Bhubaneswar: State government undertaking Idcol Wednesday signed an agreement with Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), a public sector undertaking, to set up a Joint Venture Company for development of beach sand mining.
Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (Idcol) chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) P K Nayak and IREL CMD Deependra Singh signed the agreement in the presence of Industries Minister Niranjan Pujari.
Industries Secretary Sanjeev Chopra, Joint Secretary (I&M) Atomic Energy M A Inbarasu were among others present at the agreement signing function.
Idcol had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the IREL in February 2015 and the agreement was signed Wednesday after getting the approval of the state government and the consent of the NITI Aayog.
As per the agreement, a mineral separation plant with an estimated project cost of Rs 450 crore will be set up at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district with a capacity to process 50,00,000 TPA raw sand, 2,00,000 TPA ilmenite, 40,000 TPA garnet, 30,000 TPA silimanite, 7,000 TPA rutile, 8,000 TPA zircon and 5,000 TPA monazite.
According to the pre-feasibility report prepared by Idcol, the development and construction of the plant would be completed within 24 months and payback period is about five years. The plant will create employment opportunities for 400 people and would open an area for new downstream units.
The IREL-Idcol Ltd joint venture company will apply for the lease of beach sand, explore and mine the same. It will have an initial authorised share capital of Rs 2 crore.
Idcol will have equity shareholding of 49 per cent while IREL will have equity shareholding of minimum 51 per cent in the JVC.
According to a report of the Union Ministry of Mines, the state has the third largest deposit of ilmenite in the country. Andhra Pradesh has largest deposit of ilmenite followed by Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the second spot. India has 18 per cent of ilmenite deposit in the world but most of them remain untapped.
The JVC will initially apply for lease of 1257.03 hectares or 1910 hectares, depending upon suitability in any available mining block and explore, mine, process and set up mineral separation plant for exploitation of beach sand serves. Later, value addition units would be set up.
UNI
