![In General mining is understood as a process requires removal of fertile top soil,
overburden, drilling, blasting to get access to the ore and results in pollution and
ultimately exhaust of the resource. On the contrary beach minerals are widely
scattered in a relatively thin layer along the coast, open to every one to pick and
carry. Unlike the land deposits these unique deposits are renewable. The field
studies in the Tirunelveli coast of Tamil Nadu, recently conducted by Sri. R.
Srinivasan, former Director of Geology and Mining, Tamil Nadu, have brought to
light that almost 100% replenishment takes place in the ‘inter tidel zone’ [18 – 25 m
wide]; about 50% in the ‘Beach area’ [45 – 60 m from the HTL] and about 30% in the
‘Berm area’ [150 m – 230 m from HTL] (Bandari, 2013). This is a rare feature among
the “wasting assets”.
Nowadays Clean technology is considered as the most important factor for
economic growth of industries and in sustainable development (Shramm and
Hackstock, 1998). It is generally recognized that preventing pollution is more
economic and effective in reducing environmental impacts than cleaning it up latter
on (Rajaram and Parameswaran, 2005). United Nations Environment Programme
defined cleaner production as “The continuous application of an integrated
preventive environmental strategy applied to processes, products and services to
increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment”
(Baas,1995).
Cleaner Production in the mining industry is “a superior level of environmental
performance, which can only be achieved through improved strategy and house
keeping, sound process control, optimized plant layout, and the implementation of
efficient management techniques” (Hilson, 2003). M/s V.V.Mineral by adopting
advanced cleaner production technologies in mines; make the catching and
separation of valuable beach minerals in such a way that the white sand on the](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/vvmconvertwasteaswelath-article-160807062548/85/VVM-convert-waste-as-wealth-2-320.jpg)
VVM convert waste as wealth
- 1. V.V.MINERAL CONVERT WASTE AS WEALTH A ROLE MODEL IN IMPLEMENTING CLEANER PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE BEACH SAND MINING AND PROCESSING Dr.T.Anitha, P.hd and K.Nithya Kalyani, M.Sc* *e.mail : nithya@vvmineral.com, anitha@vvmineral.com Abstract M/s V.V.Mineral undertake mining and processing of beach sand heavy minerals from the coastal belts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin Districts and produces highly pure Garnet, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Silimanite and Leucoxene. V.V.Mineral implemented unique cleaner production technologies such as highly efficient environmental equipment, and state-of-the-art environmental management measures.during mining and processing of beach sand heavy minerals to mitigate the environmental impacts. This paper highlights the cleaner production technologies incorporated to mitigate dust pollution, carbon foot print, radiaiton hazard, water and energy conservation and ecosystem preservation by M/s.V.V.Mineral in their mining and related processes. Keywords : Beach sand minerals, cleaner production, dust pollution, mining, environment management INTRODUCTION M/s V.V.Mineral is the leading private manufacturer and exporter of Garnet, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Sillimanite and Leucoxene from Tamil Nadu, working in Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin districts beach sand heavy mineral suites of lesser grades in profitable manner. Beach sand minerals serves as raw material to the commercial manufacture of a wide range of end product applications, as diverse as pigments, paints and coatings, metal and specialist alloys, ceramics and a range of chemical and specialty applications (Gambogi, 2005). V.V.Mineral’s products fetch huge overseas market due to its quality and high class management system implemented during every step of manufacturing process which was acknowledged by the ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 certificates issued by TUV Germany.
