Illegal thorium mining in India. Value of India’s thorium reserves: Rs. 1340 billion est.
Court stays closure of AIADMK patron's factory
By IANS
Madurai : A court here Thursday granted interim stay on a pollution control board's order to close down a factory belonging to a patron of Tamil Nadu's opposition AIADMK party.
The decision of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court comes as relief for S. Vaikuntarajan.
Justices Prafula Kumar Misra and P.R. Shivakumar admitted three writ petitions filed by Vaikuntarajan, granted the interim stay and posted the case for hearing Friday.
His factory is in Tirunelveli district where the Tata group supported by the DMK government is going to start titanium mining.
Vaikuntarajan, a shareholder of Jaya TV, has been accused by the state government of illegally mining garnet sand in Kanyakumari district and extracting rare earths.
The government told the court that mining authorities, during the examination of the sand extracted by the factory, had found that it contained thorium. It said the petitioner was not authorised to mine in that area, that he had stolen the country's rich minerals and this was a national crime.
Vaikuntarajan has argued that he had the necessary permit to mine in the concerned area.
Both the Tatas and Vaikuntarajan are making a claim on seashore sand on the same stretch of the east coast for their respective business purposes.
The AIADMK has said the government wants Vaikunturajan out of the area so that Tatas can have a free shoreline. The businessman says he is not opposed to the Tatas mining titanium in the same area.
Fearing arrest, Vaikuntarajan had filed an anticipatory bail plea on July 18. He was granted anticipatory bail on Aug 28.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had issued a show-cause notice to him on July 6, saying his factory was inspected and was found producing effluents that were discharged on land, contaminating ground water.
On Aug 30, the TNPCB chairman issued a direction under the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board Act to stop power supply to the factory and close it down.
Vaikuntarajan told the court that he had provided an interim reply to the show-cause notice. He added that the board had not given him any information regarding the reported inspection.
Vaikuntarajan submitted to the court that his factory was only a mineral separation unit, running since 1989.
Madurai, July 19 (PTI): An anticipatory bail application was filed in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court by the Managing Director of V V Minerals,Vaikunatarajan,a shareholder of Jaya TV,denying the allegation that the company vehicle was used to illegally mine garnet sand from Kanyakumari district.
In his bail application, Vaikunatarajan contended the Deputy director of Mines could not file a complaint under the Atomic Energy Act against him for mining garnet sand.
The petitioner contended that the ruling DMK party was trying lodge him in prison. He alleged that DMK had given an assurance during the assembly session that he would not be arrested when AIADMK MLAs protested against 'false cases' being foisted against him
When the case came for hearing today, the petitioner's counsel submitted that no action should be taken against his client till the court decided whether the Deputy director had the power to file a complaint under Atomic energy act.
The government pleader said mining authorities, during examination of the sand, had found that it contained Thorium. The petitioner was not authorised to mine in that area. Hence his bail application is opposed, he alleged.
Vaikuntarajan contended that he had a permit for mining in the particular area. He would submit the permit documents as and when required.
Justice G Rajasuriya, after hearing both parties, suggested that the petitioner surrender before the local magistrate and get bail.
The case had been posted for hearing on July 25.
HC orders notice to ministeries over illegal mining issue
PTI | 07:02 AM,Feb 07,2012Madurai, Feb 7 (PTI) The Madras High Court Bench here today ordered notice to various secretaries of Union Ministeries including Mines, Atomic Energy and Environment and Forests over a petition seeking to appoint an expert committee to probe into the alleged illegal mining of beach sand in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts. Justice Chitra Venkatraman and Justice Karuppiah, who gave the direction, also ordered notice to the State Principal Secretary of the Industries Department, and state officials of Mines and Pollution Control Board over the petition. They gave the direction after admitting a petition filed by Dhaya Devadas and posted the case after two weeks pending reply from the officials. The petitioner alleged that mining of Ilmenite Rutile, Zircon, Monazite from sand in the three districts was given to private parties after the mining plan was approved by the Regional Controller of Mines from 2007. But since then mining lease was granted only to those firms under the control of Vaikuntarajan, who owned a mining firm, and his associates, he alleged. Others were not allowed in the area even if lease was given, he claimed. Charging that Vaikuntarajan's firm possessed a total of 33 beach and sand mining leases, he alleged the company had been issued notices many times by various District Collectors. The Tuticorin District Collector had charged Vaikundarajan of storing illegally mined ilmenite from 2007-2009, he said. The petitioner also charged that the lease would not have been granted to the same lessee without the connivance of the officials.
Rama Setu: Save setu to save thorium reserves
July 30, 2007
To build thorium reactors in Bharatam soon, we need to conserve our thorium reserves.
