MEAI-H.Qtrs- Recommendations of the IXth International Heavy Mineral Conference held
at Visakhapatnam on 27 – 29 November, 2013
During the deliberations of the Conference it emerged that the technology for exploration,
mining, beneficiation and utilization of the mineral sand is well developed and is available
to most of the Nations having sizable mineral sand reserves. However in most of the
Countries, the contribution of the mineral sands to the GDP is very small as the industry is
not able to fully utilize its resources to the benefit of the society and to contribute
adequately to the national economies because of inordinate delays in the grant of mining
rights and land acquisition.
Unlike other conventional mining of coal, iron ore, limestone etc. mineral sand mining is
involved with simultaneous back-filling of the mined out areas with the tails sand and the
land is restored to its original form, if not improved with better landscaping and the land is
ready for the use it was put, before mining. Keeping this aspect in view, the Mineral Sand
Mining Industry should be treated differently from other kinds of Mining. Also, beach sand
minerals mining does not require blasting, trenches etc. like conventional mining. The
washings on the beaches are mined by scraping and the inland deposits are mined by
digging in dry mining method. In areas where the deposits extend below water table, the
dredging method is adopted. These mining methods are safe and hence, the laws to govern
beach sand mining activity needs to be modified, taking into account the
simplicity/severity of the operations. However, in actual practice, this type of mining is also
considered as dangerous/polluting as the mining of the other minerals from Mine
Safety/Environment Protection Statutes. This has to be reconsidered,
Therefore, the Conference recommends that:1) There should be separate legislation/laws for mineral sand mining just as there are
separate
Regulations for coal, metalliferrous mines, oil wells, Granite Conservation and
Development Rules 1999 etc. taking into consideration the special requirements of
the mineral sand industry.
2) It should be appreciated that mineral sand mining causes very little, if at all any,
damage to the
Mining area and the land can be restored to the previous state quickly and easily. In
fact, in most cases, the recovered land is better laid out with planned dunes and
lagoons, which serve as water bodies for plantation and for people settled on the
recovered land.
3) There should be a single window approach at the State and Central Govt. level for
mining, land acquisition, and other related statutory clearances with adequate
authority and delegation of powers to take decisions and dispose of quickly all the
matters related to mineral sand mining. This Authority should consider the special
need for protecting certain areas such as the turtle breeding ground and the
preservation of the other coastal flora and fauna.
4) The professional Societies like Mining Engineers’ Association of India and such
professional Societies in other Countries should make special efforts to bring these
and other related matters to the notice of the respective Governments as well as the
general Public so that the mineral sand industry can make its due contribution to
the national economy. In India, MEAI representation is requested on the single
window Body as proposed at point 3) above.
It is further recommended that every National Government should constitute a Mineral
Sand Development Board to
A. Co-ordinate exploration of inland and off-shore heavy mineral deposits and
B. Lay down Guide lines for Policy, Statute and Legislation as well as for further
Development of appropriate Technology for mining and processing of deposits of
economical value.
For the special cases prevalent in India, the Conference makes the following Specific
Recommendations to the Government of India and the concerned State Govts.
1) To distinguish between and avoid any confusion between Ordinary Sand Mining for
Construction Industry and Mining of Minerals from Sand for Metals Industry, the
current practice of referring Mining of Minerals from Sand as “Beach Sand Mining”
be discontinued and renamed as “Mineral Sands Mining” as per practice in most
Countries of the World, where such important minerals are being mined from Sand.
2) Beach Sand Mineral Policy of 1998 may be reviewed and a New Policy pronounced
subsequent to deletion of Ilmenite, Rutile etc from the prescribed substances and
keeping in view the proposal made at (i) above.
3) At present Mining Plans are being approved by two Agencies, viz., AMD (under DAE)
for Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon and IBM for Garnet and Sillimanite. Instead, a single
Agency may be designated for speedy approval of Mining Plans for all the sand
minerals.
