Underuse of Rare Earth Minerals

As per industry reports, the rare earth industry in India is underused and lies wasted. The Indian Rare Earth Industry is worth Rs. 90,000 crore of annual turnover.

As per estimates by Beach Minerals Producers Association, the industry can net a capital employment of about Rs 121,000 crore.

The rare earths found in India are one of the most significant ones. Collectively called Beach Sand Minerals (BSM), they include Ilmenite, Sillimanite, Garnet, Zircon, Monazite and Rutile and amount for almost 35 per cent of the world’s total beach sand mineral deposits.

"In 1998, they started freeing up the industry and in 2006, those minerals were taken off the prescribed substances list and for some reason, they have recently been put back on. So, the country has actually gone backwards. There is no justification," said Grant Smith, director-overseas operations at V. V. Minerals. "No one is getting the licences. It has been reserved specifically for PSUs through the DAE (department of atomic energy). So, at the moment, it is only the IndiaRare Earths and the Kerala operations."

"There is a perception here in India that monazite is an atomic mineral. It is actually not. Monazite is just a mineral that contains thorium and very very small amounts of uranium. But the major constituent in monazite is rare earth," said Smith. "In today’s world, China controls over 95 per cent of the rare earth market. India is not realizing any potential. You have to separate the mineral monazite from its constituents. None of the other rare earths have any thorium in them. They are associated in the ore body but not in the actual mineral."

C Swamydas, chief advisor for V V Minerals, said that proposals have been given to take on all the cost of setting up the plant, and even pay to let the atomic energy department put its own people process monazite. He added that, "We shall give the thorium (produced) to the government for free. They can store it for future use."

Though there is so much potential and scope, the industry lacks clear policies for beach and sand mining. This results in unclear rules and misleading on allegations of illegal sand mining beach mining companies.

We Are Selling Necessary Minerals To Markets Around The Globe

Introduction: S Vaikundarajan brings to everyone’s notice that the minerals that they extract and export are essentials in producing everyday household objects. He rubbishes the rumours about scamming the country for minerals that he was not even aware of until smeared with claims of an alleged scam. Which in addition to the matter, he is sure is an effort in defaming his enviably successful organisation, VV Minerals India

VV Mineral is a two-decade-old company and has been mining beach sand on the Kanyakumari, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu coasts. We don’t have the technology to separate thorium from monazite, a rare earth ore found in the area.

Even the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has put us in the clear on that matter. VV Mineral India extracts and exports garnet and ilmenite to 20 countries, including Australia and the US. 

Nuclear scientists in India have been working on an indigenous technology to utilise thorium, widely available on the southern sea coast, in nuclear power plants. And for the very same reason the Jawaharlal Nehru government has banned all private mining companies from extracting or dealing in a whole list of rare earths.

“VV Mineral does not process monazite if the government claims that it is automatically generated during the mineral separation process in the form of tailings then it is an aspect of mining that they should have thought of much earlier”, says Vaikundarajan.

Indian Rare Earth Ltd (IREL) on the other hand uses the sand from the same area and produces thorium in Manavalakurichi. 

“Without questioning IREL’s disposal methods, VV Mineral stopped receiving permits for mining but we have challenged the matter in the High Court,” , says Vaikundarajan.