RARE EARTH MINERALS : production, reserves and it's uses

INDIA'S RARE EARTH MINERALS DEMAND-SUPPLY ANALYSIS : 

CURRENTLY, OVER 95% OF INDIA'S RARE EARTH'S IMPORTS COME FROM CHINA, HONGKONG AND SOUTH AFRICA. HOWEVER, THESE IMPORTS ARE INCREASING IN FUTURE DUE TO UTILISATION OF REM's IN CONVENTIONAL AND NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY SOURCES ALONG WITH THORIUM-BASED NUCLEAR PROGRAMME. BESIDES, AS INDIA'S MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY SUCH AS HI-TECH DEVICES, HEAVY MACHINERY AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT IS BURGEONING, DEMAND FOR THESE STRATEGIC RARE EARTH METALS.

IN 1950'S INDIA WAS ONE OF THE KEY SOURCES FOR THESE RARE EARTH'S .DESPITE HUGE RESERVE, INDIA FAILED TO UTILISE ITS RARE EARTH SECTOR DUE TO LACK OF GOVERNMENT'S FOCUS AND PROPEER MINING EXPERTISE AN D INDUSTRY. INDIAN POSITION IN THE GLOBAL REMs HARVESTING IS EVEN MORE INFERIOR THAN ANALYSED EARLIER BY VARIOUS GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. INDIAN RARE EARTH'S INDUSTRY HAS GREAT POTENTIAL IN TERMS OF REMS STOCKS AND THEIR CALCULATED BUSINESS COULD CREDIT AROUND $15 BILLION ANNUALLY. 

INDIA PRIDE ITSELF OF NEARLY 6.9 MILLION METRIC TONNES OF RARE EARTHS INCLUDING MAJOR REE SUCH AS LANTHANUM, CERIUM, PRASEODYMIUM, NEODYMIUM, SAMARIUM, GADOLINIUM, YTTRIUM, AND DYSPROSIUM. DESPITE THAT, IT HAS AN ABYSMAL PRODUCTION CAPACITY OF 1800METRIC TONNES PER YEAR OUT OF 1,70,000 MT WORLDWIDE REMs PRODUCTION (ONLY 1% OF GLOBAL PRODUCTION). INDIA ALSO HOLDS WORLD'S 35% (APPROX) OF BEACH SAND MINERALS DEPOSITS INCLUDING MONAZITE, GARNET, ZIRCON, RUTILE, SILLIMANITE AND ILLMENITE THAT ARE THE PLENTIFUL SOURCES OF RARE EARTH METALS ,INCLUDING TITANIUM, ZIRCONIUM, THORIUM, AND PHOSPHATE OF RARE EARTHS.

ACCORDING TO ATOMIC MINERALS DIRECTORATE FOR EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH (AMDER), INDIA HOLDS OVER 1 BILLION TONNES OF THESE REE METALS. CURRENTLY, MONAZITE IS THE MAJOR SOURCE OF LIGHT REM's SUCH AS THORIUM, URANIUM, SILICON AND ALUMINIUM, TITANIUM AND ZIRCONIUM, INDIA ALSO STARTED THE PRODUCTION OF DYSPROSIUM AND NEODYMIUM FROM MONAZITE TO EXPORT TO JAPAN. INDIAN RARE EARTHS LIMITED (IREL) , A MINI-RATNA PSU AND URANIUM EXTRACTION DIVISION OF BARC, HOLDS CONTROL OVER THE COUNTRY'S RARE EARTH AND RESPONSIBLE FOR MINING AND VALORIZATION OF THESE RARE EARTH METALS.