4) Mining is a Dynamic Process. Frequent changes are called for in the progress of
benches, direction of progress, production rate of different grades of the mineral
within the mining lease etc. Thus, the statutory 5 year Mine Plan is required to be
constantly fine tuned to accommodate the inevitable changes in Grade distribution,
new geological data identified due to additional drilling/exploration, Blending
requirements dictated by Mineral Processing Plant, Raw material mix sourced from
outside, short-term Market fluctuations of demand/supply, costs and prices,
unpredictable climatic changes like heavy Rains, Flooding, sudden Legal restrictions,
Objections from outsiders etc. The reasons and frequency of changes are so many
that it prevents Mine Organizations to prepare a modified Mining Plan and get it
approved every time before implementation. There is no Country in the World
where Mine Plan once prepared, becomes a rigid Plan cast in stone till modified and
approved by the Government, on each occasion a change is justifiably required.
5) There is thus a need to make in-built provisions for greater Degrees of Freedom in
this dynamic process of mine planning and execution at the operating levels. The
Regulatory Agencies like IBM and AMD must recognize and appreciate the
inevitability of such frequent modifications in Mining Plan and provide for the same,
but under the overall scheme of things of the Five Yearly Mining Plan/Mining
Scheme Regime. The decentralized ground level control could be ensured through
the existing mandatory system of keeping qualified/certified Mining Engineers and
Geologists at Mine site (appointed for the purpose), to whom this job of close
monitoring and maintenance of Mine Plan Drawings at Mine level must be delegated
and IBM/AMD could and should be the ‘Watchdog’, instead of insisting on approving
each and every change /New and Modified Mine Plan or Scheme.
6) Minerals are as important as Air, Water, Land and Forests, not only for human
survival but also for Development and inclusive Growth. Govt. of India should
therefore enact legislation in the same manner as done to protect Air, Water, Land &
Forests, to protect Mineral bearing Lands identified by AMD, GSI and other such
State Agencies and such mineral bearing areas shall be notified and not allowed to
be used for any alternate purpose at the cost of mining of the contained minerals or
sterilization of the mineral reserves. The Administration of such National Assets
could as well be placed under the jurisdiction of a dedicated new Cadre to be known
as “Indian Mining Service”.
7) Presently detailed EIA & EMP is required to be prepared, once during the
preparation of Mining Plan and later for securing the Environment Clearance (with
the added requirement of getting Terms of Reference for preparation of the
EIA/EMP documentation and also collecting environmental Base line data). If the
approval of Mining Plan and issue of EC are not happening within a period of say 3
years (which in most cases go beyond this period), it becomes a repetitive exercise
costing time and money to the Project Proponent. It would help the Mining Industry
if such duplication could be obviated by possible unification of Processes and
Documentation with similar/identical objectives, but regulated by different
Agencies.
8) Mining lease is granted subject to standard conditions attached to the lease deed.
The Mining lease holder is legally bound to adhere to these conditions while
conducting Mining operations. Similarly, the obligations of Environment Protection
could also be simplified and standardized by including, (along with the Mining lease
conditions), the General EC conditions as well as Leasehold specific EC conditions
as may be jointly determined by the Regional Offices of IBM, PCB, MOEF, etc or
Regional Committees set up for the purpose and. Additionally, the time bound
Action Plan emanating from the mandatory Prior Public Hearing (say consequent on
securing the LOI for the Leasehold), could also be made part of the conditions
attached to the Lease Deed. Mining parse, could thus be allowed to be commenced
subject of course to adherence to the aforesaid conditions. Formal grant of various
approvals in a time bound manner could be proceeded with on a parallel mode
rather than as ‘a priori’ requirement, which tantamounts waiting for 3-5 years for
EC to be secured, with by and large, the same set of conditions. Important Site
Specific Studies can also be carried out parallelly, the recommendations wherefrom
becoming obligatory in a time-bound manner.
