Sun, Aug 31,2014
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NUCLEAR MINEFIELD: JAYA GOVT BREAKS RULES TO ALLOW PRIVATE MINING OF ATOMIC MINERALS
Illegal Monazite Mining in Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI: “Corruption is the enemy of the land,” said the Supreme Court in an order last week. The enemy appears to be embedded deep within the state government of Tamil Nadu and thriving there. The Citizen has in its possession an Exclusive set of documents – documents that clearly define and demonstrate illegality being perpetrated by the Geology and Mining Department of the Tamil Nadu state government. And it all has to do with issuance of mining licences for the atomic mineral monazite.
What is Monazite?
Before we delve into the actual illegality, we answer the question – what is monazite? Monazite is an atomic mineral which can be processed to extract thorium and uranium. It is found naturally and in abundance in the coastal sands of the South – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Monazite is found mixed in with other minerals in the sand – these are termed as beach minerals or rare earth minerals and are strategic in nature. The other minerals found along with monazite are ilmenite, garnet, rutile, sillimanite and zircon amongst others.
What the Law Says
Up until 1998, mining of beach minerals was banned by the government due to their strategic importance. Only the Government of India could mine these minerals. In 1998, however, the law was amended. Rare earth minerals like garnet, ilmenite, rutile could be mined by private players on satisfying stringent conditions. But Monazite continued to remain on the Prescribed Substances list. And the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 made it plain that handling of Monazite itself required a licence from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
Mining for monazite too requires a special licence from the AERB. The rule book also says that if monazite is removed from the beach sand as a by-product of mining for other beach minerals, this monazite has to be stored as per regulations issued by the Atomic Energy Board and the AERB and handed over to the Atomic Minerals Board in Hyderabad every three months.
“Any company that is mining the permitted beach minerals will also get monazite, since it is mixed in the sand along with the other minerals,” says Gopalakrishnan, retired official of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. “The monazite retrieved in this fashion though needs to be stored properly and handed back to the government,” he adds. “Monazite is an atomic mineral, it cannot be sold by private companies. Only the Government of India can mine and sell monazite and government-owned IREL (Indian Rare Earths Limited),” he says.
It is clear, under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 that permission to mine all of these beach sand minerals can be issued ONLY by the Centre and not by state governments.
“State governments can issue licences to mine sand and granite but not garnet or ilmenite or rutile or any of the beach minerals,” says DD Mishra, retired official who worked for many years at the Indian Bureau of Mines. “Monazite, of course, is off limits as it is an atomic mineral and a PrescribedSubstance.”
The Fraud
The Department of Geology and Mining of the Tamil Nadu government has granted 16 licences in 2012-13 allowing private companies to mine the atomic mineral monazite. The Citizen is in possession of copies of all 16 licences obtained via RTI from the Geology and Mining Department of the state. This in itself is invalid as only the Centre has the authority to issue licences to mine any beach mineral. Allowing mining of monazite only compounds the issue – the state government is, in effect, giving private companies carte blanche in mining a mineral that is the raw material for nuclear fuel.
“The state government has no right to issue licences to mine monazite as per the existing rules,” says TK Ramkumar, a lawyer specializing in environmental law. “I do not know under what authority they have issued it. All these licences issued by the state government must be scrapped immediately since they are invalid,” he says.
What is worse, the state government also prescribes a royalty of Rs 125 per tonne for monazite. This is a validation, a tacit permission for the private company to sell the monazite that they have mined – an act that violates the law of the land.
“Nobody except the Government of India can sell monazite as per the law,” says K Santhanam, retired nuclear scientist, who was a key part of the Pokhran II project. “Monazite simply cannot be sold by private parties. This needs a thorough investigation and the Centre must probe this issue,” he adds.
