Lok Sabha Question No. 567 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-02
Subject: Utility of Mineral Sand
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: N.K. PREMACHANDRAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.567

TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.12.2015

## UTILITY OF MINERAL SAND

## 567. SHRI N.K. PREMACHANDRAN:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to utilise the mineral sand containing radioactive elements available in the seashore of the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether such mineral sand is useful for manufacturing value added projects;
- (c) if so, the action taken by the Government for manufacturing value added  projects from such mineral sand;
- (d) whether the Government proposes to establish a permanent scientific comprehensive system for mining of such mineral sand in public sector and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  private  sector  industries  are  using  such radioactive mineral sand as raw material for their production; and
- (f) if  so,  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  avoid  the  misuse  of  such  radioactive mineral sand?

## ANSWER

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

(a)(b)&(c)  Yes  Sir.  Indian  Rare  Earths  Limited  (IREL),  a  Public  Sector  Undertaking  (PSU) under the administrative control of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has set up a 10,000 tons per annum (tpa) Monazite Processing Plant (MoPP) at OSCOM, Odisha  to  produce  Nuclear  Grade  Ammonium  Di-Uranate  (NGADU)  which  is supplied to the Department while thorium is stockpiled in trenches for future use in  the  nuclear  power  programme  of  the  Country.  Mixed  rare  earth  chloride (MRCL)  produced  during  monazite  processing  is  further  processed  to  produce separated  high  pure  rare  earths  at  Rare  Earths  Division  (RED),  Aluva,  Kerala while tri-sodium phosphate is sold in the open market.

IREL has entered into a licensing agreement for transfer of technology (LATOT) with Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, (DMRL), Hyderabad for transfer of  Rare  Earth  (RE)  based permanent magnet making technology developed by them. Further, IREL has also entered into a MoU with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) for transfer of technology for production of RE metals.

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- (d) Yes  Sir.  Followed  by  the  amendment  of    Mines    and    Minerals    (Development &Regulations)  Act,  1957  in  January  2015  DAE  has  framed  the  drafts  of  'The Atomic Minerals Concession Rules 2015' and 'The Atomic Minerals (Conservation & Development) Rules 2015' and forwarded the same to Ministry of Mines, New Delhi  aimed  at  conserving  the  atomic  minerals  viz.  ilmenite,  rutile,  leucoxene, zircon and monazite.
- (e) There  have  been  complaints  about  private  sector  industries  using  radioactive mineral  sand  as  raw  material  for  their  production.    However,  nothing  has  been conclusively proven; Public Interest Writ Petitions have also been filed in the High Court of Judicature in Madras and the matter is sub-judice at present.

Monazite (Radioactive Mineral in the sand) is a mineral of strategic importance and  right  to  process  it  is  retained  by  the  Government  and  no  private  party  is permitted to process it. Since the other beach sand minerals and monazite (which contains thorium) occur together, companies handling beach sand minerals have to get licence under the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules 2004 from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). As per the licensing conditions, the licencee, after separating the beach sand minerals has to dispose of the tailings, which contains monazite within in its company premises or as backfill, depending on the monazite content.  These institutions are under strict regulatory control. They send quarterly reports to AERB stating the amount of tailings disposed off safely either in the premises or as backfill.  Inspectors from AERB survey these areas to ensure that the licensing conditions are met.

Indian  Rare  Earths  Limited  a  wholly  owned  Public  Sector  Undertaking  of  the Government of India (GOI) under Department of Atomic Energy is the only entity which  has  been  permitted  to  produce  and  process  monazite  and  handle  it  for domestic use as well as for export.

Apart from Thorium, Monazite contains rare earths too.  On account of its radioactivity and  other characteristics, extracting rare earths from monazite  is commercially not-attractive, unless mix rare earths have to be separated as byeproduct  following  extraction  of  Thorium.  Thorium  is  required  for  the  Indian Nuclear Programme in future and there is no other known demand for Thorium. Thus the allegation of use of Monazite by private parties may not be true.

- (f)        In view of the above does not arise.

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