India, a global supplier of nuclear reactors -- Madhav Nalapat. NaMo, build thorium-based nuke doctrine for United Indian Ocean States.
I - DAE notification S.O. 61(E) of 18 January 2006, Gazetted on 20 Jan. 2006, which revised the list of PRESCRIBED SUBSTANCES, Prescribed Equipment and Technology IS ILLEGAL.
II - The Indian Parliament has not approved the changes proposed in the list of Atomic Minerals in First Schedule of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. Shri V.P Raja’s Letter Number D.O.No.7/3(4)2005-PSU/21 Dated 2nd February 2006, (copy attached) addressed to Shri R.K Sharma, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries in New Delhi, clearly states that the Notification can be effective only after the Act is amended and passed by the Parliament. The Act 67 of 1957 has not been amended so far to alter the list of atomic minerals
It was illegal to have issued and Gazetted the DAENotification S.O. 61(E) of 18 January 2006, Gazetted on 20 Jan. 2006, WITHOUT FIRST ensuring the prior approval of the Parliament to the proposed changes in the List of the PRESCRIBED SUBSTANCES declared as Atomic Minerals under the Act 67 of 1957
The Executive is not expected to poach upon or encroach upon the clearly defined zone of the Legislature (Parliament). The Notification issued by theDAE on 18 January 2006 and Gazetted on 20 Jan. 2006 sought to do in an UNCONSTITUTIONAL manner.
The officers and staff in the DAE and the Union Ministry of Mines have not been empowered under the law to presume and issue Notifications in anticipation of subsequent or post dated approval by Parliament.
The illegal notification and impact facilitating the Great Thorium Robbery:
VP Raja, Addl. Secy, DAE letter of 2 Feb. 2006 to RK Sharma, Secy. General, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries
V.P. Raja, Additional Secretary, Govt. of India, Dept. of Atomic Energy, Anushakti Bhavan, Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj Marg, Mumbai 400001
2 Feb. 2006
D.O. No. 7/3(4)/2005-PSU/21
Dear Shri Sharma,
The Departmet of Atomic Energy vide its Notification S.O. 61(E) dated 18th January 2006, which has been gazette on 20th January 2006 has revised the list of Prescribed Substanes, Prescribed Equipment and Technology. This superseded the earlier notifications of the Department on the same subject dated 15th March 1995. A copy of the new notification is enclosed herewith.
Your attention I particular is drawn to Items 0A314 and 0A315 and the note thereunder.
Since this notification will have an impact on industries engaged in beach sand mining, you are kindly requested to bring this to the notice of all your members.
Ilmenite, Rutile, Leucoxene and Zircon will no longer be Prescribed Substances under the Atomic Energy Act with effect from 1st January 2007. Ilmenite, Rutile and Leucoxene will also get shifted from Part ‘B’ of the First Schedule to the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act 1957 to Part ‘C’ of the same Schedule. This change will become effective only after suitable amendments are carried out to the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulations) Act and passed by Parliament. However, Zirconium bearing minerals and ores including zircon will continue to be Atomic Minerals under Part ‘B’ of the First Schedule.
This is being brought to your notice as required under Section 4(2) of Right to Information Act, 2005.
With warm regards,
Yours sincerely,
Sd. V.P. Raja
Encl. As above.
Shri RK Sharma,
Secretary General, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, 301, Bakshi House, 40-41, Nehru Place, New Delhi 110019
Tel. 022 22028328. Fax 022 22048476/22026726. Gram: ATOMERG email:raja@dae.gov.in
Section 2.1: Notification by the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy, published in the Gazette of India (extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, sub-section (ii), dated 20th January, 2006).
S.O. 61(E).- In pursuance of clauses (f) and (g) of sub-section (1) of Section 2 and Section 3 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (No.33 of 1962) and insupersession of the notifications of the Government of India in the Department of Atomic Energy vide numbers S.O.211 (E) dated the 15th March, 1995 and S.O.212(E) dated the 15th March, 1995, the Central Government hereby notifies the substances, equipment and technology specified in the Schedule appended hereto as Prescribed Substances, Prescribed Equipment and Technology.