- 2. In General mining is understood as a process requires removal of fertile top soil, overburden, drilling, blasting to get access to the ore and results in pollution and ultimately exhaust of the resource. On the contrary beach minerals are widely scattered in a relatively thin layer along the coast, open to every one to pick and carry. Unlike the land deposits these unique deposits are renewable. The field studies in the Tirunelveli coast of Tamil Nadu, recently conducted by Sri. R. Srinivasan, former Director of Geology and Mining, Tamil Nadu, have brought to light that almost 100% replenishment takes place in the ‘inter tidel zone’ [18 – 25 m wide]; about 50% in the ‘Beach area’ [45 – 60 m from the HTL] and about 30% in the ‘Berm area’ [150 m – 230 m from HTL] (Bandari, 2013). This is a rare feature among the “wasting assets”. Nowadays Clean technology is considered as the most important factor for economic growth of industries and in sustainable development (Shramm and Hackstock, 1998). It is generally recognized that preventing pollution is more economic and effective in reducing environmental impacts than cleaning it up latter on (Rajaram and Parameswaran, 2005). United Nations Environment Programme defined cleaner production as “The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy applied to processes, products and services to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment” (Baas,1995). Cleaner Production in the mining industry is “a superior level of environmental performance, which can only be achieved through improved strategy and house keeping, sound process control, optimized plant layout, and the implementation of efficient management techniques” (Hilson, 2003). M/s V.V.Mineral by adopting advanced cleaner production technologies in mines; make the catching and separation of valuable beach minerals in such a way that the white sand on the
- 3. beaches would not be tampered with causing no damage at all to the beach safety and environment. This paper discuss about the cleaner production techniques implemented by M/s V.V.Mineral in their processes and products to increase overall efficiency and reduce risks to human and the environment. V.V.MINERAL SUSTAINS THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE BY MINING THE UNTAPPED WEALTH The total beach sand resources of India are at 942.58 million tones, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have a share of 35%, 24%, 21% and 19% respectively (REPORT OF SUB- GROUP-II ON METALS AND MINERALS (2011). The Indian Ilmenite reserves distributed in the beaches form 46 percent of the world’s reserve and India has a Lion’s share of 75 percent of the total world monazite reserve (Krishnan, 2001). As of now, India is contributing only 5% of the global production, even though it has about 16% of the global resources of these minerals. The need of the hour is to take up substantive steps to develop the beach sand reserves of the Country to its full potential beacuse the Production to Reserve Ratio (PRR) of placer minerals in our country is 0.001 which is relatively very low (Sivasubramanian, 2001). On account of the low production to reserve ratio from 1998 onwards, this sector has been thrown open to Pvt. Entrepreneurs in the country as well as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (DAE,GOI,1998). To facilitate faster and full development of concerned minerals and after due consideration of all radiological, strategic and technical aspects, the Department of Atomic energy(DAE) in consultation with the Ministry of Mines, the concerned state Government and stake holders, has decided to remove Ilmenite, Rutile, Leucoxene and Zircon from the list of Prescribed Substance with effect from January 2007 (DAE,GOI, 2006). All titaniferrous minerals will also cease to be Atomic Minerals under the MMDR Act,1956.
- 4. Beach placer deposits are hard to be labeled under UNFC Classification, because lease boundary cannot bind the mineral. As part of what is there today may recede or be taken away by Nature tomorrow and some fresher mineral may be brought in, to be collected and used. Reserve estimates are not all that definitive and production planning too has to be kept flexible to an extent (Bandari, 2003). The Heavy mineral content in Indian deposits by and large ranges between 10-50% (Sivasubramanian, 2001). Considering all these facts about beach placer deposits Indian Government is undertaking mining activity only in highly viable placer deposits. All the beach sand deposits areas rated as the best owing to