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 state government has set up a special investigating team to probe into the matters concerning illegal beach mining allegations. It has been observed that the coastal population has shown little or no faith in the investigating team’s work. Following this, the members of Fishermen United Front have appealed for a CBI inquiry instead. The low faith shown by the Fishermen United Front in judiciary is yet unclear.
Founder of VV Minerals India has been accused of having political connections with CM Jayalalitha. It has also been rumored that VV Mineral Vaikundarajan has used his political connections to carry illegal mining activities. This, however, is not supported by any evidence as the company has assured they have carried all legal proceedings for beach mining activities.
Two former IAS officers have gone on the record to state that VV Minerals have been engaging in illegal beach sand mining in the southern districts. However, VV Mineral has played down such allegations and insisted that the investigating team’s report will be in favor of the company.
No conclusive evidence has been found to prove that the company is guilty of illegal activities. VV Mineral Vaikundarajan has stood firm by his company and assures that the operations are within legal boundaries. Meanwhile, several fishermen in the region have threatened to leave their houses.
VV Minerals India was founded in late 1980s and has been run under the tutelage of S Vaikundarajan. The founder publicly thwarted all allegations as a defamation plot by rival mining industries.
He further stated that the allegations have no credibility and the threats are uncalled for. “We have a complete faith in the judiciary and believe the investigation will do its job. We lend our complete support to the investigating team,” VV Minerals added.
The 10% export duty on heavy minerals seems to be having a grave impact on the mining sector. The industry officials have raised the concern and requested the Centre to withdraw the export duty.
“The government of India in the budget has imposed a 10 per cent export duty on sale of ilmenite and five per cent duty on upgraded ilmenite. This has already impacted us. We are already feeling the pinch of it in places like Karnataka and Gujarat,” said Mining Engineers Association of India National President Arjeth Bagchhi.
The mining industry is contributing about 2.5% of country’s GDP by employing over 50 lakh people. VV Mineral states that the Indian ilmenite was accepted only in China. “However, due to the export duty, China may look to South Africa for ilmenite,” VV Minerals.
Indian ilmenite is low grade which requires a huge capital to separate them for purity. What was $200 per tonne has now come to $100 per tonne of ilmenite. “At this rate, the mining industry will soon face a standstill and lot of people will find themselves jobless,” says VV Minerals India.
In the wake of export duty, South Africa may export its ilmenite to China due to its quality and price. This hampers the Indian company’s chances of competing globally.
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.