Modus Operandi
So how did the state government get away with this? The original mining licences issued by the Centre provide the clue. Licences were procured in the early 2000s by the same company to mine the same plots of land – but the clearances issued by the Centre, as the documents show, is for the private company to mine only garnet, ilmenite and rutile. The Central Ministry of Coal and Mines has approved mining licences for the same for periods ranging from 20 to 30 years. Ten years later, these same approvals have been picked up by the state government and monazite simply added to the list, citing the Centre’s approvals.
“It is absolutely shocking on one hand and on the other it is not surprising because this is how the Tamil Nadu government has been functioning,” says TKS Elangovan, spokesperson for the DMK, an opposition party in the state. “There is corruption in every department of the state government. There needs to be a CBI probe into this,” he says.
In fact, in March 2013, the Department of Atomic Energy has made a submission at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in the course of another case by the same private company which had got these mining licences for monazite. In their submission, the DAE has categorically stated that although the petitioner had approached the Department for a licence to mine monazite, no permit was given to them and that in fact, no private company in the country has been given permission to mine monazite. Ironically, this submission by the DAE is dated after the monazite licences were issued by the state government – proving beyond doubt that the state government’s issuance of licences is completely illegal.
“If the DAE did not give permissions, then how can the state government give it? It is an atomic mineral, if it falls into the wrong hands, it could mean a security risk. Thorium and uranium can be used to make a dirty bomb,” adds Elangovan. “The Centre must initiate a probe into this issue.”
What next?
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in August 2013, had set up a special team to probe into illegal beach sand mining in five districts of the state. The team was headed by senior IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi. Sources within the state mining department tell The Citizen that the report has already been submitted to the Chief Minister and does in fact question how such illegal monazite mining licences were issued. “The Chief Minister must make the report public,” says retired IAS officer and anti-nuke crusader MG Devasahayam. “She not only needs to make the report itself public, but also needs to tell the people what action has been taken on the report,” he adds.
Despite a clamour in the state Assembly for the report to be made public, the Tamil Nadu government has maintained a stoic silence on the report. “Tamil Nadu has become a tinderbox waiting to explode,” adds Devasahayam. “There is no transparency in any aspect of government. The only way to gain the confidence of the people is to make things public. After all, the people have a right to know.”
http://www.thecitizen.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=345&NUCLEAR/MINEFIELD:/JAYA/GOVT/BREAKS/RULES/TO/ALLOW/PRIVATE/MINING/OF/ATOMIC/MINERALS
What is Monazite?
Before we delve into the actual illegality, we answer the question – what is monazite? Monazite is an atomic mineral which can be processed to extract thorium and uranium. It is found naturally and in abundance in the coastal sands of the South – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. Monazite is found mixed in with other minerals in the sand – these are termed as beach minerals or rare earth minerals and are strategic in nature. The other minerals found along with monazite are ilmenite, garnet, rutile, sillimanite and zircon amongst others.
What the Law Says
Up until 1998, mining of beach minerals was banned by the government due to their strategic importance. Only the Government of India could mine these minerals. In 1998, however, the law was amended. Rare earth minerals like garnet, ilmenite, rutile could be mined by private players on satisfying stringent conditions. But Monazite continued to remain on the Prescribed Substances list. And the Atomic Energy Act of 1962 made it plain that handling of Monazite itself required a licence from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB).
Mining for monazite too requires a special licence from the AERB. The rule book also says that if monazite is removed from the beach sand as a by-product of mining for other beach minerals, this monazite has to be stored as per regulations issued by the Atomic Energy Board and the AERB and handed over to the Atomic Minerals Board in Hyderabad every three months.
“Any company that is mining the permitted beach minerals will also get monazite, since it is mixed in the sand along with the other minerals,” says Gopalakrishnan, retired official of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. “The monazite retrieved in this fashion though needs to be stored properly and handed back to the government,” he adds. “Monazite is an atomic mineral, it cannot be sold by private companies. Only the Government of India can mine and sell monazite and government-owned IREL (Indian Rare Earths Limited),” he says.
It is clear, under the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 that permission to mine all of these beach sand minerals can be issued ONLY by the Centre and not by state governments.