For thorium reserves to be conserved, a number of steps are essential
1) stop desiccation of Rama Setu which together with the ocean currents has led to the accumulation of placer deposits; 2) stop private mining of monazite, ilmenite sands; 3) avoid any mid-ocean channel which will absorb the energy of the next tsunami and devastate the placer deposits and move them into the mid-ocean, making it difficult (and more expensive) to extract thorium from the deep ocean sands; 4) extraction and processing of monazite and ilmenite sands should be kept in the public sector domain and should not be allowed to be part of the diabolical geopoliticking seeking the creation of an international waters boundary between Bharatam and Srilanka, a boundary which has never existed in history. Why is there a move to create such a boundary creating a mid-ocean channel cutting through Rama Setu?
Why does USA issue a naval operational directive refusing to recognize Gulf of Mannar as ‘historic waters’ despite an agreement in 1974 between Smt. Indira Gandhi and Smt. Sirimavo Bandaranaike who reiterated that there is no international waters bounday in these ‘historic waters’. So it is that Sir A Ramaswamy Mudaliar committee in 1956 said no mid-ocean channel passage cutting through Rama Setu — near the medial line — but only a land-based canal through Mandapam or Dhanushkodi. Why has this sage advice of the first Committee set up in swarajya bharatam been ignored?
Save Rama Setu. Save thorium reserves for the nation’s indigenous nuke program.
k
Thorium reactor in India soon!
2 Jul 2007, 1500 hrs IST ,
IANS
SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
BANGALORE: A team of scientists at a premier Indian nuclear facility has made a theoretical design of an innovative reactor that can run onthorium – available in abundance in the country – and will eventually do away with the need for uranium.
But the success of the project largely depends on the US playing ball.
The novel Fast Thorium Breeder Reactor (FTBR) being developed by V. Jagannathan and his team at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai has received global attention after a paper was submitted to the International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems (ICENES) held June 9-14 in Istanbul.
Power reactors of today mostly use a fissile fuel called uranium-235 (U-235), whose “fission” releases energy and some “spare” neutrons that maintain the chain reaction. But only seven out of 1,000 atoms of naturally occurring uranium are of this type. The rest are “fertile”, meaning they cannot fission but can be converted into fissionable plutonium by neutrons released by U-235.
Thorium, which occurs naturally, is another “fertile” element that can be turned by neutrons into U-233, another uranium isotope. U-233 is the only other known fissionable material. It is also called the “third fuel”.
Thorium is three times more abundant in the earth’s crust than uranium but was never inducted into reactors because – unlike uranium – it has no fissionable atoms to start the chain reaction.
But once the world’s uranium runs out, thorium – and the depleted uranium discharged by today’s power reactors – could form the “fertile base” for nuclear power generation, the BARC scientists claim in their paper.
They believe their FTBR is one such “candidate” reactor that can produce energy from these two fertile materials with some help from fissile plutonium as a “seed” to start the fire.
By using a judicious mix of “seed” plutonium and fertile zones inside the core, the scientists show theoretically that their design can breed not one but two nuclear fuels – U-233 from thorium and plutonium from depleted uranium – within the same reactor.
This totally novel concept of fertile-to-fissile conversion has prompted its designers to christen their baby the Fast ‘Twin’ Breeder Reactor.
Their calculations show the sodium-cooled FTBR, while consuming 10.96 tonnes of plutonium to generate 1,000 MW of power, breeds 11.44 tonnes of plutonium and 0.88 tonnes of U-233 in a cycle length of two years.
According to the scientists, their FTBR design exploits the fact that U-233 is a better fissile material than plutonium. Secondly, they were able to maximise the breeding by putting the fertile materials inside the core rather than as a “blanket” surrounding the core as done traditionally.
“At present, there are no internal fertile blankets or fissile breeding zones in power reactors operating in the world,” the paper claims.
The concept has won praise from nuclear experts elsewhere. “Core heterogeneity is the best way to help high conversion,” says Alexis Nuttin, a French nuclear scientist at the LPSC Reactor Physics Group in Grenoble.
Thorium-based fuels and fuel cycles have been used in the past and are being developed in a few countries but are yet to be commercialised.
France is also studying a concept of “molten salt reactor” where the fuel is in liquid form, while the US is considering a gas-cooled reactor usingthorium. McLean, Virginia-based Thorium Power Ltd of the US, has been working with nuclear engineers and scientists of the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow for over a decade to develop designs that can be commercialised.
But BARC’s FTBR is claimed to be the first design that truly exploits the concept of “breeding” in a reactor that uses thorium. The handful of fast breeder reactors (FBRs) in the world today – including the one India is building in Kalpakkam near Chennai – use plutonium as fuel.
These breeders have to wait until enough plutonium is accumulated through reprocessing of spent fuel discharged by thermal power reactors that run on uranium.
Herein lies the rub.
India does not have sufficient uranium to build enough thermal reactors to produce the plutonium needed for more FBRs of the Kalpakkam type. The India-US civilian nuclear deal was expected to enable India import uranium and reprocess spent fuel to recover plutonium for its FBRs. But this deal has hit a roadblock.
