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 local industry has laid off many due to the ban on beach mineral mining in Tamil Nadu. The ban was imposed in August 2013 and has seriously affected the lifestyle of locals causing a loss to the exchequer.
"The local industry is nearly without job as a result of the ban that was effected in August last year. It has rendered joblessness to around 50,000 people including 15,000 of ours," V V Mineral's Managing Partner VV Mineral V Subramanian said. "The country is loosing forex amounting to at least Rs 10,000 crore a year," he claimed.
VV Mineral, a beach mining company founded in late 1980s, is country’s largest mining, manufacturer and exporter of garnet and ilmenite.
The ban resulted from complaints of illegal mining has affected nearly five coastal districts. An inquiry commission has been set up to look into the matter.
Beach mining from mineral sands is found only in coastal states such as Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. Sands contain minerals such as garnet, ilmenite, rutile, zircon and sillimanite which are used in varied areas such as aircraft and paper industries.
VV Minerals accounts to about 75% of beach mineral mining activity in the state of Tamil Nadu. The state itself contributes to around 85% of the country’s total exports of 6.5 lakh tonnes of garnet.
VV Mineral V Subramanian explains that the current state of beach mining is relenishable. “In the absence of mining, such minerals are being carried away by sea waves and as a result, Sri Lanka, located further down, is reaping rich benefit at the cost of Indian industry. The ban on mining is impacting Indian firms' reputation as trusted partners with customers overseas. It is causing an annual loss of around Rs 300 crore to the state exchequer as well," he said.
The reopening of the mines could attract some few hundred crore of investment in the sector in Tamil Nadu, he said, adding his own company is likely to invest Rs 300 crore for enhancing capacity of value addition in the existing facility.
S Vaikundarajan established VV Minerals India, a beach sand mining company, in late 1980s. For the last two decades, the company has been operating under the leadership of Vaikundarajan and gone on to become the top company in the sector.
VV Mineral Mining extracts garnet and ilmenite to over 20 countries. The company’s claim of lack in technology in separating thorium from monazite was recently confirmed by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
The company released a statement that it doesn’t process monazite that is automatically generate during the mineral separation process. However, former Former principal scientist at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Kochi raised his concerns 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?” Rajendra Ratnoo, District Collector of Kanyakumari, added to the allegations that VV Minerals has been mining without proper regulatory clearance.
VV Mineral Vaikundarajan addressed the question head on by assuring that the company has always carried out all operations within legal boundaries. “We have established a mineral separation plant and approached the AERB for a license, which is awaited,” he said while rubbishing the grouses set up by IREL officials. He further stated that IREL has been illegally mining in VV Mineral’s land and indulged in questionable practices. “No authority is ready to take action based on our complaint. Hence we approached the High Court,” said VV Mineral Vaikundarajan.
Following the allegations, the sand mining activities have been temporarily suspended. VV Minerals has filed two writ petitions on the matter that are pending with the Madras High Court. Meanwhile, VV Mineral Mining assures that the investigating committee’s report will come out in favor of the company.
The new mining laws have put private rare earth mineral sector in an uncertain position. With the industry raising their concern against the law, the Centre has decided to come out with rules governing leases of atomic minerals. VV Mineral Mining is India’s largest garnet miner and exporter. “These minerals are used in ceramic and higher technology items. The origin of these minerals is traced to Western Ghats,” informs VV Minerals India.
VV Titanium Pigments will invest Rs 100 Crore for its expansion strategy into a Coated Rutile Plant. As a private entity, this will be the largest investment made for meeting the demand of Indian Tio2 consumers.
The Coated Rutile Plant is expected to be functional by the 1st quarter of 2016. Back in 2014, VVTi had successfully launched Basic Rutile.
“The plant will be built using German technology that will allow less dependency on water and thus saving almost 1/3 expenses as compared to similar plan. It is expected to employ over 200 people and indirectly benefit more than 5000 people,” said VV Mineral Vaikundarajan. This is the next big project under VV group after acquiring Kilburn Chemicals.
The plant will cater to Indian market benefiting the paints and plastic industry that has depended on exports from China, Japan and other western countries. The demand of TiO2 is said to be around 300000 mtpa whereas the country produces only 60000 mtpa.
Managing Director of VV Group of Companies, VV Mineral V Subramanian said, “We are excited about announcing the Coated Rutile Plant project and commercial production of base rutile TiO2 which will bridge the demand supply gap faced by our country. We are positive about the value proposition once the new coated rutile plant is functional as this is ‘Made in India’ catering to Indian market. We are confident that the new German energy-efficient technology would help develop a zero-waste manufacturing facility, a first of its kind in India.”
VV Mineral Vaikundarajan has been accused of amassing assets and pecuniary resources between 2009 and 2011. The petition was dismissed citing that the petitioners failed to produce adequate documents. VV Mineral Vaikundarajan loyalists were not happy with the verdict and stood firm by their leader.
In Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district, a coastal village named Viapar is troubled by heavy beach erosion. The corrosion issues are said to have occurred from illegal beach mining across the region.
In what have been unsupported allegations, VV mineral has been held responsible for this catastrophe. It has also been alleged that the 20 year old company has encroached 30 hectares of government land and other mining lease violations.
The founder of the company, VV Mineral Vaikundarajan, has been unfairly accused of using political connections to influence the transfer of district collector, Ashish Kumar, during his inquiry stint.
VV Minerals India quoted to NDTV, “These allegations made by the former district collector are baseless, motivated and vague.”
V Sundaram, first District Collector, wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary of the state in January 2013 accusing VV Minerals of illegal mining worth over Rs. 96,000 crores. The letter also accused state government departments of favoring VV Minerals. “The mining lease was given to them within 72 days, while the other companies are still waiting for permission,” the letter stated.
In the wake of this turmoil, VV Mineral Vaikundarajan has stood firm by his company calling the allegations as a conspiracy by his business rivals.
Ravindram Duraiswami, an advocate of the company quoted to NDTV, "Sundaram is passing this as a cruel joke. He is on the payroll of our business rival. Our hands are clear. We will come out clear from these allegations. Our records are straight.”
For over two decades, VV Minerals India, a beach sand mining company, has been operating under the leadership of its founder, S Vaikundarajan. Recently, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) confirmed the lack in technology to separate thorium from monazite, earlier expressed by the company.
The local industry has laid off many due to the ban on beach mineral mining in Tamil Nadu. The ban was imposed in August 2013 and has seriously affected the lifestyle of locals causing a loss to the exchequer. 