its unique mineralogical assemblage, vast reserves and chemical characters such as Chavara of Kerala, Manavalankurichi of Tamil Nadu, Ratnagiri of Maharastra, Kakinada of Andhra Pradesh and Chatrapur of Orissa are under Government mining. All over the globe countries are working with less concentration of heavies in profitable manner (Mallik, 2004). Hence beach placer deposit mining in the lesser grade coastal suite in India can also enable natural resources management of our country as well as create direct and indirect opportunities for economic growth that brings benefits to the poor. As far as Tamil Nadu is concerned the concentration levels of total heavy minerals in the different beach segments show wide fluctuations, whereas the relative abundance of the heavy mineral species exhibits a distinct distribution pattern with the latitude. Thus, the heavy mineral suite in the beach deposits is: (a) ilmenite-dominant in the southern-most Manavalakurichi sector, (b) almandine garnet-rich in the Ovari sector, (c) a mixed association of ilmenite, garnet and pyriboles in the Tuticorin sector, and (d) pyriboles abundant in the northernmost Velanganni _ Cuddalore sector and beyond (Chandrasekar and Murugan, 2001) . The beach sands of Ovari sector contain 3.2 million tonnes (Mt) of garnet at an average grade of 10.7%. Tamil Nadu alone accounts for more than 59% of the total garnet resources of India. Zircon, monazite and sillimanite are
- 5. ubiquitous in the beach sands, and hold potential as co-products or by-products. The beach sand heavy mineral suite from Kanyakumari to Cuddalore considered as uneconomic grades for mining by the Government are leased to Private entrepreneurs. To channelize the wealth to strengthen our economy and to help sustain the development of the Country M/s V.V.Mineral by using the man power and indigenous technology they have made the uneconomic grade ores to economically viable mineral. Now about 91% of India’s garnet production was reported from Tamil Nadu. M/s V.V.Mineral and its sister concerns are principle producers accounted for about 86% of the total production during the period 2012- 2013 (Indian Minerals Year Book, 2013). GREEN MINING TECHNOLOGY Implementing environment friendly innovative mining techniques is the key for Green Mining. "Green mining is defined as technologies, best practices and mine processes that are implemented as a means to reduce the environmental impacts associated with the extraction and processing of metals and minerals (Kirkey, 2014). Beach sands are mined by open cast mining method. Like in coal and other minerals mining industries open cast mining will cause atomspheric impact due to dust generation. Work zone air quality, ambient air quality shows high pollution potential due to suspended particulate matter and consequent impact on human health. The dust particles act as centres of catalysis for many of the chemical reactions taking place in the atmosphere (Ghose and Majee, 2000, 2001). Hence M/s V.V.Mineral implemented spirals based open cast mining method for improved mining efficiency and reduced environmental impacts. M/s V.V.Mineral sourced the raw sand by spirals based mining the placer deposits at the Kanyakumari, Tirunelvei and Tuticorin District coastal area mines. The said method of mining adopted is more environment friendly as the entire mining process is wet operation the generation of dust during handling and transport is greatly reduced. The method has the
- 6. attraction of generally low capital and operating costs which together with the lack of chemicals means it is generally environment friendly (Andrew,2003). In mining industry, Mineral extraction results in generation of large volume of solid waste such as soil, debris and other material which is useless for the industry and is just stored in big piles within the mine lease area. Solid waste storage and disposal takes up large areas of land and also make the land infertile and useless. The Opencast mining methods are more pollution intensive as they generate 8 to 10 times more quantities of waste compared to the underground mines (Rajdeep Das and Choudhury, 2013). On the contrary spirals based beach sand mining opted by M/s V.V.Mineral upgrade the mined ore at site and aid in simultanoeus backfilling and immediate restoration of the topography of the mined voids. Environment management practice of waste disposal by in-pit dumping is considered to be the most economical and environment friendly. Hence the implemented green mining technology of V.V.Mineral reduces the foot prints of mining by backfilling the mine voids with tailings (silica sand) without any air borne dust and contamination to water table. WATER CONSERVATION Water conservation is generally defined as: "the socially beneficial reduction of water use or water loss." (Baumann, et al. 1980). Mining operations use water for mineral processing and metal recovery, controlling dust, and meeting the needs of workers on site (Lottermoser,2012). Mining is one of the few industries that is able to use water which is of lower quality than that desirable for human consumption (ICMM,2012). In response to water scarcity in the region, a number of water conservation
