No private licence given for monazite production: DAE

"DAE has not issued any licence to any private entity either for production of monazite, or for its downstream processing for extracting thorium, or the export of either monazite or thorium," the DAE said in a statement.

The Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), a public sector undertaking under the DAE, is the only company allowed to produce and process monazite and handle it for domestic uses as well as for export, it said.

Monazite is an important ore for thorium, which India plans to use in a big way in the latter part of the three-stage nuclear programme.

The DAE statement comes in the wake of reports in a section of the media claiming that private companies have been allowed to export millions of tonnes of monazite leading to loss of thorium.

The Indian coastal region contains economically important minerals like monazite, garnet, ilmenite, leucoxene, rutile, sillimanite and zircon, commonly referred to as beach sand minerals, it said.

Monazite is defined as a "prescribed substance" under the Atomic Energy Act and a licence under the law is necessary for its export.

Exports of beach sand minerals other than monazite fall under the open general licence and do not require any authorisation from the DAE, it said.

However, companies handling beach sand minerals have to get a licence from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board to separate the beach sand minerals and dispose of the tailings which contain monazite.

"These institutions are under strict regulatory control. They send quarterly reports to AERB stating the amount of tailings disposed of safely either in the premises or as backfill," the DAE said.

AERB inspectors survey these areas to ensure that the licensing conditions are met as export of monazite without a proper license is a violation of Indian laws, the DAE said.

It said as thorium and other rare earths are radioactive in nature extracting it from monazite is commercially not attractive unless the mixed rare earths are separated as a by-product following thorium extraction.

As per information available with the IAEA about the national nuclear programmes of different countries, no country except India is planning a significant use of thorium either in existing or future reactors.

"Hence, it is unlikely that there is a demand overseas for large amounts of thorium," the DAE said.