“Jagannathan’s design is one way of utilising thorium and circumventing the delays in building plutonium-based FBRs,” says former BARC director P.K. Iyengar.
Meanwhile, India’s 300,000 tonnes of thorium reserves – the third largest in the world – in the beach sands of Kerala and Orissa states are waiting to be tapped. The BARC scientists say that thorium should be inducted into power reactors when the uranium is still available, rather than after it is exhausted.
But the FTBR still needs an initial inventory of plutonium to kick-start the thorium cycle and eventually to generate electricity. A blanket ban on India re-processing imported uranium – a condition for nuclear cooperation with the US – could make India’s thorium programme a non-starter.
Iyengar has one suggestion that he says must be acceptable to the US if it is serious about helping India to solve its energy problem.
“The US and Russia have piles of plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons,” Iyengar told IANS, adding: “They should allow us to borrow this plutonium needed to start our breeders. We can return the material after we breed enough.”
Chennai, July 29: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Sunday said he believes the country can be a world leader in nuclear fuels if it develops technology for thorium-based reactors. “We have vast resources of thorium and the moment we develop the technology for thorium-based reactors, we will be the world leader,” Dr Kalam told this newspaper at his cabin at Ramanujan Computing Centre at Anna University here.
Dr Kalam said thorium may be used as a fuel in nuclear reactors instead of uranium. This produces “less transuranic waste,” he said and added that the country has ready access to thorium. On the India-US civilian nuclear deal, Dr Kalam said, “We require a large quantity of uranium as of today because we have 17 nuclear reactors which are running to capacity. Hence we cannot afford to be away from mainstream nuclear activities.”
On whether the India-US nuclear deal would prevent India from conducting nuclear tests in the future, Dr Kalam said, “That we can sort out when we cross the bridge.” Dr Kalam was the scientific adviser to the Union government when he led and coordinated the team of Indian nuclear scientists and engineers conducting the Pokhran nuclear test of May 1998.
http://deccan.com/home/homedetails.asp#Build thorium reactors: Kalam
Rama Setu: mining for strategic mineral, monazite
July 31, 2007
This issue is linked with Rama Setu. Significant quantities of placer deposits of the strategic mineral are in the Setu region along the short coastline close to Kanyakumari, Aluva, Chavara, Manavalankurichi. See GSI map of Tamilnadu minerals. It is disturbing to see politicking as usual on this strategic issue.
This issue is also linked with the ongoing Indo-US nuclear deal with the supercop expecting increased dependence of India’s nuke program on uranium purchases from the nuclear fuel suppliers’ group (instead of using the indigenous, thorium alternative).
This note is about effective retrieval of strategic mineral, monazite. Its importance for the nation’s nuclear programme should be clear. (I hope so; in any case, see
http://www.barc.ernet.in/webpages/about/anu1.htm
).
The following reports show a disturbing trend after privatisation of mining operations in 2000. Even the CM of Tamilnadu uses the Hindi word (!) dada in relation to the politicking on such a strategic issue. A serious situation, indeed.
Some thoughts to ponder, in national interest. The summary of the news item in Tamil is this: Tata’s titanium project in Sattankulam will be reviewed further. A dada operates ‘garnet’ sands business. Partner parties of DMK seem to be opposed to the Tata project proposal.
What is at stake is not merely titanium or garnet, but building up thorium reserves. The attempts at building a thorium reactor will become redundant if the reserves are allowed to be depleted or desiccated for temporary gains.
k
Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) carries out survey, prospecting and exploration of atomic minerals required for the Nuclear Power Programme of the country. The main R&D oriented activities of the Directorate include assessment, evaluation, character-isation, and categorisation of atomic minerals, design and fabrication of radiometric instruments and development of ore extraction flow sheets…
Beach Sand and Off-Shore Investigations
Assessment and evaluation of heavy mineral deposits along coastal tracts in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala was continued.
A potential heavy mineral rich zone was identified near Inayam, Kanya-kumari district, Tamil Nadu, where total heavy minerals (THM) associated with teri sands were of the order of 35%. Preliminary estimation indicated a reserve of 2.2 million tonnes THM with 79% titanium minerals.
Reports/executive summaries on different heavy mineral deposits were prepared and supplied to IREL and private agencies.
Export consignment of over 1,84,000 MT garnet sands and 5000 MT ilmenite pertaining to private entrepreneurs and over 1,39,800 MT ilmenite and 1400 MT sillimanite pertaining to IREL were sampled for issuance of monazite test certificate.
http://www.dae.gov.in/ar2001/p27.jpg Heavy mineral rich Inayam Teri Sand Deposit, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu
…
Mining Plan approval:
Scrutiny of mining plans in respect of atomic minerals was continued as per the provisions of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957. Seven mining plans in respect of mining of ilmenite, rutile and garnet pertaining to M/s. V.V. Minerals, Tamil Nadu were approved after scrutiny. No Objection Certificates in respect of 4 mining plans pertaining to mining of garnet in Rajasthan were issued to IBM.
http://www.dae.gov.in/ar2001/amd.htm
Plea against mining firm dismissed
Staff Reporter (July 5, 2007, The Hindu)
MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a writ appeal filed by the Kanyakumari Collector against the lease granted to V.V. Minerals, a Tirunelveli-based company, to mine beach garnet (used as gemstones and abrasives) in the district.