…
OA Prescribed substances
Note: Any radioactive material in Category OA shall additionally attract the provisions of the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004 made under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 and the provisions of Section-16 of the Atomic Energy Act,1962.
…
OA314 *Titanium ores and concentrates (Ilmenite, Rutile and Leucoxene)
OA315 *Zirconium, its alloys and compounds and minerals/concentrates including zircon
*Note: These items (OA314 and OA315) shall remain prescribed substances only till such time the Policy on Exploitation of Beach Sand Minerals notified vide Resolution number 8/1(1)/97-PSU/1422 dated the 6th October, 1998 is adopted/revised/modified by the Ministry of Mines or till the 1st January 2007, whichever occurs earlier and shall cease to be so thereafter.
Source: http://tinyurl.com/aopgqua
(It is amazing that the mandatory requirement of the Prliament amending the Act No. 67 of 1957 was NOT stipulated in the Gazette Notification and only mentioned in the D.O. letter of VP Raja.)
Section 3: A situation report on the Great Rare Earths, Atomic Minerals Scam
Rs 96,120 crore worth of rich minerals (like ilmenite, garnet, zircon, monazite, sillimanite, rutile and leucoxene) are missing during the last decade. This figure was worked out by a team of nationally eminent geologists, geo chemists, chartered accountants, cost and work accountants and veteran IAS officers.
They carefully worked out the physical and financial details relating to invaluable atomic mineral wealth missing from the coastal areas of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu.
Six million tonnes of ilmenite which cost Rs 15,000 per tonne. The exporters earned Rs 9,000 crore in this account alone.
Earnings from garnet export is Rs 30,000 crore.
The exporters earned Rs 17,760 crore by exporting 12 lakh tonnes of rutile. A tonne of rutile commands a price tag of Rs 1,48,000 per tonne in international market according to the data provided by National Mineral Development Corporation.
Zircon, a mineral extracted from the beach sands earned Rs 17,040 crore. A total of 12 lakh tonnes of zircon was exported during the last decade. Zircon costs Rs 1,42,000 per tonne.
Sillimanite export earnings were Rs 4,320 crores.
Earnings were Rs 24,000 crores by export of 24 lakh tonnes monazite.
“One needs thousands of hectares of land for mining this much amount of rare earth minerals. The data shows that illegal mining is rampant in southern Tamil Nadu,” said a Geologist.
The Department of Atomic Energy described the recent reports on Thorium Scam as erroneous and “patently false”. “In 2007, certain beach sand minerals like ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene,and zircon were delisted from the “List of Prescribed Substances” under the Atomic Energy Act 1962. These items are now under the Open General Licence System,” he said in a letter to Dr Subramanian Swamy, President, Janata Party.
But exporters have been claiming on their websites export of all these items since 1998. There is no indication of royalties to the government for exporting these rare earth and atomic minerals. But Chemical and Allied Products Export Promotion Council of India (CAPEXIL) under the union ministry of commerce has honoured the exporters with special export awards continuously for last 17 years.
Monazite and other atomic minerals/rare earths mentioned in the Act No. 67 of 1957 are being exported or smuggled through the ports of Tamil Nadu without any hassle because there is no system in place to find out whether the consignment being exported is monazite or ilmenite or even determining the levels of radioactivity in the substances/consignments. This was revealed by Port Trust officials themselves.
There is another angle to the significance of Thorium in the Indian context. Jan Frybort, a leading nuclear fuel scientist of the Czechoslovakian National Research Institute has proved that Thorium could be used as a fuel in the VVER 1000 reactors with slight modifications. It is the same reactor bought by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd for their Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant.
What is disturbing is the news an MoU with Andhra Pradesh Mineral development Corporation gives mining companies rights for “exploiting” 1400 hectares of mineral bearing land of the state. This comes soon after the findings that coastal Andhra is home to more than three million tonnes of monazite.
Illegal beach sand mining of minerals in Tamil Nadu may be a scam worth Rs 1 lakh crore
By Sandhya Ravishankar
A grim sight greets the eye as the roads wind towards a sleepy fishing hamlet called Periyasamypuram in Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu. There is red and brown everywhere — a desert-like landscape with even the few remaining palms drying up. The residents of this small village are equally grim and not people to mess with. They have managed to kick the beach sand mining mafia right out of their village.
