Rare minerals: India

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Exploration by private parties

Policy and court directions: 2010, 2019

May 8, 2019: The Times of India

Govt moves SC to prevent atomic minerals mining by private companies NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday rushed to the Supreme Court challenging a Delhi high court order which had directed the government to execute exploration licences of atomic and rare mineral bearing blocks granted to private parties despite a policy decision not to allow private players to explore such minerals.

In June 2010, the UPA government had allowed private parties to undertake exploration of 62 offshore blocks having atomic and rare mineral deposits. But noticing large-scale irregularities by several private firms, which had the same directors and were registered just days apart, the government ordered a CBI probe.

The Centre took a policy decision in 2016 "not to auction atomic and rare mineral bearing blocks in question, either for exploration or for production, to private parties, but considering the nature and strategic importance in defence requirements, to mine only through governmental agencies in consultation with Department of Atomic Energy".

Following the policy decision, the Indian Bureau of Mines cancelled its June 7, 2010, order shortlisting 16 private applicants, who had responded to the offer for exploration of offshore blocks bearing atomic and rare minerals. Some of these shortlisted private firms challenged this in the Delhi HC, which on April 25 upheld a single judge bench's order and directed the Centre to execute the exploration licences with the private firms within two weeks.

In the appeal before the SC, the Centre said, "Shocking facts of the present case is that five companies, which applied for grant of exploration licence under the notification of June 7, 2010, had a common director and were registered after the date of notification, that is June 7, 2010, inviting applications for grant of exploration licences... whole process of selection by the screening committee and the subsequent letter for grant of exploration licences on April 5, 2011, lacked transparency and due diligence."

YEAR-WISE DEVELOPMENTS

2023: large deposits of 15 minerals found in AP

U Sudhakarreddy, April 4, 2023: The Times of India

Large deposits of 15 rare earth elements (REE), Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, 2023
From: U Sudhakarreddy, April 4, 2023: The Times of India

Hyderabad : The Hyderabadbased National Geophysical Research Institute has found in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district large deposits of 15 rare earth elements (REE) — critical components in a variety of daily-use and industrial applications, from cellphones and TVs to computers and automobiles.


NGRI scientists were conducting a survey for non-traditional rocks like syenites when they made the significant discovery of the minerals in the lanthanide series. The elements identified included allanite, ceriate, thorite, columbite, tantalite, apatite, zircon, monazite, pyrochlore euxenite and fluorite.


NGRI scientist PV Sunder Raju said zircon of varyingshapes was observed in Anantapur. The monazite grains showed high-order multiple colours with radial cracks within grains, suggestive of the presence of radioactive elements, he added. Raju said more feasibility studies will be conducted by deep-drilling to learn more about these REEs. These elements are also used in clean energy, aerospace, defence and in manufacturing permanentmagnets — a key component of modern electronics — wind turbines, jet aircraft and several other products. REEs are widely used in high technology because of their luminescent and catalytic properties. The assessment of REEs with implications for metallogeny is now under way at alkaline syenite complexes in Andhra, NGRI scientists said.


Metallogeny is a branch of geology that deals with the genetic relationship between thegeological history of an area and its mineral deposits. The alkaline complexes are located west and southwest of the Paleoproterozoic Cuddapah basin in Anantapur district.


Several alkaline syenite deposits earlier reported by the Geological Survey of India were looked at afresh for REE-bearing minerals, scientists said. Dancherla, Peddavaduguru, Danduvaripalle, Reddypalle Chintalchervu and the Pulikonda complex in Anantapur and Chittoor districts are potential hubs for these REEbearing minerals. The main Dancherla site is oval-shaped, with an area of 18sqkm. Three hundred samples were subjected to further studies to understand the potential of REE minerals, a scientist said.