, Apple Inc.’s very own patented robot that strips down all thecomponents of a mobile phone for recycling. Currently, resource supply constraints andclimate change is driving today’s world to converge on the concept of “ Re c y c le-Reuse andRe duc e ” for sustainable usage of mineral resources. Secured and sustainable supplies of minerals are essential for a growing manufacturingindustry. Our current study which complements the Government’s current Make in Indiainitiative, carries out an analysis for identifying the criticality with regard to the importancein end-usage and risks associated with supplies for 49 non-fuel minerals used in India’sgrowing manufacturing industry. The results identify electronics industry as one of the keysectors which is likely be affected from supply risk constraints in 2030; as, it requires avariety of minerals (28 out of 49) catering to a range of specific applications. Results showthat all of these minerals would needed to be imported in varying proportions but particularly18 out of them do not have any domestic production capacities. These minerals includeplatinum group of metals and all minor minerals like indium, gallium, germanium, niobium,rare earths, ruthenium, tantalum, tellurium etc. Past attempts have been made in extracting few of these minerals but very often due to lowconcentrations in naturally occurring deposits or lack of technical know-how in extractingthem as by-products have acted as a barrier for obtaining primary supplies. A 950 kg/annum5N purity gallium extraction plant at Damanjodi based on indigenous technology andfinancial assistance coming from associated Government of India agencies, viz., DSIR, DST,DRDO and NRDC had been set up but the plant never went operational. Similar lack ofstrategic effort has been seen for the metals like molybdenum, rhenium, selenium andtellurium obtained from copper refining, Rakha mines of Hindustan Copper Limitedproducing moly concentrate has been closed over a decade now. Similar to the lack of technical know-how, absence of substitute of a mineral can increasedependency hence the risk associated with future supply disruption. The specific properties ofthese minerals often make them non-substitutable like Indium in display technologies likeLED/OLEDs. Hence, recovering these minor minerals and precious metals from these end oflife products is one viable option to alternative raw material supplies. A global review ofexisting e-waste recycling facilities shows that 12 (Khaliq, Rhamdhani, Brooks, & Masood,2014) out of these 18 minerals can be recycled and fed back into the manufacturing chain.India ranks fifth in terms of e-waste generation capacity, by volume it generates nearly 2million tonnes annually. However, if the majority of the waste material could be divertedaway from the informal players India could be a leading e-waste recycler globally. Belgium’sUmicore, which is one of the major recyclers of e-waste operates at an annual e-wastethroughput only 0.4 million tonnes and recovers 17 minerals including platinum group ofmetals; precious metals and other minor metals. Recycling is also a preferred option considering the aspect of mitigation actions for climatechange. Obtaining a metric ton of gold by mining of ores releases about 10,000 tonnes ofcarbon dioxide (Schluep, et al., 2009, p. 10), which however is huge as compared toemissions from recovering the same quantity through recycling. With India pledging avoluntary action in reduction of green house gas emissions intensity, this is the ripe time toimplement the concept of the 3 R’s for the resource intensive Indian manufacturing industry. "