"We all got together and held a truck hostage," says village head Irudaya Jebamalai, a wrinkled old man who is hard of hearing. "We thrashed the driver so he ran away. We refused to let the truck filled with sand go until all the authorities turned up. The police inspector of Surangudi station said he would lock me up if I opposed quarrying. The village administrative officer was also with him at that time. We kept calling the tahsildar but he never came," he says.
Periyasamypuram is an aberration in the line of fishing villages along the coast of Tuticorin. Most others have succumbed to terror tactics of the illegal beach sand mining mafia. Money, coercion, divide-and-rule and threats are the norm. Villagers are helpless in the face of their might, especially with local authorities colluding with them. "We have tried to petition every official — sub-collectors, various collectors over the past five years, but they only threaten us, tell us to go back," says Anthony Rayappan, a young fisherman. "But this is our village. We have to fight for it."![Illegal beach sand mining of minerals in Tamil Nadu may be a scam worth Rs 1 lakh crore]( "Illegal beach sand mining of minerals in Tamil Nadu may be a scam worth Rs 1 lakh crore")
The pastor of Periyasamypuram, Father Selva George, shakes his head at the ruin brought on by the mining mafia. "At first we allowed them to operate but after a few years we realised that this mining is destroying our village," he says. "Look around you. Fish catch has come down, the palm trees have dried up, ground water has turned brackish and the sea is entering our village. No trees grow here except neem," he adds.
It was due to the petitions of such people that the then collector of Tuticorin Ashish Kumar launched raids on illegal sand quarries near Periyasamypuram, and neighbouring villages Vaippar, Vembar and Periyathaalai in August 2013. Within eight hours of the raids, he was transferred and made headlines across the country. Protests from villagers across the southern coast forced the state government to swing into action. In September 2013, the then chief minister Jayalalithaa ordered a ban on beach sand mining in five districts of the state and constituted a special team headed by senior IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi to probe into the matter.
Raising an Alarm
On January 23, a PIL came up for hearing in the Madras High Court (HC). Renowned geologist Victor Rajamanickam filed the PIL which asks the court to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe illegal beach sand mining. "This is a fight which started in the 1980s," says Rajamanickam.
"In 1986, I began my studies of the beaches in South India. As we tried to conduct our research, my colleagues were beaten up and our vehicles were blocked from entering the beaches. The mafia had taken full rights of the beach and were not allowing anyone to move around. At that time I was in service and could not do anything. Post retirement I am free. I am least bothered what the government wants to do and what the mafia wants to do. I have decided to fight for justice," he says.
The PIL alleges that rare beach sand minerals worth Rs 1 lakh crore have been illegally exported out of the country. Rajamanickam says in his affidavit that officials at the Centre and the state are hand in glove with the mafia, enabling them to escape punitive action. The Madras HC has asked the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government to respond within eight weeks.
The most curious documents which are part of the PIL, however, are a set of mining licences issued by the Tamil Nadu Geology and Mining Department to a private company VV Minerals based in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. These licences are run of the mill except for one fact — they authorise the private company to mine and export monazite.
Significance of Monazite
Monazite is an atomic mineral found in the beach sands of the southern and eastern coasts of the country (see What is Monazite?). "World monazite resources are estimated to be about 12 million tonnes, two-thirds of which are in heavy mineral sands deposits on the south and east coasts of India as per the World Nuclear Association," said expert Bahram Ghiassee of London's Kingston University. He has studied the beach minerals in India.
A grim sight greets the eye as the roads wind towards a sleepy fishing hamlet called Periyasamypuram in Tuticorin district, Tamil Nadu. There is red and brown everywhere — a desert-like landscape with even the few remaining palms drying up. The residents of this small village are equally grim and not people to mess with. They have managed to kick the beach sand mining mafia right out of their village.
"We all got together and held a truck hostage," says village head Irudaya Jebamalai, a wrinkled old man who is hard of hearing. "We thrashed the driver so he ran away. We refused to let the truck filled with sand go until all the authorities turned up. The police inspector of Surangudi station said he would lock me up if I opposed quarrying. The village administrative officer was also with him at that time. We kept calling the tahsildar but he never came," he says.
