Lok Sabha Question No. 1245 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-09
Subject: Rare Earths Mining
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: Anto  Antony, Behanan Benny, Adoor Prakash, Kumbakudi Sudhakaran

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1245 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.02.2022

## RARE EARTHS MINING

1245.    SHRI ANTO ANTONY: SHRI BENNY BEHANAN: ADV. ADOOR PRAKASH:

SHRI KUMBAKUDI SUDHAKARAN:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  intends  to  privatise  the  rare  earths  mining  sector  either partially or fully;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government intends to address the gap in indigenous processing units for rare earth minerals in the country and reduce the reliance on Chinese processors;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (e) whether the Government intends to frame any policies to support the development of an indigenous lab-to-product ecosystem to support India's strategic and commercial interests in the rare earth minerals sector; and
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a)&(b)The principal ore of rare earth (RE) in India is BSM sand, within which a prescribed substance  Monazite  occurs.  Monazite  is  a  phosphate  compound  of  Uranium, Thorium and RE. Due to association with radioactive elements, mining, processing and refining is kept under Government control and is carried out by a CPSE under the  Department  of  Atomic  Energy  (DAE).    After  liberation  of  radioactivity,  the  rare earths are available under Open General License (OGL) and hence available to all, including private sector since Independence.   However, till date, no private sector has shown interest in this area.  As such, industry driving demand for RE products viz. Defence, Electric Vehicles and Hybrid vehicles, Robotics, CNC technologies, etc. are either absent or in nascent stage in India. In addition, the sector was open for private  players  from  1998-2019  by  introducing  a  policy  for  exploitation  of  BSM extending  opportunity for bringing  in  state  of  the  art  technology,  FDI  and  establish industry in the value chain. However, none of the above objectives were fulfilled.

- (c)&(d) Rare earth comprises of seventeen elements and are classified as light RE elements (LREE) and heavy RE elements (HREE). Some RE which are available in India such as  Lanthanum,  Cerium,  Neodymium,  Praseodymium  and  Samarium,  etc  are  in supply  surplus  while  Dysprosium,  Terbium, Europium  which  are  classified as  HRE are not available in Indian deposits in extractable quantity. The import of HREE are in miniscule  quantities  for  applications  in  laboratory  scale.  Hence,  dependence  on China is only for HREE in miniscule quantities.  The Government is actively working on  capacity  building  for  consumption  of  the  RE  within  the  Country.  In  this  regard, recently,  to  enhance  consumption  of  RE  in  Indian  industries,  specially  Electric Vehicles, Government has announced a PLI scheme vide item No. 6 of Notification No. S.O. 4632 (E) dated 9 th November, 2021 of Ministry of Heavy Industries.
- (e)&(f) The Government has plans to develop indigenous technology to meet the domestic demand,  from  both  strategic  and  commercial  sectors.  In  India,  capacity  and capabilities in terms of mining, processing, extraction, refining and production of RE oxides/compounds is adequately available, which is under Government control due to operation  being  associated  with  radio-active  elements.  RE  in  the  form  of  oxides/ compounds, duly liberated from radioactivity is available for all including the private sector  since  Independence.    As  regards  lab-to-product  ecosystem,  a  Rare  Earth Theme  Park  is  being  setup  which  will  upscale  the  scientific  principles  proven  at laboratory to pilot scale and demonstrate the same to aspiring Industries willing to set up  commercial  operations.  Besides,  the  Theme  Park  will  also  undertake  skill development  activities  to  develop  the  workforce  of  future.  In  addition,  an  aspiring Industry  is  being  developed  under  incubation  mode  to  upscale  the  technology  to produce neodymium metal (for making neodymium permanent magnets) from Indian resources.

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