“State governments can issue licences to mine sand and granite but not garnet or ilmenite or rutile or any of the beach minerals,” says DD Mishra, retired official who worked for many years at the Indian Bureau of Mines. “Monazite, of course, is off limits as it is an atomic mineral and a PrescribedSubstance.”
The Fraud
The Department of Geology and Mining of the Tamil Nadu government has granted 16 licences in 2012-13 allowing private companies to mine the atomic mineral monazite. The Citizen is in possession of copies of all 16 licences obtained via RTI from the Geology and Mining Department of the state. This in itself is invalid as only the Centre has the authority to issue licences to mine any beach mineral. Allowing mining of monazite only compounds the issue – the state government is, in effect, giving private companies carte blanche in mining a mineral that is the raw material for nuclear fuel.
“The state government has no right to issue licences to mine monazite as per the existing rules,” says TK Ramkumar, a lawyer specializing in environmental law. “I do not know under what authority they have issued it. All these licences issued by the state government must be scrapped immediately since they are invalid,” he says.
What is worse, the state government also prescribes a royalty of Rs 125 per tonne for monazite. This is a validation, a tacit permission for the private company to sell the monazite that they have mined – an act that violates the law of the land.
“Nobody except the Government of India can sell monazite as per the law,” says K Santhanam, retired nuclear scientist, who was a key part of the Pokhran II project. “Monazite simply cannot be sold by private parties. This needs a thorough investigation and the Centre must probe this issue,” he adds.
Modus Operandi
So how did the state government get away with this? The original mining licences issued by the Centre provide the clue. Licences were procured in the early 2000s by the same company to mine the same plots of land – but the clearances issued by the Centre, as the documents show, is for the private company to mine only garnet, ilmenite and rutile. The Central Ministry of Coal and Mines has approved mining licences for the same for periods ranging from 20 to 30 years. Ten years later, these same approvals have been picked up by the state government and monazite simply added to the list, citing the Centre’s approvals.
“It is absolutely shocking on one hand and on the other it is not surprising because this is how the Tamil Nadu government has been functioning,” says TKS Elangovan, spokesperson for the DMK, an opposition party in the state. “There is corruption in every department of the state government. There needs to be a CBI probe into this,” he says.
In fact, in March 2013, the Department of Atomic Energy has made a submission at the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in the course of another case by the same private company which had got these mining licences for monazite. In their submission, the DAE has categorically stated that although the petitioner had approached the Department for a licence to mine monazite, no permit was given to them and that in fact, no private company in the country has been given permission to mine monazite. Ironically, this submission by the DAE is dated after the monazite licences were issued by the state government – proving beyond doubt that the state government’s issuance of licences is completely illegal.
“If the DAE did not give permissions, then how can the state government give it? It is an atomic mineral, if it falls into the wrong hands, it could mean a security risk. Thorium and uranium can be used to make a dirty bomb,” adds Elangovan. “The Centre must initiate a probe into this issue.”
What next?
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, in August 2013, had set up a special team to probe into illegal beach sand mining in five districts of the state. The team was headed by senior IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi. Sources within the state mining department tell The Citizen that the report has already been submitted to the Chief Minister and does in fact question how such illegal monazite mining licences were issued. “The Chief Minister must make the report public,” says retired IAS officer and anti-nuke crusader MG Devasahayam. “She not only needs to make the report itself public, but also needs to tell the people what action has been taken on the report,” he adds.
Despite a clamour in the state Assembly for the report to be made public, the Tamil Nadu government has maintained a stoic silence on the report. “Tamil Nadu has become a tinderbox waiting to explode,” adds Devasahayam. “There is no transparency in any aspect of government. The only way to gain the confidence of the people is to make things public. After all, the people have a right to know.”
http://www.thecitizen.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=345&NUCLEAR/MINEFIELD:/JAYA/GOVT/BREAKS/RULES/TO/ALLOW/PRIVATE/MINING/OF/ATOMIC/MINERALS