Wind turbines As A Renewable Energy Source

Wind turbines make use of kinetic energy to generate electricity. In earlier times they were mostly used as mechanical devices to turn machinery. Wind turbines can be of mainly two types, one with a vertical axis and other with a horizontal axis. Wind turbines can be used to generate large amounts of electricity in wind farms both onshore and offshore.

Wind has been harnessed for hundreds of years; they have been used for pumping of water or grinding grain. But in the more recent times, windmills can be used for much more beneficial activities such as generating electricity.  They are mostly mounted on towers so as to capture the most amount of energy. Turbines have propeller blades that catch the wind energy and convert it into electricity. 

For utility-scale sources of wind energy, a large number of wind turbines are usually built close together to form a wind plant. Small wind systems also have potential as distributed energy resources. Distributed energy resources refer to a variety of small, modular power-generating technologies that can be combined to improve the operation of the electricity delivery system. 

VV Mineral, a heavy mineral mining company based in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu makes use of wind turbines to generate electricity. They manufacture mineral products from mineral sands of the beach such as Zircon, Rutile and Illmenite and Garnet. 

Overview of Heavy Mineral Industry of India

India has an exceptional stretch of 6000 kilometres of coastline and hence one of the richest heavy mineral placers are situated on its shoreline. The beach sands of India are rich in minerals like garnet, zircon, ilmenite, rutile, monazite and some others. The minerals Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Garnet, Monazite and Sillimanite are found mainly in five states -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra. 

According to Indian Bureau of Mines report of 2012, India produced as many as 89 minerals which included 4 fuel minerals, 11 metallic minerals, 52 non-metallic (industrial minerals) including ilmenite, rutile and zircon which were atomic minerals earlier and 22 minor minerals in 2011-12. 

As per industry estimates, India has over 500 million tonnes (MT) of Ilmenite reserves, which is used in making titanium metal and titanium di-oxide pigments, a critical raw material for making products such as paints, paper and plastic. 

One of the premier companies that indulge in heavy mineral mining is V.V. Mineral. They are India’s biggest mining, manufacturers and exporters of Garnet. They have been awarded as the ‘Number One Garnet Exporters’ of our country. They also undertake Zircon mining, Rutile mining and Ilmenite mining.

Various Environment Protection Initiatives by V.V. Mineral

VV Mineral is a heavy mineral mining company and was established in the year 1989, based in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They manufacture mineral products from mineral sands of the beach such as Zircon, Rutile and Illmenite and Garnet. 

V.V. Mineral conduct their mining activities in an eco friendly way. They understand what responsibilities are thrown upon them as they deal with the natural resources which are limited and can directly or indirectly affect the environment of the area. To make sure they cause no harm to any individual or phenomenon around the mining areas, they perform environment protection actions such as water conservation, power generation, afforestation.

Therefore, along with increasing the economical benefits of our country by export of valuable minerals, V.V. Minerals, India also restores the areas surrounding Tisayanvilai and other locations of Tamil Nadu with environmental remuneration. 

The areas that they mine on, although it is not owned but leased from the Government, are restored with green vegetation, to make the land fertile and increase the prosperity of greenery. The places from where they manually extract the mineral sand from are reinstated with just silica particles so that there is not depreciation of land on beach areas. 

They participate in initiatives that are held for conservation of natural renewable energy. For example, VV Mineral uses sea water concentration plants to save fresh water. Also, they make use of wind as a renewable energy to generate power through wind turbines.

Why Beach Sand Mining Can be Done Only at Selected Locations

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.