Until 2007, only state-owned Indian Rare Earths Limited was allowed to mine monazite. Later, it was thrown open to private miners through a notification amending rules of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, though with conditions that were never checked by authorities to prevent export of banned items
New Delhi : The Rs 1.76-lakh crore 2G spectrum scam and the Rs 1.86-lakh crore Coalgate have been put to shame before yet another scam in smuggling out of Thorium-rich sand from beaches in South costing the exchequer Rs 48-lakh crore, taking advantage of an executive order issued by the Centre in 2007 to allow the mining of monazite by private companies.
An estimated 2.1 million tonnes of monazite exported by a powerful mining cartel of Tamil Nadu could have met half of India’s power needs for 50 years as Thorium extracted from it holds the key to the nuclear programme being freed from the dependence on uranium imports to power the nuclear plants and develop limitless amounts of the recyclable fuel.
India is particularly a big loser as almost one-fourth of its future fuel has vanished at a time when it is trying to become a world leader in nuclear technology with its expertise in the Thorium fuel-based fast reactors and surprisingly the relaxation in mining of the rich sand that can yield that fuel came when India was negotiating a nuclear deal with the United States. Also, no surprise if some countries accuse India as a rogue country for supplying the nuclear fuel to other countries.
Until 2007, it was only the state-owned Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) allowed to do the mining. It was, however, thrown open to the private miners through a notification amending rules of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, though with conditions that were never checked by the authorities to prevent exports of the banned items.
Licences were issued on the condition that the monazite containing Thorium will have to be separated from the sand mined and surrendered to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
The department controls the sand along the coastline because of the presence of elements like zircon, Thorium and ilmenite, but its officials are alleged to have looked the other way when the Thorium-rich sand was also shipped out.
Sources say the illegal smuggling of sand from the beaches in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa began in 2002 after the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) estimated that it can yield about 8 to 10 per cent Thorium that can be converted into an isotope of uranium to feed the nuclear reactors for use multiple times to generate electricity, creating a seemingly endless cycle of fuel availability.
The smuggling, however, shot up since 2007 when monopoly of the Indian Rare Earths was ended allowing private mining at a time when many countries were too eager to stock up as much Thorium as possible, taking a cue from the Indian research that it can be a cheaper nuclear fuel. Reports suggest that a mining cartel led by a Tirunelveli firm monopolised the sand mining and bent rules to quietly export the monazite which is in heavy demand in countries like China and Japan.
It is not that the government was in the dark about the loot since only November 30 last year, V Narayanasamy, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, told the Lok Sabha that the IREL is the only company allowed to export monazite while the private companies mining the beach sand “have to separate and safely keep the monazite content of such land” since “no individual or entity is permitted to process monazite in any manner without a licence from DAE” and “further, no licences have been given to any private party to process monazite and separate Thorium.”