Periyasamypuram is an aberration in the line of fishing villages along the coast of Tuticorin. Most others have succumbed to terror tactics of the illegal beach sand mining mafia. Money, coercion, divide-and-rule and threats are the norm. Villagers are helpless in the face of their might, especially with local authorities colluding with them. "We have tried to petition every official — sub-collectors, various collectors over the past five years, but they only threaten us, tell us to go back," says Anthony Rayappan, a young fisherman. "But this is our village. We have to fight for it."
The pastor of Periyasamypuram, Father Selva George, shakes his head at the ruin brought on by the mining mafia. "At first we allowed them to operate but after a few years we realised that this mining is destroying our village," he says. "Look around you. Fish catch has come down, the palm trees have dried up, ground water has turned brackish and the sea is entering our village. No trees grow here except neem," he adds.It was due to the petitions of such people that the then collector of Tuticorin Ashish Kumar launched raids on illegal sand quarries near Periyasamypuram, and neighbouring villages Vaippar, Vembar and Periyathaalai in August 2013. Within eight hours of the raids, he was transferred and made headlines across the country. Protests from villagers across the southern coast forced the state government to swing into action. In September 2013, the then chief minister Jayalalithaa ordered a ban on beach sand mining in five districts of the state and constituted a special team headed by senior IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi to probe into the matter.
Raising an Alarm
On January 23, a PIL came up for hearing in the Madras High Court (HC). Renowned geologist Victor Rajamanickam filed the PIL which asks the court to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe illegal beach sand mining. "This is a fight which started in the 1980s," says Rajamanickam.
"In 1986, I began my studies of the beaches in South India. As we tried to conduct our research, my colleagues were beaten up and our vehicles were blocked from entering the beaches. The mafia had taken full rights of the beach and were not allowing anyone to move around. At that time I was in service and could not do anything. Post retirement I am free. I am least bothered what the government wants to do and what the mafia wants to do. I have decided to fight for justice," he says.
The PIL alleges that rare beach sand minerals worth Rs 1 lakh crore have been illegally exported out of the country. Rajamanickam says in his affidavit that officials at the Centre and the state are hand in glove with the mafia, enabling them to escape punitive action. The Madras HC has asked the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government to respond within eight weeks.
The most curious documents which are part of the PIL, however, are a set of mining licences issued by the Tamil Nadu Geology and Mining Department to a private company VV Minerals based in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. These licences are run of the mill except for one fact — they authorise the private company to mine and export monazite.
Significance of Monazite
Monazite is an atomic mineral found in the beach sands of the southern and eastern coasts of the country (see What is Monazite?). "World monazite resources are estimated to be about 12 million tonnes, two-thirds of which are in heavy mineral sands deposits on the south and east coasts of India as per the World Nuclear Association," said expert Bahram Ghiassee of London's Kingston University. He has studied the beach minerals in India.
Minerals found in the sands of our beaches along with monazite include ilmenite, rutile, zircon and garnet. Monazite can be processed to remove thorium and uranium, both of which are nuclear fuels. "By itself, monazite is not of great significance," says K Santhanam, top nuclear scientist and a key member of the Pokhran II team. "You will have to put it in a reactor, cook it and you get Uranium-233, which is a fissile material."
Due to these properties, monazite has been put on the Prescribed Substances List, i.e. it can only be mined by the Union government and not by any private party. Yet, the Tamil Nadu government has approved licences for its mining by a private party.
The 16 licences that form part of the PIL are to mine monazite and all 16 have been given to one company — VV Minerals, the largest player in the country in the rare earths space. Approvals issued by the Centre in 2002-03 for certain plots of land to mine ilmenite, rutile and garnet clearly state that monazite may not be mined.![Illegal beach sand mining of minerals in Tamil Nadu may be a scam worth Rs 1 lakh crore]( "Illegal beach sand mining of minerals in Tamil Nadu may be a scam worth Rs 1 lakh crore")
But ten years later, in 2012-13, these approvals have been cited by the Tamil Nadu government again. The only difference is that mining of monazite has also been approved. Also, royalties are mentioned at Rs 125 per tonne, meaning that permission has been given to export monazite.
