MEAI Joins Vaikundarajan In His Plea For A Favourable Mining Environment In India

India as a country has rich mineral reserves that can be utilised for heavy mineral mining. However, the industrial scenario is somehow not quite welcoming for the investors in this field which is reason enough for this industry to not fully prosper and flourish as opposed to how it should. MEAI which is a leading body of mining professionals has also joined S. Vaikundarajan in his request to the government to improve the present scenario in the mining industry.  They have put forward that there should be new industrial policies stating mining to be of utmost priority in the mineral bearing belts.

Currently, the forest department has been creating quite some problems to the mining companies by claiming land on these mineral bearing belts and alleging that the land is for shelter bed development.  VV Minerals Chairman, S. Vaikundarajan who is one of the major players in this industry has clearly stated this as an upcoming problem. S. Vaikundarajan also mentioned that the government regulations are completely nonviable which result in increasing the cost of production leading to unfavourable trade. Therefore, the need of the hour is that the government takes a step forward in maintaining favourable regulations in the mining industry.

Free Eye Check Up At VV Mineral Titanium Pvt. Ltd. Premises

VV Mineral the top heavy mineral mining company in India conducted a free eye check up camp for VV Titanium & Pigmnets Pvt. Ltd. employees on July 31st and August 1st 2014. A set of trained Ophthalmologist from Dr. Agarwal's Eye Hospital were available in their campus to conduct this camp. This was one of their CSR driven initiatives to benefit their employees.

The two day eye check up camp held at their factory premises impacted 400 people some of which were employees of VV Mineral and others were local nearby villagers. Free eye check up, medicines as well as spectacles were provided to all the people who came. In addition, Awareness programmes on various communicable diseases are also an integral part of the initiative. A poster campaign on creating awareness on need of eye donation was also initiated at VV Ti factory, Tuticorin district.

The Managing Director Mr. S. Vaikundarajan expressing his thoughts said, “We are enthused about this eye check up camp which will help brighten the lives of people around us. Going forward, we pledge ourselves to create best healthcare scenario around us as a socially responsible company.  We are fully committed to creating a favourable environment around our workplace in a sustained manner.”

Hoping For A Better scenario In The Mining Industry Unlike Earlier, S Vaikundarajan

India is endowed with great mineral and sand resources in high quantities which have the potential to cater to the entire world’s market and VV Minerals is one of the leading private heavy mineral mining companies. However this resource is not fully tapped due to several reasons believes S Vaikundarajan. The present Indian mining policies are not in compliance with the practical conditions which is barring the growth of this industry. There are several factors like lack of port infrastructure and power supply that come in way of mining activities and end up in raising operational costs substantially.

The laws of the government pertaining to the mining industry do not consider the needs of the trade and lack of awareness and clarity among officials continues to hamper the development of this sector. Mining is such a lucrative industry in India which if carefully developed will yield high returns and also help in poverty alleviation, generating employment and economic growth. Therefore S Vaikundarajan hopes that the new government will surely look into the needs of this particular sector and help in its development.

Importance Of Monazite In India

Monazite is the only commercially important rare earth mineral in India. India can very well progress in this field of mining. Yet it has not made any significant development, in fact the plan of buying mines abroad has also come to a standstill.

The public sector company of India has not sold radioactive monazite mined in the last 10 years in Orissa.

"Countries having rare earth resources are possessive regarding its free export and exploration by outsiders. Hence acquiring rare earth bearing mineral assets overseas is a challenging task and needs support of the government for materializing such acquisitions," Chairman & Managing Director RN Patra told ET.

The second reason coming in the way of flourishing the rare earth industry in India is that it is not a part of the non- proliferation treaty, which makes it harder for access in the global rare earth’s industry.

"India is depending on China for import. This is not a happy situation. Imports are costly as the supply of rare earth minerals is limited elsewhere. China is using exports of rare earth minerals as a geopolitical tool," said Brahma Chellaney, professor of Strategic Studies at the Centre for Policy Research. IREL has seen profits tumbling in the last ten years.

The profit earned in the year 2013 was half of what it was in the year 2008. Which clearly shows how misguided the industry is.

Other industries related rare earth mining is the heavy mineral mining industry. The key players are VV Mineral in Tamil Nadu owned by S. Vaikundarajan. They mainly deal with Zircon mining, Rutile mining, Garnet mining and Ilmenite mining.

V. Subramanian, Director V.V. Mineral Talks About Hurdles In The Beach Mineral Mining Sector

According to Mr. V Subramanian, the hurdles faced by the company can be divided on basis of market segments.


Mining And Import-Export: The export duty on ilmenite is very high which leads to uncompetitive prospects in the global markets. No other nation imposes export duty on ilmenite.

Lack Of Port Infrastructure: Most of the mineral operations are in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. We don't have port that's deeper than 11 - 13 meters.  This makes us ship in small ships, making the freight more expensive. Proximity of the mineral sands deposits to the ports are also an issue as this raises the transportation cost substantially.  Lack of sufficient power, which again makes our own captive generation using diesel generators very expensive, almost thrice the cost of Grid power.

In Terms Of Mining: Abnormal delay in getting approvals for Mineral Concession. Delay in getting mining plan approval/Scheme Approval from Indian Bureau of Mines as well as Atomic Minerals Directorate. Delay in getting CRZ Clearance from government of India, Ministry of Environment and Forest. Delay in getting Environmental Clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forest.

In terms Of Processing: Laws framed by the government to protect coastal Processing units actually have not taken the interest of the beach mineral industry into account.

Read More On: Follow The Link  Heavy Mineral Mining.

S. Vaikundarajan Not Under Scanner Any More For Illegal Mining Scam

Mr. S. Vaikundarajan, chairman of VV Minerals which was under scanner for illegal mining to the tune of Rs 96 crore is now declared innocent.

Recently there have been a couple of reports that are inferring that the mining ban implemented in Tamil Nadu for heavy mineral mining may be uplifted in the next month. The ban was put into action last year in August when there were allegations put up against certain private heavy mineral mining companies for mining of wrong minerals.

VV Minerals accused in the illegal sand mining is proven innocent.  Mr. S. Vaikundarajan, the owner of VV Minerals, India, was alleged in a beach mineral mining scam in August last year. However, after a detailed investigation by the Indian Bureau of Mines which is a part of the Ministry of Mines it was found that VV Minerals the largest mining manufacturer and exporter of garnet and ilmenite were innocent. The company’s top management includes Mr. Jegatheesan, Mr. J Muthurajan, and Mr. V Subramanian.

S Vaikundarajan’s Concern For The Environment

S. Vaikundarajan has great love towards nature and he always believes in giving back to mother earth. That is the reason why his heavy mineral mining company, VV Mineral takes great care of the environmental factors while conducting their mining business. VV Mineral, India is very strict when it comes to ill treating the environment. They follow certain norms and never violate government regulations.

VV Mineral, mining conducts regular monitoring of ground water levels and quality of air using latest methods. VV Mineral, Vaikundarajan has also dedicated an in-house ‘Environmental Cell’ with sophisticated laboratory exclusively for this purpose. VV Minerals have procured all the statutory compliances including CRZ (coastal regulation zone) and they work complying with all the regulations. They also generate power through wind mills and also use Gasifiers to save fossil fuels so that the environment is not harmed in any way. VV Mineral is one of the only companies with an in-house environmental engineer and 30 Government-trained Radiological Safety Officers.  They also make sure that they do not cause any kind of pollution.  Therefore, S. Vaikundarajan takes great care in running his heavy mineral mining company and also looking into the needs of the environment.