The state-owned Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha Limited (Idcol) and Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) signed an MoU on Saturday to set up a heavy mineral separation plant in Ganjam district at the cost of Rs 450 crore.
IREL and Idcol will have 51% and 49% stake in the joint venture respectively.
The plant will come up in Chhatrapur block, close to the existing IREL unit set up in 1986. “We have decided to go ahead with the project since Idcol has prospecting licence of three sand mines spread over 1,257 hectare and IREL has expertise in separating minerals from sand,” said Idcol chairman and managing director Vishal Dev.
The project expected to be operational in two years will create direct employment for about 400 people. Chairman-cum-managing director of IREL R. N. Patra said it would soon apply for environment clearance and mining lease to the Union ministry of environment and forest.
Rare minerals such as ilmenite, garnet, sillimanite, rutile, zircon and monazite, which are used for defence products, spacecrafts, aerospace engineering equipment and in atomic energy laboratories will be separated from sea sand at these plants.
According to sources, Idcol has applied to the Odisha government for grant of mining lease/prospecting license for beach sand mining over 6,000 hectare along the Ganjam coast.
Though Odisha has a coastline of about 480 km, the IREL estimates that the heavy mineral reserve of more than 100 million tonne remains untapped in the beach sand.
“The seashore near Brahmagiri in Puri district also has a huge reserve of heavy minerals,” an official said.
Source: The Times of India
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