Managing partner of the company, S. Vaikuntarajan, is a major shareholder in Jaya TV. A Division Bench, comprising Justices K. Ravirajapandian and P.R. Shivakumar, dismissed the appeal on the ground that the Collector, statutorily a lower authority, could not question the lease granted by the Director of Geology and Mining. Even if its grant had to be questioned on the ground of illegality, it could be done so only by means of a revision petition before the Centre, the Bench said. The appeal was filed against an order passed by the single judge on May 9, directing the Collector to execute the lease deed in favour of the company in accordance with the lease granted by the Director of Mining on January 31, 2006. The Collector claimed that the single judge had failed to take note of the fact that permitting mining work along the shore might lead to intrusion of sea water and erosion in nearby villages. He said the beach sand would contain monazite, a mineral capable of causing radioactivity. Dumping the monazite, after separating it from raw sand, could endanger public health.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/05/stories/2007070557600300.htm
Need to regularise garnet sand export
P. Sudhakar (Oct. 19, 2005 The Hindu)
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/19/images/2005101914270701.jpg
VALUE-ADDED PRODUCT: The mineral deposit on the beach at Vattakkottai near Kanyakumari. — Photo: A. Shaikmohideen
TIRUNELVELI: The recent ransacking of a garnet sand export unit in the district has once again highlighted the need for stringent measures to regularise the business, which has proved very “lucrative” for some of those involved in it.
When beach sand is separated through a series of physical and chemical processes, it yields a range of costly minerals including garnet sand, ilmenite, rutile, casseterite, monazite etc. As the value-added products of garnet and ilmenite enjoy heavy demand in the international market, several units have come up in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts in the past two decades.
Though the business took roots on the beaches between Uvari and Kanyakumari in 1974-1975, when a Tuticorin-based company started mining beach sand and separating garnet sand from it for export, the boom came much later, after it attracted business from Tirunelveli district. With the assistance of a key person who was ousted from a Tuticorin-based garnet sand exporting company, business flourished, due to a variety of reasons.
“Even though our ancestors lived in this area, they fully relied upon the wealth of the sea for their livelihood. But these people, who mined products deposited on the seashore and the adjoining land just minted money, to the tune of several crores, within a few years,” says 55-year-old S.V. Antony, president of Uvari village panchayat and student of geology.
Residents of all coastal hamlets between Uvari and Kanyakumari allege that the companies invariably use heavy earthmoving equipment for mining, ignoring the official restriction that deposition of sand on the beach can be mined only for a few centimetres. Moreover, after separating the costly minerals, the used sand is not used to fill the spot from where it was excavated. “It causes adverse ecological imbalances. One company has dug a channel to get the ore from deep seabed and this has affected fishing, because of the chemicals used during processing. But authorities have not taken any action. This is the main reason for skirmishes between the companies and the neighbouring villagers, who are ignorant about the regulations on the companies,” he said.
But V. Venkataramani of Fisheries College and Research Institute, Tuticorin, says merely taking away the beach sand and dumping the used sand back in the sea will not affect fish breeding, provided the chemically treated sand contained chemicals within permissible limits. “But the seaside mining will affect turtle breeding,” he warns.
The villagers as well as social activists here feel that the dos and don’ts laid down by the State and Central governments for this business should be transparent and in public domain so that people can alert the officials when things go wrong. “That would be the only effective solution to prevent the recurrence of such clashes,” feels Mr. Antony.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/19/stories/2005101914270700.htm
http://kalyan97.wordpress.com/2007/07/
Indian Rare Earths Limited
| Indian Rare Earths Limited | |
 | |
| Type | State-owned enterprise |
|---|---|
| Industry | Rare Earth Research |
| Founded | August 18, 1950[1] |
| Headquarters | Plot No.1207,Veer Savakar Marg, Prabhadevi |
| Key people | K.P. Srinivasan, Chairman[2] |
| Revenue |   390.2403 crore (US$77.85 million)(2008-2009) |
| Net income |  389.40 crore (US$77.69 million)(2008-2009) |
| Website | www.irel.gov.in |
Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) is a government-owned corporation in India based in Mumbai. It was incorporated as a private limited company and jointly owned by the Government of India and Government of Travancore Cochin. Government of India took control of IREL in 1963 under the administrative control of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). It was incorporate with the primary intention of taking up commercial scale processing of monazite sand at its first unit namely Rare Earths Division(RED), Aluva, Kerala for the recovery of thorium.[3]
IREL commissioned its largest Division called Orissa Sand Complex(OSCOM)[4] at Chhatrapur,Orissa.[5][6] Today IREL operates these four units with Corporate Office in Mumbai[7] and produces/sells six heavy minerals namely ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, sillimanite, and garnet as well as various value added products.