- 7. practices are being developed and implemented by V.V.Mineral to reduce water use. The prime cleaner technology implemented by M/s V.V.Mineral is recycling the spirals water. Spirals are eco friendly portable mining equipments separates heavy minerals from the rest of the sand by the combined action of centrifugal force, gravitational force and drag force. The trough of the spiral is inclined towards the centre. So, the heavier particles slide towards the centre quickly, as they fall from the top. Due to the centrifugal force, the lighter particles move outside and heavier towards the centre. The particles having high specific gravities move towards the centre of the spiral column and subsequently tapped by means of splitters. Due to all above reasons, heavier particles move towards centre and are collected as concentrate, whereas lighter particles are collected from the outer portion of the spiral as tails with the help of splitter openings. Spirals are fed with slurry of the beach sand at 40% solids by weight. To process a ton of sand spirals requires 5 cu.m water. Since spirals concentrates the heavies portion by exploiting the physical property of the minerals no chemicals are added in the water for the separation. Hence after usage in the spirals the water is chemically unpolluted except the suspended solids content. The suspended solids are removed by passing the water in three settling tanks and the final out let water is clear and reused in the process. By adopting water recycling techniques V.V.Mineral has reduced its water intake by 20%. Concerted efforts taken by V.V.Mineral to save water by recycling way have more environmental benefits. ENERGY CONSERVATION Mining and mineral processing is an energy intensive process. Mining and quarrying in India contribute about 1.7% of the industrial energy usage (Energy statistics. (2012). Using diesel fuels in trucks, excavators and electricity for running the drier,
- 8. magnetic and electrostatic separators of the processing plant have their own environmental impacts. Reducing energy consumption in mines and mineral processing plant will reduce green house gas emission and extent the life of fossil fuel (Rankin,2011). Keeping this in mind M/s V.V.Mineral reduces its energy consumption by implementing few cleaner production technologies. According to Mines and AERB regulations heavy minerals lean silica sand must be backfilled in the mine site. Initially V.V.Mineral brought the collected beach sand from the mines to the processing plant and took back the silica sand to the mines for back filling. This process requires a fleet of trucks, a roster of drivers and vast quantity of diesel. In order to reduce the truck haulage and the diesel usage V.V.Mineral as the first step they stop transporting the collected beach sand to Processing plant and started mining the collected beach sands near the site itself and using the silica sand reject for backfilling the mines and transport only the concentrate to the processing plant. By the implementation of spirals based eco friendly mining technology the energy consumption of V.V.Mineral in terms of diesel usage is reduced to 50%. In the processing plant since the concentrate from the spirals are in the wet form driers are used for drying the concentrate before feeding into the processing plant. To dry one ton sand 11 -12 liters diesel is required and the process will emit 29.67 - 32.36 kg CO2 into the environment. In order to completely stop this green house gas emission V.V.Mineral adopted the cleaner technology solar drying process in place of driers. In the processing plant instead of depending on the State Electricity Board and using the fossil fuel based electricity V.V.Mineral is now investing on renewable energy sources solar power and wind turbine to reduce the energy consumption from non renewable sources and associated environmental impacts.
