A review of seabed and placer mining deposits in india

Abstract

India, gifted with a coastline of over 6000 km, hosts some of the largest and richest shoreline placers. The beach and dune sands in India contain heavy minerals like ilmenite, rutile, garnet, zircon, monazite and sillimanite. A combination of favorable factors like network of drainage, aided by wind and coastal processes like waves and currents, have influenced the formation of the beach and adjoining dune sands.
Ilmenite-rich major beach and dune sand deposits occur in the coastal stretches of Kerala (Chavara), Tamil Nadu (Manavala kurichi, Midalam, Vayakallur), Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Maharashtra. The Indian ilmenite commonly contains 50-60% TiO2 and is suitable for various process technologies. Zircon, monazite and Sillimanite are ubiquitous in both the beach and inland red Teri sands, and constitute potential co-products. The Indian resources of placer minerals are: 348 Million tons (Mt) of Ilmenite, 107 Mt of garnet, 21 Mt of zircon, 18 Mt of monazite and 130 Mt of Sillimanite. Indian resources constitute about 35% of world resources of Ilmenite, 10% of Rutile, 14% of Zircon and 71.4% of Monazite. India meets about 10% of the world requirement of garnet. This unique status is largely due to the exploratory efforts of the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India since 1950s.