Corporate Research Centre is located at Kollam, Kerala[8] and carries out research in the field of value added products from beach sand minerals, undertakes consultancy projects on mineral separation and flow sheet development, carrying out mineral analysis and caters to the needs of internal and external customers.[9]
[EDIT]REFERENCES
- ^ "Department of Atomic Energy: Milestones". Barc.ernet.in. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- ^ "Indian Rare Earth unit's plan". The Hindu Business Line. 2004-11-13. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- ^ "About Us". Irel.gov.in. 1950-08-18. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- ^ DAE. "Indian Rare Earths Limited". Dae.gov.in. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- ^ "Other States / Orissa News : Drinking water projects inaugurated in three villages". The Hindu. 2010-05-21. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- ^ Toyota negotiating with Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) for setting up a rare earth chloride plant near Chhatrapur
- ^ "In 1986x, Indian Rare Earth Ltd" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- ^ http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/apr102009/1002.pdf
- ^ "Indian Rare Earths Limited - About Us". Irel.gov.in. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rare_Earths_Limited
Jaya TV shareholder seeks anticipatory bail
By IANS
Madurai : Vaikuntarajan, a Jaya TV shareholder and owner of VV Minerals, moved the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail.
He claimed that the Tamil Nadu government was "attempting to implicate him in a false case of illegally mining garnet" from the state's southern Kanyakumari district.
Justice G. Rajasuriya asked the petitioner to surrender before a local magistrate and obtain regular bail.
"In spite of the fact that the deputy director of mines did not file a complaint under the Atomic Energy Act against me for mining garnet sand, the ruling party is trying to get me arrested," Vaikuntarajan said in his application.
Vaikuntarajan recalled that ruling DMK had assured the state legislative assembly a few months ago that he would not be arrested when AIADMK MLAs complained that false cases were being filed against him.
A few months ago, Vaikuntarajan had accused the DMK government of putting pressure on him to divest his holdings in Jaya TV.
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had alleged that Vaikuntarajan was in fact the 'benami' owner of Jaya TV.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 25.
http://twocircles.net/2007jul19/jaya_tv_shareholder_seeks_anticipatory_bail.html
Company MD files anticipatory bail application
Madurai, July 19 (PTI): An anticipatory bail application was filed in the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court by the Managing Director of V V Minerals,Vaikunatarajan,a shareholder of Jaya TV,denying the allegation that the company vehicle was used to illegally mine garnet sand from Kanyakumari district.
In his bail application, Vaikunatarajan contended the Deputy director of Mines could not file a complaint under the Atomic Energy Act against him for mining garnet sand.
The petitioner contended that the ruling DMK party was trying lodge him in prison. He alleged that DMK had given an assurance during the assembly session that he would not be arrested when AIADMK MLAs protested against 'false cases' being foisted against him
When the case came for hearing today, the petitioner's counsel submitted that no action should be taken against his client till the court decided whether the Deputy director had the power to file a complaint under Atomic energy act.
The government pleader said mining authorities, during examination of the sand, had found that it contained Thorium. The petitioner was not authorised to mine in that area. Hence his bail application is opposed, he alleged.
Vaikuntarajan contended that he had a permit for mining in the particular area. He would submit the permit documents as and when required.
Justice G Rajasuriya, after hearing both parties, suggested that the petitioner surrender before the local magistrate and get bail.
The case had been posted for hearing on July 25.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200707190940.htm
Court stays closure of AIADMK patron's factory
By IANS
Madurai : A court here Thursday granted interim stay on a pollution control board's order to close down a factory belonging to a patron of Tamil Nadu's opposition AIADMK party.
The decision of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court comes as relief for S. Vaikuntarajan.
Justices Prafula Kumar Misra and P.R. Shivakumar admitted three writ petitions filed by Vaikuntarajan, granted the interim stay and posted the case for hearing Friday.
His factory is in Tirunelveli district where the Tata group supported by the DMK government is going to start titanium mining.
Vaikuntarajan, a shareholder of Jaya TV, has been accused by the state government of illegally mining garnet sand in Kanyakumari district and extracting rare earths.
The government told the court that mining authorities, during the examination of the sand extracted by the factory, had found that it containedthorium. It said the petitioner was not authorised to mine in that area, that he had stolen the country's rich minerals and this was a national crime.
Vaikuntarajan has argued that he had the necessary permit to mine in the concerned area.
Both the Tatas and Vaikuntarajan are making a claim on seashore sand on the same stretch of the east coast for their respective business purposes.
The AIADMK has said the government wants Vaikunturajan out of the area so that Tatas can have a free shoreline. The businessman says he is not opposed to the Tatas mining titanium in the same area.