- 9. GREEN BELT DEVELOPMENT Vegetation is cleared to gain access to the minerals in mines which may leads to habitat loss and deforestation (ICMM, 2011). But in the case of Tamil Nadu the entire coastal villages are reeling under drought conditions and all the government lands are occupied by Karuvelam trees, Tree that was introduced in 60s as fuel wood to help the people reeling under drought situation. Most of the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu also occupied by Karuvelam trees. This weed is a ban to farmers as it absorbs more ground water, humidity from the atmospheric air for their survival. It never shelters birds because they produce less oxygen but emits more carbon dioxide. It also affects soil nutrients. It makes it surrounding droughty (Aravind Health Centre,2013). The Madras High Court bench has ordered eradication of Seema Karuvelam trees from Tamil Nadu (The Hindu,2013). The plant shouldn’t be simply cut or cleared, but should be carefully uprooted. Partially cut Karuvelam plants can grow very fast and four times thicker. Uprooting the trees will not leads to habitation loss and deforestation. Since placer minerals are present from the surface just cutting the tree for gaining access to the minerals is enough. But V.V.Mineral with a environment concern they uprooted all the plants in the lease areas and now grown a green belt with Casuarina, cactus, pine tree, Aloe vera, Suva pul tree. These trees are planted in the periphery of the mined out area and nursed till they achieve full growth in a thicker density. So far V.V.Mineral has grown 8710 trees in their and sister concern mines. Hence the areas which were dry and devoid of any useful tree before mining operation, look green after the trees are grown in the mined out areas. This further improves the ecology of the surrounding area and prevents migration of mineral sands due of wind. RADAITION HAZARD LIMITATION The presence of natural radionuclides from the thorium and uranium series in beach sands is a well recognized fact. India, have long been known for their unusually high
- 10. levels of natural radioactivity, caused by deposits of monazite-bearing sands (Eisenbud and Gessel, 1997). There is a growing public awareness of the risks posed by the minerals, monazite, which emits low levels of radiation as it contains thorium and uranium. Beach sand mining activity pave way for collection of meager quantity of the nation’s asset Thorium bearing Monazite and reduces the risk of radioactivtiy to the public due to the removal of monazite in the beach sand. The beach mineral deposits of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin district coastal areas containing about 0.02 - 0.05% Monazite along with other heavy minerals like garnet, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Sillimanite and Leucoxene. Background radiation in the virgin mining area (before mining) is in the range of 0.3 to 0.5 µGy/hr (0.03 to 0.05 mR/hr). In the course of mining process the monazite fraction is separated and stored in protected areas safely for the future strategic requirement of our Nation as per the provisions of the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004 and Atomic Energy (Working of the Mines, Minerals and Handling of Prescribed Substances) Rules, 1984. As a result the background radiation in refilled mined out areas is reduced to 0.2 µGy/hr. Since Monazite is taken out from the raw sand and the mined out area becomes deactivated and more environment - friendly to the local inhabitants from problems of radioactivity. In this way, the beach sand mining activities are completely supportive to the environmental aspects and often termed as eco- friendly system of mining. Conclusion This paper has provided an overview of the environmental management activities taken by beach sand mineral industries for pollution pevention and cleaner production. We are fortunate as a nation that we are blessed with abundant natural resources that are available for our development and prosperity ultimately to eradicate unemployment and poverty in our country. As far as beach sand mineral resources are concerned Government could not conserve the mineral sand forever
- 11. and, in fact, it was being lost gradually by sea erosion. If not mined, the sand will be carried away by the ocean currents to the Sri Lankan coast. Mining is required for the greater good of the society. The dedicated commitment of private beach sand industries for implementing environmental friendly cleaner production technologies to reduce the impact of mining and related activities pave way for sustainable development of beach sand minerals. VV Mineral convert the waste sea sand as wealth and earn valuable foreign exchange to our nation and also generate lot of employment to the rain shadow area. References 1) Andrew. F, (2003) GRAVITY SEPARATION: OLD TECHNIQUE/NEW METHODS Physical Separation in Science and Engineering, 2003, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 31– 48. 2) Aravind Health Centre, (2013). Kill Babool; Save Ecosystem www.aravindhhealthcentre.org/1/post/2013/11/kill-babool-save-eco- system.html 3) Baas, L.W, (1995). Cleaner production: beyond projects. Journal of Cleaner Production, 3(1-2), 55-59. 4) Bandari, A.K, (2013). United Nations Framework Classification and the Indian Mining Industry. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/energy/se/pp/unfc/UNFC_ws_India_Oct2013/3.3 _Bhandari.pdf 5) Baumann, D. D., Boland,J.J and Hanemann ,W.H.(1998), Urban Water Demand Management and Planning, McGraw-Hill, New York 6) Chandrasekharan,S and Murugan, C,(2001). Beach and Inland Heavy mineral sand investigations and depsoits in India – An over view, Exploration Research for Atomic Minerals, Vol 13 pp 1-21. 7) Department of Atomic Energy,(DAE) Government of India (GOI) (1998). Policy on Exploitation of Beach Sand Minerals, Resolution no.8/1(1)/97-PSU/1422. 06 October,1998. 8) Department of Atomic Energy ,(DAE) Government of India (GOI),(2006). Department of Atomic Energy Revised list of Prescribed substances. Notification S.O. 61(E) of 18 January 2006, gazetted on 20 Jan. 2006.
