V V Mineral is the largest manufacture of minerals in India. We manufacture Ilmenite, Rutile and Zircon. Under the chairmanship of Mr. Vaikundarajan, VV Mineral has won various prestigious awards and recognition.
The Centre is ready to come out with new rules overseeing leases of atomic minerals. These rules will define the maximum radioactive content in the minerals that private companies will be allowed to mine, the concession period and the lease area.
The Beach Mineral Producers Association representation to the government against the recent changes, has disallowed lease of further areas to the private sector.
The states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are considered to be rich in heavy mineral reserves. There are 71 beach mineral mining leases in Tamil Nadu covering a total area of around 700 hectares. The industry association says there are pending applications of beach minerals involving approximately 5,000 hectares of land. Officials, maintain certain lease area that violates the Coastal Regulation Zone rules could be approved for mining.
Tamil Nadu-based V. V. Minerals is India's largest garnet miner and exporter. Garnet has considerable amount of a radioactive mineral – monazite. The changes in regulations for such minerals are going to impact companies like V. V. Minerals majorly.
V. V. Minerals is also a major producer and exporter of Ilmenite, which has recently been listed as an atomic mineral. This puts the company in a dire state. Vaikundarajan Subramaniam, the Managing Director of V. V. Minerals, is hoping for an outcome that is positive for all private players in the Indian mining scenario. For More Story Read Article On: Business Standard
Despite all these confirmations, former principal scientist at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Kochi raised his concerns by stating, “Indian Rare Earth Ltd (IREL), Manavalakurichi, uses the sand from the same area and produces thorium, so what happens to the monazite in the VV mines? Does the company follow the procedure recommended by the AERB?” Further allegations were added that the mining was operated without proper regulatory clearance.
VV Mineral was quick to address these allegations head on. “We have established a mineral separation plant and approached the AERB for a license, which is awaited.”
He further assured that the company has followed all norms and worked within the legal boundaries for over twenty years. All the allegations by IREL officials was thwarted as a setup to maim the company’s reputation. “No authority is ready to take action based on our complaint. Hence we approached the High Court,” said VV Minerals.
The sand mining activities have been temporarily suspended for now. Following this, VV Minerals has filed two writ petitions that are pending with the Madras High Court.
VV Mineral S Vaikundarajan has come under high scrutiny regarding the allegations made on his company, VV Minerals India, India's top exporter of industrial minerals garnet and ilmenite. A case of illegal mining has been issued on V. V. Minerals and the proceedings require the director of the company to be under probe all the time. VV Mineral Vaikundarajan, even after being a low-profile person himself, has been open to all the investigations.
Ashish Kumar, the collector of Tuticorin, had raised the issue of illegal mining which brought VV Minerals in the enquiry. Apparently, the collector had links with the competitors and he was transferred immediately.
Rumours have been heard that VV Mineral Vaikundarajan’s “closeness to power” is helping him get through the situation. Whereas, VV Mineral Vaikundarajan’s supporters claimed that these allegations have been a ruse by the competitors of V. V. Minerals. His rival businessman D Dhaya Devadas has gone to the extent of filing a case against him because Vaikundarajan, as Mr. Dhaya claims, openly admitted of bribing the officials.
VV Minerals has a huge annual output of 150,000 tonnes of garnet abrasives, 225,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 12,000 tonnes of zircon and 5,000 tonnes of rutile, which has been compromised due to the suspension orders on the operations since March 2010.
Despite being under pressure, Vaikundarajan has assured that the company has worked within legal boundaries for over two decades and the investigation result will be in his favor.
