Rare Earth Reserves in India
Context:
Recent parliamentary updates from the Department of Atomic Energy highlight India's standing as the holder of the world's third-largest, rare-earth resources, alongside outlining the extraction challenges and new policy initiatives aimed at boosting domestic production.
Rare Earth Elements (REE’s):
The rare earth elements (REE) are a group of 17 chemically similar metallic elements, including the 15 lanthanides, scandium and yttrium.
The lanthanides all occur in nature, although promethium, the rarest, only occurs in trace quantities in natural materials as it has no long-lived or stable isotopes
Scandium and yttrium are considered REE as they have similar chemical and physical properties. Separation.
Rare earths are abundant in the Earth's crust, but mineable concentrations are less common, making reserves potential very valuable and strategic.
Applications:
Rare-earth elements (REEs) are used in the components of many devices used daily in our modern society, such as:
the screens of smart phones, computers,
flat panel televisions;
the motors of computer drives;
batteries of hybrid and electric cars; and new generation light bulbs.
Lanthanum-based catalysts are employed in petroleum refining.
Large wind turbines use generators that contain strong permanent magnets composed of neodymium-iron-boron.
Current Reserves and Locations:
Indian Rare Earth Ltd. (IREL), part of the Department of Atomic Energy (AMD), Government of India, is the only Indian company extracting and processing REEs.
According to the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), India's established resources include:
Monazite Resources:
Approximately 7.23 million tonnes of Rare Earth Oxides (REO) Equivalent contained in 13.15 million tonnes of monazite.
These are primarily located in coastal beaches and red sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and inland alluvium states like Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu.
Hard Rock Terrains:
1.29 million tonnes of in-situ REO found in regions such as Ambadungar (Gujarat) and Bhatikhera/Dantala(Rajasthan).
Xenotime Deposits:
2,000 tonnes of heavy mineral concentrates containing ~2% xenotime—a phosphate mineral of yttrium and heavy rare earth elements—located in riverine placer deposits of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
Extraction and Production Challenges:
Indian resources are primarily lean in grade and tied to radioactivity, making the extraction process long, complex, and expensive.
The predominant monazite resources mainly contain light rare earth elements, whereas heavy rare earth elements are not available in economically extractable quantities.
While India has capabilities from mining to oxide/metal extraction, it lacks crucial mid-stream and downstream industries (like alloy and magnet manufacturing).
Recent Government Initiatives:
Financial Incentives:
The government has introduced a ₹7,280 crore scheme to establish 6,000 Metric Tons per Annum (MTPA) of integrated Rare Earth Permanent Magnet (REPM) manufacturing.
Indigenous Manufacturing:
An REPM Plant is being established at Vizag for the domestic production of Sm-Co magnets, strategically intended for use in atomic energy and defence.
Regulatory Easing:
Amendments to the MMDR Act 1957 aim to accelerate exploration and private investment.
Additionally, mining projects for atomic and critical minerals (Parts B and D of the First Schedule) have been exempted from public consultation under the EIA notification 2006.