Fearing arrest, Vaikuntarajan had filed an anticipatory bail plea on July 18. He was granted anticipatory bail on Aug 28.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had issued a show-cause notice to him on July 6, saying his factory was inspected and was found producing effluents that were discharged on land, contaminating ground water.
On Aug 30, the TNPCB chairman issued a direction under the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board Act to stop power supply to the factory and close it down.
Vaikuntarajan told the court that he had provided an interim reply to the show-cause notice. He added that the board had not given him any information regarding the reported inspection.
Vaikuntarajan submitted to the court that his factory was only a mineral separation unit, running since 1989.
"No chemical was used in the process and thus there was no question of any pollution," he said.
http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2007/sep/06/court_stays_closure_aiadmk_patrons_factory.html
VALUE OF INDIA’S THORIUM RESERVES: RS. 1340 BILLION EST.
ONE DOCUMENT SUMMARISES THAT THERE IS MORE ENERGY IN THORIUM THAN IN THE FOSSIL FUELS AND URANIUM COMBINED! (SEE THE ATTACHED NOTE ONMINERAL PHOTOS – THORIUM).
Beach sands of India contain average 2 to 5% monazite when compared with sands on the Florida coast which are reported to contain 0.09% monazite. (See the attached note on Placer deposits of thorium in India). See:http://www.ga.gov.au/image_cache/GA11421.pdf A review of the geochemical processes controlling the distribution of thorium in the earth’s crust and Australia’s thorium resources: “Thorium can be used as a nuclear fuel, through breeding to 233U. Several reactor concepts based on thorium fuel cycles are under consideration, but much development work is still required before the thorium fuel cycles can be commercialised. India is currently testing components for a 300 MWe (Megawatt electric) technology demonstrator thorium-fuelled reactor and may commence
construction some time during the period 2007 to 2012. Thorium Power (with some additional funding from the US government) is aimed at developing thorium-uranium fuel for the existing Russian Vodo-Vodyanoi Energetichesky (VVER)-1000 reactors. At one stage the program was planned for the disposal of weapons grade plutonium by using it as Th-plutonium fuel. Whereas normal fuel uses enriched uranium oxide, the new design has a demountable centre portion and blanket arrangement, with plutonium fuel in the centre and the Th
(with uranium) around it. The 232Th becomes 233U, which is fissile - as is the core 239Pu. The blanket
material remains in the reactor for 9 years but the centre portion is burned for only three years (as in
a normal VVER) (World Nuclear Association Information Paper – Thorium, May 2007
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/info.html ). Thorium Power (of the US) and Red Star (a nuclear design agency owned by the Russian government) have signed an agreement for Thorium Power's 'seed and blanket' fuel designs to undergo irradiation testing with the goal of moving towards use in commercial reactors (World
Nuclear News, 20 April 2007). Thorium Power recently announced the successful completion of
three years of testing of experimental thorium fuel rods. Thorium Power is planning further testing to
qualify the fuel for widespread use – first in VVERs, then in other current light water reactors. The
research program is on track for deployment of lead test assemblies within 3 years…The most important thorium minerals are monazite, thorianite, thorite, and thorogummite. Other minerals that contain lesser amounts of thorium are allanite, bastnäsite, pyrochlore, xenotime, fluorapatite and zircon. Many of the thorium-bearing minerals are remarkably resistant to oxidation and tend to become enriched in the oxidised zones of mineral deposits.”
One evaluation provides the following estimates of thorium resources: Australia (452000t or 18.1%); US (400000t or 16%); Turkey (344000t or 13.8%); India (319000t or 12.8%); Venezuela (300000t or 12%) out of a total resources of 2492 Thousand Tonnes Thorium estimated as identified thorium resources of the world. These estimates exclude unidentified resources.
Sources: Data for Australia compiled by Geoscience Australia; estimates for all other countries are from OECD/NEC & IAEA, 2006: Forty years of uranium resources, production and demand in perspective, ‘The Red Book Retrospective’ OECD Publishing, 278 p.
The value of 300,000 tonnes of thorium (which is computed as identified thorium resources in India) at the cost of USD 80/kg is equivalent to USD 24000 million. This is an equivalent of Indian Rupees 1340 billion (at the rate of Rs. 55.92 = one USdollar).
The rate of $80/kg is a very conservative estimate. "Today, thorium is relatively expensive - about $5,000 per kilogram. However, this is only because of there is currently little demand for thorium, so as a specialty metal, it is expensive."http://www.thorium.tv/en/thorium_costs/thorium_costs.php
The following document from Canada yields an important clue to the occurrence of thorium as placer deposits along the coastline of Sethusamudram (Manavalakkuricchi, Aluva and Chavara) and in the Orissa Sand Complex.
The occurrence of thorium placer deposits are associated with volcanic rocks. It is a well-known geological fact documenting mannar volcanic in Sethusamudram of the Indian Ocean. It is further investigation by geologists and the nation’s scientists to further evaluate the sources of the thorium reserves accumulated in such large quantities – large as a percentage of the world’s thorium reserves -- ONLY IN INDIAN COASTLINE.
