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environment|export|mining|system

Indian miners seek rescinding of ban on beach sand mining by private companies

31st May 2019

By: Ajoy K Das

Creamer Media Correspondent

     

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KOLKATA (miningweekly.com) – Indian miners in the private sector are seeking a reversal of a government order that banned beach sand mining by private mining companies.

Private sector miners, in a submission to the government, point out that the imposition of the ban is a reflection of the poor regulatory environment and a lack of monitoring of illegal mining, putting the onus on private mining companies which generate large revenues, high exports and significant employment.

The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI), the representative body of private miners, wants a “level playing ground” and does not want the contribution of private companies in beach sand mining to be undermined. Beach sand mining is now under the exclusive domain of government-owned mining companies since the ban on private mining was imposed in February 2019.

FIMI cautions that with private miners being forced to pull out of beach sand mining, India will soon have to increasingly depend on imports as government mining companies will be unable to ramp up production to replace production levels of private miners.

The Ministry of Mines notification imposing the ban on private miners said, “coastal areas in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, where beach sand is laced with rare earth minerals, have been suffering erosion, damaging the eco-system and threatening the livelihoods of indigenous fishermen owing to unscientific and illegal mining of beach sand”.

Sand mining by private companies was permitted by the government in 2016 with the aim being to increase production of rare earth minerals.

The move to ban private mining of beach sands comes on the heels of the government canalising the export of beach sand minerals exclusively though State-run Indian Rare Earths Limited, thereby preventing private miners from directly exporting minerals like garnet, leucoxene, sillimanite, ileminite, zircon and monazite.

In reality, the latest notification tweaks the threshold limit in beach sand to effectively stop private miners from exploiting the resource.

The notification says, “all cases of beach-sand minerals and other deposits in association with monazite are notified as above the threshold i.e threshold is 0.00% monazite, irrespective of the grade of monazite”.

At the time that private mining of beach sand was allowed, in 2016, the notification laid down the threshold concentration of monazite at 0.75% in beach sand and private miners were permitted to operate at any beach above such a threshold.

According to sources in the Mines Ministry, the government is amenable to “softening” the ban on private miners and a final decision on this will be taken by the new government in New Delhi, which was sworn in on Thursday.

The sources said that the Mines Ministry is “positive” about the FIMI argument that illegal mining is more a result of the poor regulatory environment and insufficient monitoring and that a blanket ban impacting all private miners might not be warranted.

Indications are that to put in place a more “effective and rigorous” regulatory environment, the new Mines Ministry will suggest putting in place a two-tier regulatory authority – a National Mineral Regulatory Authority at the federal level and a State Mineral Regulatory Authority at the state level – and bring all minor miners under purview of these new bodies, the sources add.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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