The great thorium loss, nuclear fuel-rich ore lost to ilmenite exports

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Sep 17, 2013: India is losing its most valuable mineral wealth monazite, containing thorium — a fuel for nuclear reactors — in the guise of ilmenite exports causing losses of lakhs of crores of rupees to the state coffers. Ilmenite is used in the making of titanium products.

Though no private individual or firm is allowed to mine monazite, which is available in abundance in the 950-km-long East Coast of Andhra Pradesh, from Srikakulam to Nellore, lakhs of tonnes of ilmenite, which also contains substantial amounts of monazite, is being mined annually along the AP and Odisha coast and exported from the Vizag port.

One tonne of monazite has 18 per cent thorium oxide, which means every tonne of monazite yields 180 kg thorium oxide. As per the Indian Minerals Year Book-2011, the Atomic Minerals Directorate For Exploration and Research of the Department of Atomic Energy estimates that India’s coastline has a deposit of 10.7 million tonnes of monazite from which it is possible to extract 8,46,477 tonnes of thorium.

Studies have pointed at the concentration of monazite in ilmenite.

It is difficult to obtain clean separation of ilmenite and monazite (the main impurity mineral containing radioactive elements), and physical intergrowths of the two minerals are, in fact, not uncommon. As a result, ilmenite concentrates obtained from such deposits often contain high levels of thorium and uranium, said .  J. Nell in his study ‘Thorium in high titania slag’ presented at the international heavy minerals conference ‘back to basics’ held at the South African Institute of mining and metallurgy.

Ilmenite sands also yield monazite up to 0.3 per cent.

One study points to less than 0.05 per cent of monazite in ilmenite samples. Of the total 4561.37 million tonnes of ilmenite reserves in India, AP tops the list with reserves of 103. 58 million tonnes followed by Odisha with 87.82 MT and Kerala with 79 MT. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra also has Ilmenite reserves.

According to the data accessed by Deccan Chronicle, around 2.53 lakh tonnes of ilmenite sand was exported from Vizag port by Indian Rare Earths Limited and Trimex Sands Pvt Ltd for 2012-13 fiscal.  Interestingly ilmenite export from Vizag port had gone up over the years. While the exports were 62,000 tonnes in 2008-09, it went up to 1.15 lakh tonnes in 2009-10, 2.8 lakh tonnes in 2010-11 and 3.16 lakh tonne in 2011-12.

Ilmenite was exported to China, Japan, Netherlands, Russia and South Korea.

Two processing units opened by private parties in collaboration with the government in Srikakulam was supposed to separate monazite from beach sand while mining for other rare minerals.

But inquiries revealed that these companies do not have the mechanism to separate monazite from sand and ilmenite.

“We are not allowed to process or mine monazite. We only process ilmenite, rutile and zircon used in making titanium and other products. We don’t even have the mechanism to separate monazite from the sand mined from the beach,” said a representative of Trimex Sands Pvt Ltd.



 Trimex Sands Pvt. Ltd (TSPL) has been granted a mining lease for Srikurmam deposit covering an area of 7.2 sq kms stretch of coastline in the Srikakulam district. TSPL has set up Mining and Mineral separation facilities in Srikakulam to produce various heavy minerals Ilmenite, Rutile,  Zircon, Garnet  and Sillimanite  from beach sands based on the Srikurmam deposit.

Trimex Sands is also gearing up to mine at Kalingapatnam-Bhavanapadu Mineral Deposit, which is adjacent to Srikurmam deposit. The company was recently granted prospecting license for an area of 40 sq kms at Kalingapatnam-Bhavanapadu.  A Tamil Nadu based VV Minerals was also granted licenses to mine these heavy minerals barring monazite.

 A professor at department of geology of Andhra University, who visited these processing plants earlier, recollected that monazite separation was not in the flow charts of the system, machinery or the mechanism available there.

Among several States, Andhra Pradesh too has signed agreements for coastal sand mining by a number of private firms such as Bothli Trade of Switzerland, Trimex, V V Minerals and others, said former union government’s energy secretary, EAS Sarma.

“An independent investigation on this will reveal the facts including the losses to the public exchequer and the strategic implications of exploitation of valuable atomic and other minerals such as monazite. I understand that former and present senior political functionaries of the state government in Andhra Pradesh, and perhaps in the other states have acquired stakes in the above cited mining activity. Unless a central agency, independent of the state government, investigates this continuing plunder, the unsavoury details of the same may not get revealed. CVC may have to launch an investigation under its oversight,” Sarma added. He also wrote a letter in this regard to Prime Minister who also heads the DAE. 

As per the latest notification of Department of Atomic Energy vide ref. S.O.61(E)  dated January 20, 2006, these heavy minerals like ilemenite, zircon, rutile, sillimanite, garnet  are delisted from the prescribed  substances list and hence for the handling of these minerals licence from  Department of Atomic Energy under the Atomic Energy (Working of the Mines,  Minerals and Handling of Prescribed Substance) Rules, 1984 is not required. 

However, licence under the Atomic Energy Act is still required for handling or export
of monazite and Thorium, which are prescribed substances. And the DAE has not given any licences for export of beach sand with monazite, said  Minister of state in the PMO, V Narayanaswamy in a reply in Loksabha in Nov 2011. However, under the guidelines framed by the Atomic Energy  Regulatory Board (AERB) individual processors of beach sand have to separate and safely keep the monazite content of such sand.

• One tonne of monazite has 18 per cent thorium oxide present in it which  means every tonne of monazite would yield 180 kilo thorium oxide.

• As per the Indian Minerals Year Book- 2011 the Atomic Minerals Directorate For Exploration and Research of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), estimates India’s coastline has a deposit of 10.7 million tonnes of monazite from which it is possible to extract 8,46,477 tonnes of thorium metal.

• Of the total 4561.37 million tonnes of ilmenite reserves in India, Andhra Pradesh tops the list with reserves of 103. 58 million tonnes, followed by Odisha with 87.82 MT reserves and Kerala with 79 MT. Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra also have ilemenite reserves.

Ilemenite export from Vizag port

2008-09--------62,000 tonnes

2009-10--------1.15lakh tonnes

2010-11--------2.8lakh tonnes

2011-12--------3.16lakh tonnes

2012-13--------2.53lakh tonnes

• Ilemenite was exported to China, Japan, Netherlands, Russia and South Korea.