Monazite is an important ore for thorium, lanthanum, and cerium. It is often found inplacer deposits. The deposits in India are particularly rich in monazite.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monazite
See also: J. Natn. Coun. Sri Lanka 1983 11 (1):99-110 The genesis of thorium-rich monazite placer deposits in Sri Lanka by MS Rupasinghe, and CB Dissanayake.http://thakshana.nsf.ac.lk/pdf/JNSF1-25/JNSF11_1/JNSF11_1_99.pdf
Abstract: The monazite placers of Sri Lanka are among the world’s most thorium rich sediments. This study of the stream sediments and rocks from an area in the southwest of Sri Lanka shows that the highly metamorphosed aluminous schists and gneisses and also granitoid rocks of the Highland and South-west Groups of the Precambrian of Sri Lanka are the probable source rocks for the thorium-rich monazite. The magmatic fluids known to have pervaded the aluminous sediments during the intense folding and metamorphosim under granulite facies conditions are considered to have been thorium rich. The P-T conditions of metamorphism proved to be ideal for the formation of a variety of gem minerals including gem monazite and other associated heavy minerals.
Ministry of Energy, Mines and
Petroleum Resources
Hon. Jack Davis, Minister
MINERAL RESOURCES DMSION
Geological Survey Branch
URANIUM AND THORIUM
OCCURRENCES IN BRITISH
COLUMBIA
By Larry D. Jones
A contribution to the CanadaIBritish Columbia Mineral
Development Agreement, 1985-1990
OPEN FILE 1990-32
Bnkh Columbia
Canadian Cataloguing in Publkation Data
Jones, Lany D.
Uranium and thorium occurrcnccs in British Columbia
'A contribution to the Canadamritish Columbia Mineral
Development Agnement, 1985-1990."
Includes bibliographical rrferrnccs
ISBN 0-7718-897B-X
1. Uranium ores - Geology - British Columbia. 2. Thorium
ores - British Columbia. 3. Geology, Economic - British Columbia.
I. British Columbia Geological Sumy Branch. 11. Canada/British
Columbia Mineral Development Agreement. 111. Title. IV. Series:
Open file (British Columbia Geological S u m y Branch) ; 199@32.
VICTORIA
BRFTTSH COLUMBIA
CANADA
October 1990
Minisby of Energy, Mines and PebvZeum Resources
SUMMARY
The geological diversity of British Columbia provides a wide variety of settings for
the occurrence of uranium and thorium. The Victoria deposit, a gold-silver-cobalt-
molybdenum occurrence south of Hazelton, contains uraninite erratically distributed in
narrow veins in granodiorite. The Little Gem deposit, located near Gold Bridge, contains
uranium, gold and cobalt in veins within granodiorite. The Verity prospect, near
Lampriere, contains uranium-bearing pyrodore in carbonatite. Uranium and thorium
occur in amphibolite at the Husselbee showing, located on the west side of Atlin Lake. To
the east, north of Surprise Lake, metazeunerite occurs in shears within quartz monzonite at
the Purple Rose showing. The Rexspar uranium deposit is in volcanic rocks north of
Kamloops. The Vowell and Malloy creek placers of the Bugaboo area contain uranium
and thorium minerals in stream gravels produced from erosion of quartz monzonite rocks.
The Blizzard, Cup Lake, Hydraulic Lake, Haynes Lake, Fuki and other stratabound, basal
uranium occurrences lie in fossil stream-channel sandstones and conglomerates in the
Okanagan Highland and are between 1 and 4 million years of age. Even younger deposits,
which are still forming today, include the many surficial uranium-enriched post-glacial
organic-rich basins located along the west side of Okanagan Lake. They include the Prairie
Flats, Covert Basin, Sinking Pond and North Wow Flat occurrences.
Of the 182 known uranium and thorium occurrences in British Columbia, only a
few have the grade and tonnage to have economic potential. These include the Rexspar
deposit, some of the stratabound, basal deposits and possibly the placer and surficial
deposits. Total in situ uranium in British Columbia is estimated at over 7400 tomes of
uranium. However, due to the availability of high-grade large-tonnage deposits elsewhere
in the World and Canada, such as those in northern Saskatchewan, uranium production
from deposits in British Columbia may not be economically feasible in the foreseeable
future.
The main purpose of this report is to document the known uranium and thorium
occurrences. The information may be useful to geological researchers and explorers, land
use planners and environmental health planners.
Mineral Photos - Thorium
Background
Thorium is a silver-gray, radioactive, metallic element. Its atomic number is 90 and its symbol is Th. It was discovered in 1829 by the Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius. It is the most common of a group of elements called the actinides. It is the 39th most abundant element in the Earth’s crust at 7.2 parts per million (ppm). Other elements in the actinide group are the natural elements uranium and plutonium. However, most of the actinide elements are not naturally occurring and have the atomic numbers from 89, actinium, through 103, lawrencium.