- 12. 9) Eisenbud,M and Gessel,T.(1997). Environmental Radioactivity from Natural, Industrial and Military Sources, 4th ed. New York: Academic Press, 656 p. 10) Energy statistics. (2012) Central statistics office, National statistical organization, Ministry of statistics and program implementation, Govt. Of India. 11) Gambogi, J.M, (2005). Titanium Mineral Concentrates Mineral Commodity Summaries, USGS. Pp 177. 12) Ghose, M.K and Majee, S.R, (2000). Sources of air pollution due to coal mining and their impacts in Jharia coalfield Environ Int. 2000 Aug; 26(1-2):81-85. 13) Ghose, M.K and Majee, S.R, (2001), Air pollution caused by opencast mining and its abatement measures in India. J Environ Manage. 2001 Oct;63(2):193- 202. 14) Hilson, G, (2003). Defining “cleaner production” and “pollution prevention” in the mining contexto. Minerals Engineering. 16.305-321. 15) ICMM (International Council on mining and metals)(2011) . The Role of Mining and Metals in Land Use and Adaptation, In Brief http://www.icmm.com/library/inbrief-the-role-of-mining-and-metals-in-land- use-and-adaptation. 16) ICMM (International Council on mining and metals)(2012) .Water management in mining: a selection of case studies pp .6. 17) Indian Minerals Yearbook (2013). (Part- III : Mineral Reviews) 52nd Edition GARNET (ADVANCE RELEASE) GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES INDIAN BUREAU OF MINES PP 1-23. 18) Kirkey, (2014) :Eco friendly mining trends for 2014. http://www.mining-technology.com/features/featureenvironment-friendly- mining-trends-for-2014-4168903/ 19) Krishnan,M (2001). Presidential Address, International Seminar on Placer Deposits, Tamil University, Thanjavur 14-20th December, 1999. 20) Lottermoser, B, (2012). Mine Wastes: Characterization, Treatment and Environmental Impacts, Springer: New York. pp. 400 . 21) Malik,(2004). Heavy Mineral Studies. Their importance and implications. National workshop and Seminar on sustainable development of coastal placers. Pp 29-43.
- 13. 22) Rajaram, R. and Parameswaran,K. (2005). Chapter 1: Introduction, in Sustainable Mining Practices -- A Global Perspective, V. Rajaram and S. Dutta, Editors. 2005, A. A. Balkema Publishers, a member of Taylor & Francis Group: Leiden, The Netherlands. p. 1-11. 23) Rajdeep Das,R and Choudhury,I (2013). WASTE MANAGEMENT IN MINING INDUSTRY Indian J.Sci.Res. 4(2) : 139-142. 24) Rankin, W.J. (2011). Minerals, metals and sustainability: meeting future material needs, Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Pub. 25) REPORT OF SUB- GROUP-II ON METALS AND MINERALS (2011) – STRATEGY BASED UPON THE DEMAND AND SUPPLY FOR MINERAL SECTOR. The 12th Five Year Plan. pp 325. 26) Shramm, W and Hackstock,R (1998). Cleaner technologies in the Fourth Framework Programme of the UE, Journal of Cleaner Production 6 (1998) 129-134. 27) Sivasubramanian,S. (2001). Mineral Sand Industry – Present scenario & future options. Nuclear India, Published by Department of Atomic Energy Government of India. 28) The Hindu,(2013). Uproot Karuvelam plants: Corporationwww.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/uproot-karuvelam- plants-corporation/article5260915.ece