The Indian Rare Earths ltd, a public sector undertaking has ordered a vigilance probe into the charge that India’s rich thorium resources, a nuclear fuel  crucial for the energy security of the country is being “robbed and smuggled”  by a sand mafia with the active support of the company insiders.

A group of engineers and technicians of IRE ltd at Manavalakurichi in Kanyakumari district had alleged that a section of the management was hand in glove with sand mafia to rob the Thorium-rich sand from the region . Thorium is a banned item under the Atomic Energy Act of India and could be handled only by the Department of Atomic Energy. 

The IRE , a unit of the DAE, saw a stand off in November 2015 between the staff and management following the latter’s directive to fill ilmenite in bags bearing the insignia of V V Minerals ltd , a private sand mining company.

Though the bags were withdrawn following resistance by the employees, the management issued an order directing employees not to bring mobile phones inside the company, said an employee who took the pictures of the bags and alerted union leaders.

The employees allege that a section of the management is hand in glove with the sand mafia. “We are shocked by the unusual number of senior managers resigning from IRE ltd and joining VV Minerals ltd” S Ramachandran, vice-president, IRE Employees Union told The Pioneer.  He said these engineers who had joined IRE ltd as trainees gained experience in metallurgy and mining and shifted their loyalty to the private company which offered more salary and commission. “But what is unethical is that they provided the private company with details of the IRE’s customers and markets, which are highly classified information,” said a senior IRE staff.

Four top executives of the IRE ltd joined the private company which has succeeded in bagging all the previous export contracts held by the public sector. “Even some of the serving engineers and managers are working as conduits of the private company,” charged Ramachandran who pointed out that the Union Government’s opening up of beach sand mining to private entrepreneurs in 2008 has resulted in the present state of affairs.” He also said that the manager in charge of marketing was bidding his time to switch over to the private company at the right moment.  

D Singh, the young chairman and managing director, IRE ltd told The Pioneer on Thursday that a vigilance probe was on ito allegations of sand smuggling and the axis between the private group and a section of IRE management.

The Manavalakurichi unit, one of the four units of the IRE ltd is tasked with the mining of ilmenite, garnet, zircon, silmenite and monazite, materials which command premium in international market. “It is the brand name IRE which made these materials the most sought after commodities in global market,” one of the IRE ltd engineers told The Pioneer. A tonne of monazite mined by IRE ltd costs Rs five  lakhs per tonne in the market. This is because of the presence of thorium, a material which could be used as fuel in nuclear power reactors.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 30 per cent of the global thorium reserve is concentrated in the Manavalakurichi- Chavara(Kerala) stretch. Once India’s Advanced Heavy Water Reactor becomes operational, it could be powered with Thorium, making India less dependent on other countries for nuclear fuel.

“IRE had licenses to mine from Midalam, a sea shore village. But the management allowed these licenses to lapse by not mining in the allocated lands. Meanwhile VV Minerals bought over  all lands surrounding the IRE land. The company made access impossible for the IRE to the latter’s own mining areas,” said a senior IRE employee..

Over the last four years, the profit made by IRE ltd has come down, said Suresh Gopinath, a young auditor. “The company which had made a profit of Rs157 crore in 2012-2013 has to content with a mere Rs66 lakh in 2014-2015. This is a matter of concern,” said Gopinath. It is strange that VV Minerals ltd, a late entrant to the sector is bagging all the export awards for the last one decade even as the fortunes of IRE ltd has taken a dive for the worst.

The employees alleged that thorium-rich sand is illegally exported from Tamil Nadu coast to a destination in Sri lanka from where  the consignment makes its onward journey to China and Europe.

Rejoinder : 

VV Mineral denies charges of thorium smuggling

PNS | New Delhi: Tamil Nadu-based VV Mineral (VVM) has refuted allegations leveled in an article — “Rich N-fuel at TN mafia’s mercy” — published in The Pioneer on January 1.

In a rejoinder, the company has said that it was in no way involved in reported smuggling Thorium, a nuclear fuel crucial for the energy security,  sand mafia with the active support of the company insiders. “The author has resorted to suggestive and indirect references to our company to corroborate the purported smuggling or robbing of Thorium, thereby making serious allegations on us directly,” the rejoinder said.

The company said that  article did not substantiate any facts relating to the title but resorts only to listing of complaints like 

The rejoinder said that article relied on conjecture patronising one Mr Ramakrishnan of IREl, Manavalakurichi, who thrives in defaming the VVM. “One such claim is about ex-employees of IREl joining VVM leading to loss of markets and sensitive information. We don’t compete with Indian Rare Earths limited (IREl) as alleged in the article, as we cater to different market segments,” it said.  Thorium is derived from Monazite sands. Monazite mining is controlled by AERB and has remained off-limits to private entities. Only IREl, a PSU, has been permitted to process it, it said.