Due to these properties, monazite has been put on the Prescribed Substances List, i.e. it can only be mined by the Union government and not by any private party. Yet, the Tamil Nadu government has approved licences for its mining by a private party.
The 16 licences that form part of the PIL are to mine monazite and all 16 have been given to one company — VV Minerals, the largest player in the country in the rare earths space. Approvals issued by the Centre in 2002-03 for certain plots of land to mine ilmenite, rutile and garnet clearly state that monazite may not be mined.
But ten years later, in 2012-13, these approvals have been cited by the Tamil Nadu government again. The only difference is that mining of monazite has also been approved. Also, royalties are mentioned at Rs 125 per tonne, meaning that permission has been given to export monazite."The Tamil Nadu government and the Government of India (GoI) are responsible," says retired IAS officer MG Devasahayam. "These minerals are under a GoI Act. If a gang is operating, what is the security apparatus doing? This is a massive mafia, far worse than any mafia we have seen so far," he adds.
VV Minerals chairman V Vaikundarajan told ET Magazine that various committees had probed the area and found no evidence of illegal mining. He denied charges of illegal monazite mining and exports. "Look at the documents, they are only inclusion of minerals," said Vaikundarajan.
"The state can include minerals to the original lease. There is no illegality. In fact, we are the only company to have environmental clearances for all our quarries," he said.
Up until 1998, only the GoI could mine rare earth minerals. In 1998, laws were amended (see What the Law Says) allowing private players to mine rare earths but monazite was still off limits. For monazite, the approval of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was needed.
In response to an email questionnaire by ET Magazine, the DAE stated that neither the DAE nor the Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) has given approvals to any private company to mine and export monazite.
"As per the available records, the AMD has not recommended 'NOC' to any private party for mining monazite," said the DAE. "The AMD or the DAE is not aware of issuance of licences to mine monazite by the Tamil Nadu government," it added.
Yet, the TN government issued licences to mine monazite. Neither the state industries department nor the department of geology and mining which issued the licences responded to ET Magazine's queries. "The state has no right to issue licences," says TK Ramkumar, a lawyer specialising in environmental law. "The licences must be scrapped as they are invalid."
A Silent State
While the state-initiated probe in late 2013 in five districts has been completed and the report handed over to the chief minister and the industries department, the report itself has not been made public. Repeated RTI requests have not yielded results either.
Sources say the monazite licence question has been asked in the report and action recommended against officials responsible. But the state remains silent, preferring to take no action. Central government officials admit that enormous illegal mining and exports of rare earth minerals are taking place but are unaware as to why no action has been taken yet.
A compelling reason to put an end to the illegal activity is 12-year-old Subhash, a resident of Uvari village, Tirunelveli. His kidneys failed five years ago and he is unable to sleep, suffering terrible headaches and stomach pain. He has begun dialysis. "There are lots of adults and some kids too who are affected like this," says his aunt Ujaans. "A boy died of kidney failure a month ago."
Residents in Uvari say their health problems are due to the inhalation of the red dust that has settled all over their homes. Barely 200 metres away, earth movers continue digging through an entire mountain for the precious beach sand.
Further south in Kanyakumari, activists say the sea has come inland by at least a kilometre thanks to the mining of beach sand over the past two decades. Fisherman Joey, who lives near Manavalakurichi, Kanyakumari, points to a tree some distance into the sea.
"When I was ten years old, we used to play near that tree," he says. "There used to be houses where the sea now is. We keep moving our homes back as the sea comes in." Dr Ghiassee stresses the need for enforcement of existing laws. "India has the requisite legal instruments [legislation]," he says. "However, effective enforcement is the key to safeguarding the interest of the nation, public health and the ecological systems."
Environmental and health issues plague the residents living along Tamil Nadu's southern coastline, apart from the real and present danger posed by an increasingly irreverent and hostile beach sand mining mafia. A state concerned about the well being of its citizens must take quick and firm actions. And since the state is not doing its job, people like Jebamalai are forced to live in fear and battle the mafia all on their own.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/indl-goods/svs/metals-mining/illegal-beach-sand-mining-of-minerals-in-tamil-nadu-may-be-a-scam-worth-rs-1-lakh-crore/articleshow/46079527.cms?prtpage=1