9) On a similar logic, the lead-lag relationship among various statutory
approvals/clearances ( a particular clearance becoming a pre-requisite for even
applying for another, the entire process leading to avoidable wait-outs), could be
minimized by processing the multifarious Applications in parallel to the extent
possible, so that the time-frame for the same could be optimized.
10)It has been a Universal practice to mine the replenishable ore, continuously being
deposited in the inter-tidal zones, lest it should flow back to the sea. The beach
washings so collected provide virtually a perennial source of the heavy minerals, not
found elsewhere, other than the sea front. The collection and gainful utilization of
such inter-tidal accretions is quite environment friendly, just as the whole of beach
sand mining activity, usually is. Any restrictions on scientific mining being carried
out in the inter-tidal zone are not justifiable from an economical point of view nor
does it have any environmental justification. Any such prohibition or restriction
would be detrimental to growth of the Sand Mineral Industry, besides being against
the prevalent Conservation and Development Rules which advocate highest
recovery of minerals where ever they exist.
11)The mining of rich inland deposits away from the HTL are also facing severe
restrictions in being allowed to be mined in AP as well as other States on often
unjustifiable pleas such as the areas serve as nesting ground for Olive Reedley
Turtle or contain endangered species. Such decisions do not always get backed up
by scientific studies/reasoning and also tend to overlook the recommendations of
renowned experts on the subject. This is causing avoidable harm to the Industry in
AP and other States. Hence permission to mine the entire deposit should be allowed,
except where scientific studies and recommendations of experts in the field indicate
restrictions to be imposed if any, as also the specific precautions to be taken to fully
protect the Environment, including endangered/ scheduled species of Flora and
Fauna like the Olive Reedley Turtles during their annual breeding visits to part of
Orissa Coast.
12)The Govt. of India has actively started allotting Off-shore Blocks for exploration and
exploitation of natural resources in the areas abutting existing Mining leases and
Exploration License areas on land. To avoid any dispute arising out of accessing
such off-shore areas for adopting the best method of exploration and mining, these
off-shore blocks should be first offered to existing lease/ license holders on land and
only upon their refusal, such Blocks should be offered to other willing applicants.
13)Presently an Export Duty of 10% is levied on Ilmenite, which may be removed for
promoting the production of Ilmenite, commensurate to its resources and making
Indian Ilmenite Industry’s presence felt in the international market.
14)Indian beach sand mineral deposits normally contain all the minerals like ilmenite,
rutile, zircon, garnet, sillimanite and monazite. Presently, mining leases are often
given selectively for one or two minerals or for all minerals except monazite. The
content of individual minerals varies from deposit to deposit. Needless to state, such
selective leasing is contrary to Mineral Conservation. Hence, necessary
modifications are required to be made in the rules to not only include all the suite
minerals in the Lease deed, but also to incentivize exploitation of as many of them as
possible.
15)As regards Monazite, it is understandable that due to the presence of Thorium and
Uranium, its handling, processing and management needs to be controlled by the
Department of Atomic Energy. But then, the rules and procedures prescribed for
the purpose, date back to the period when the entire suite of beach sand minerals
was solely under the Public Sector domain. Also for various reasons, Monazite
Quarantine was also in vogue. Under the present day liberalized regime with Private
Sector Players also on th scene and fast growing demand for the Rare Earth
Elements as also for Tri-sodium Phosphate (one of the first-stage by-products of
Monazite processing), it has become imperative to fully utilize Monazite just like
other suite minerals of beach sands. For this purpose, it would be prudent to permit
all producers of sand minerals to win and process Monazite also, the essential
controls on this strategic and Radio-active mineral being exercised through the
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) and the Dept. of Atomic Energy as is being
done for the PSUs now. Such a move will subserve the conservation of all the
ingradients of the Heavy Mineral Sands. State of Art Technologies are available
indigenously for Monazite Processing as well as for Value Addition.