India is abundantly rich in coastal resources as the entire southern country is surrounded by sea. Sea does not only add to the beauty of the place but also increase the economic benefits of the state. The mineral rich beaches of Tamil Nadu are of huge value to our country.
Sand is nothing but the finely divided granular particles of the rocks that lay in the deep oceans. Once they settle on the shore it forms a beach. These granular particles comprise of silica as well as various heavy minerals. The minerals from this sand can be extracted simply by separation processes like magnetic separations or dry gravity separation. Beach sand mining can be stated to be an act of extraction of sand from the sea shores in order to process it and separate the useful natural minerals such as garnate, illmenite and zircon.
Beach Sand mining in India has been very extensive in the southern states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu. This is because sand mining is a coastal activity, where mining can be done only in places that are touching the sea. In addition to that, sand mining in India needs stretches of sea shores. These shores are taken on lease from the government, for a particular duration. Unless the government allots the sea stretch to the company there can be no mining activity in that area.
V.V. Mineral is one such heavy mineral mining company based in Chennai that is the only company that has a 15 kilometer stretch of the sea shore on lease from the Government for a period of 40 years.
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