It is also radioactive. The radioactive breakdown of uranium and thorium create the energy that heats the interior of the Earth. Based on the estimates of the abundance of thorium in the Earth’s crust, there is more energy in thorium than in the fossil fuels and uranium combined! In the 1980’s, 45 tons of thorium was used every year. However, it is used less and less because of the state and federal laws about the handling, transportation and disposal of radioactive materials. Its use will most likely continue to decline unless less expensive methods of disposal are developed.
The principal isotope of thorium has a half-life of 14,000,000,000 years.
Thorium and uranium are the only two actinide elements that are found in large enough quantities to mine. Thorium is found in the minerals monazite (rare earth-thorium phosphate) and thorianite (thorium dioxide).
Name
Thorium was named after Thor, the mythical Scandinavian god of war.
Sources
The most important source of thorium is the mineral monazite. The largest reserves of thorium are in placer deposits. (A placer deposit is a deposit of heavy-mineral sands deposited by moving water.) Some thorium has been recovered from igneous veins and igneous carbonate deposits called carbonatites. It is estimated that the thorium in these deposits totals approximately 500,000 tons. In addition, some igneous deposits contain smaller concentrations of thorium, but may contain resources of more than 2 million tons of thorium.
Significant deposits of thorium are found in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greenland, India, South Africa, and the United States. Even though the U.S. has significant thorium resources, nearly all the thorium used in the U.S. is imported. Thorium is imported as processed thorium compounds, usually from France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and other nations.
Uses
Thorium and thorium compounds, especially the oxide, have the interesting property of having very high melting temperatures. As a result, it is used for high temperature applications such as coatings on tungsten filaments in light bulbs and for high temperature laboratory equipment. It is also used to make specialized lenses in optical equipment. Thorium is alloyed with magnesium to create lightweight, high strength metals. Such alloys were used in the aerospace industry. Thorium use is being studied as a non-prolific fuel source by the nuclear energy industry.
Substitutes and Alternative Sources
Other elements can be used in place of thorium in magnesium-thorium alloys, including zirconium and yttrium.
http://www.mii.org/Minerals/photothorium.html
Placer Deposits of Thorium:
Some common minor primary constituents of igneous rocks carry uranium and thorium in isomorphous substitution for Ca, some REE and other elements. Monazite, apatite, zircon and sphene are some of the most abundant minerals belonging to this category. Most of these minerals are resistant to alteration, but they differ greatly in their resistance to attrition during their transportation with clastics. Monazite, apatite and xinotime are most easily reduced by attrition, but under favorable conditions these minerals become enriched in sands and gravels which have been transported short distances. They are found frequently in heavy mineral resistate fraction of terrestrially deposited clastics. Hence stream and beach monazite-bearing placers are found in many parts of the world. Zircon, which also carries a large portion of U and Th contents of felsic rocks, is a common constituent of the resistate fraction of all kinds of clastic sediments. These resistant minerals (monazite, apatite, xinotime and zircon) may be removed from erosional terranes of the igneous rocks and become concentrated in placer deposits in environments where rock destruction by decomposition is predominant over that by disintegration, viz. the tropical climatic zones.
The thorium content of the minerals contained in these placers is considerably greater than the uranium content; therefore the deposits are classified primarily as thorium-bearing placers.
Monazite is the chief source of thorium in the world. Though it is a constituent of some granites and pegmatites, such sources are not economically workable. Monazite is concentrated by weathering into economically workable deposits in beach sands in the coastal tracts of Australia, Brazil, Ceylon, Malaysia and India. India possesses the largest deposits of monazite in the world. Recent indications are that in the near future, thorium would emerge as a fission fuel of greater potential than thorium.
In India monazite is found in the coastal tracts of Cuttak and Ganjam distr@ts of Orissa where the thickness of the placer is about 30 cm with a monazite content of 2.5 percent. Minor occurrences have been noticed between Chilka Lake and Chicacole River also.
In Andhra Pradesh thick ilmenite and monazite placers are found around Vishakhapatnam and Bhimunipatnam. The beach sands of the coastal tracts of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are also very rich in monazite. They also contain ilmenite and rutile. Monazite bearing sands are best developed along the beaches of the southwest coast of India between Quilon and Kanyakumari (Lipuram, Pudur, Kovalam, Varkala and Neendakarai) and between Chowghat and Ponnani. On the east coast of India, monazite concentrations are not as good as on the western and southwestern coasts, nevertheless small deposits are found along the Vishakhapatnam and Tanjore coasts. The monazite content of placers is rarely more than 3%. It appears that the maximum concentration of U and Th in placer type deposits are about 70 and 3000 ppm of sediment respectively, and the average concentrations are probably about 2 and 60 ppm respectively. Sands on the Florida coast are reported to contain 0.09% monazite, beach sands of India average 2-5% monazite.
Elsewhere in the country black sand deposits occur in the coastal tracts of Waltair, Bimlipatnam and Narasipatnam.
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