THE IREL REALISE AN ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF EXPORT OF DYSPROSIUM TO INTERNATIONAL MARKET AND THORIUM FOR 3RD STAGE NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS OF INDIA HELPS TO REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS. BUT NO MAJOR SUCCESS COMES TO ITS WAY YET EXCEPT, KAMINI REACTOR AND ADVANCED HEAVY WATER REACTOR AT TARAPUR UNDER CONSTRUCTION. BESIDES MONAZITE, INDIA IS ALSO PRODUCING ZIRCONIUM AND TITANIUM BASSED ALLOYS FROM BEACH SAND MINERALS AS INDIA OWNS LARGE RESERVES OF TITANIUM AND ZIRCONIUM. IT IS USED FOR BUILDING OF NUCLEAR GRADE ZIRCONIUM ALLOY THAT IS EMPLOYED FOR MAKING NUCLEAR FUEL ASSEMBLIES, WHILE GRADE TITANIUM ALLOY IS CRITICAL INGRADIENT FOR MILITARY HARDWARES SUCH AS MISSILES, COMBAT JETS, WARSHIPS AND SUBMARINES FOR IMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND LIGHT WEIGHT. INDIA ALSO DESIGN SAMARIUM-COBALT MAGNETS (R&D). BARC IS AT ADVANCED STAGE OF DEVELOPING Sm-Co MAGNETS. BY 2018, IREL IS SETTING UP 3000KG SM-CO MAGNET MANUFACTURING FACILITY.

OTHER MAJOR AGENCIES RELATED TO RARE EARTH MINERALS ARE THE ATOMIC MINERAL DIVISION (AMD) OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY (DAE) AND THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA (GSI). A JV OF VIKRAM SARABHAI SPACE CENTRE (VSSC) AND DEFENCE METALLURGICAL RESEARCH LABORATORY (DMRL) WAS ALSO FORMED TO DEVELOP PARMANENT MAGNETS FOR THE USE INDIAN ROCKETS AND SATELLITES. HOWEVER, INDIA IS CURRENTLY LIMITED TO THE EXTRACTION OF NEODYMIUM BUT BY ADOPTING AN EMPIRICAL STRATEGY, INDIA COULD OBTAIN TOKYO NdFeB MAGNETS IN EXCHANGE OF RAW MATERIALS (IN 2014, IREL AND JAPAN'S TOYOTA TSUSHO EXPLORATION ENETERED INTO AN AGREEMENT TO EXPLORE AND PRODUCE REM via DEEP SEA MINING). 

THREE INDIAN OWNED ORGANISATION NALCO, HCL & MINERAL EXPLORATION CORPORATION LIMITED (MECL) HAVE ESTABLISED A JOINT VENTURE NAMED KHAIJ BIDESH INDIA LIMTED TO EXPLORE , ACQUIRE AND REFINE STRATEGIC RARE EARTH MINERALS PRIMARILY IN LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES. THIS MOVE, BESIDES ITS STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE. WILL ALSO PROVIDE THRUST TO INDIA'S ELECTRIC VEHICLES (EV) MISSION 2030.  TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, INDIA NEEDS A NATIONAL LEVEL STRATEGY TO EXPLORE, EXTRACT AND VALORIZE THESE RARE EARTH METALS. THE INVESTMENT, MARKET AND INDIA'S HUGE RESERVES OF RAW MATERIALS MAKE R&D SEGMENT A HIGHLY VALUABLE AND BOOST THE DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE NUMBER OF STRATEGIC HI-TECH PRODUCTS AND INDSTRIES. SO, DEVELOPING AN ECOSYSTEM WITH MINING EXPERTISE TO EXTRACT THESE MINERALS MAKES MORE SENSE THAT EVENTUALLY WILL HELP INDIA TO GETA PLACE IN THE GLOBAL REM'S SUPPLY CHAIN. IT WOULD ALSO STIMULATE GEOPOLITICAL POSTURING OF THE COUNTRY. 

THE RARE EARTHS MARKET IS EXPECTED TO GROW AT A COMPOUND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE OF AROUND 8% DURING 2019-2024. DOMESTIC R&D AND ADEQUATE FUND LIQUIDITY IN THE PRODUCTION OF REMs COULD CREATE A POTENTIAL AVENUE FOR ESTABLISHING THE RARE EARTH MINERAL INDUSTRY.