KERALA SCIENTIFIC MINING POLICY, 2014

(Vide:Order No 7037/KSPB/ 13/I&I/SPB Dtd. 26-2-2014)

Introduction
1. As the state enjoys a typical tropical monsoon climate with alternating wet and dry spells,
the actual quarrying/ mining (strip or surface) operations are feasible only during the rain
free days of the calendar year.

2a. Kerala has a relatively larger population of 31.8 million (Census 2011). In the gross total
area of 38863 km2, the livable and cultivable area is roughly 27,000 km2 and consequently
leads to a higher population density. As a result, several parcels of land with potentially
minable deposits are under never barren or fallow, but are set apart or already set aside for
agricultural/commercial/residential land-uses; in other words, anything but mining related
landuse.

This is despite the use of tax revenue in the geo-scientific work of identification, exploration,
valuation of mineral/s wealth and delineation ore/mineral bearing land. Sadly, it has been
the practice or policy of the administration, to allocate ore/mineral bearing parcels of land to
a variety of purposes other than mining and extraction of the valuable mineral wealth.

Recommendation: Therefore, it is strongly recommended that for land parcels with
proven mineral wealth the first priority of use or allocation for use shall be for the
mining/quarrying of the mineral wealth below the ground. Only after completion of
the mining activity and reclamation and landscaping of the mine pit and restoring
the surroundings, the land be allocated for other uses.

For example the strip mines of English-India Clays in Akkulam, Thiruvananthapuram are
now the home of NCESS, NATPAC, Southern Air Command and so on.

Backdrop of mining in Kerala
Modern quarrying/mining in Kerala is focused on china clays, construction materials
(extracted from the shallow skin of the earths crust) and the cyclically renewed blacksand
beach placer deposits (from the beaches of Kollam and southern part of Alappuzha dist.) on
an yearly basis.

The minable deposits of China clay occurrences are localized in the southern districts of
Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam and the northern dist of Kannur. The clay mining in
Kerala is undertaken by enterprises that are either wholly publicly owned or under private
ownership.

Quarrying/mining operations for rock and byproducts is entirely vested with large and small
private investors. In fact, in the immediate preceding decades, the demand for rock rubble
and coarse and fine aggregates, showed an unprecedented upward spiral. Being rock rubble
and its derivatives, these fetch only a very low unit value.

Contrary to this, the unit value of black-sand placers (or derivatives and separates),
accumulating in the modern beaches of Chavara-Kayamkulam-Ambalapuzha section, is
huge. This accumulation is cyclical, in that it is systematically annually renewed as a part of
the beach building by the long travelled swells associated with the SW monsoon.

2b. In respect of china clay, quarry products and placer minerals varying degrees of value
additions of one kind or other are already in place.

Observation: In the processing plants the ROM china clay goes through an
elaborate process of clarification aimed at value addition. The beach placer sand on
the other hand goes through a series of process by which the mineral species are
separated. Only KMML, TTP Ltd and CMRL are involved in value addition.

Observation: The proposed Institute for Critical Materials, under the auspices of the
KSCSTE and utilizing the monazite as the chief input, has a mission of research,
pilot plant operations, incubation and transfer of technology for the
commercialization of products.

2c. Without an efficient plan of transporting the finished product or material from the place
of manufacture to the potential markets/s, already at hand, prior to the first day of activity,
the profitability of the mining/quarrying enterprise could as well be uncertain.

The road infrastructure in Kerala continues to be insufficient or antique for modern multi-
axle lorries or tractor-trailers. The poor upkeep of the single carriage east-west trending
roadways that connect points in midland (and low highland?) where value added rock
products are manufactured, is indeed a huge bottleneck in the supply chain. However, the
rail transport network, with double-electric-traction lanes is nearly modern in Kerala.

Recommendation: Therefore the Committee recommends adoption of measures for
improving the road infrastructure for the safe passage of heavy duty trucks ferrying
products from quarries and mines.

2d. Recycling, brings into an average Keralites mind recycling of plastic, glass, paper and
other metallic scraps. But recycling in the parlance of mining means entirely different input
material.

Recommendation: The scientific mining policy shall encourage, require or make
mandatory, the recycling of building rubble from demolition of buildings of all sorts
through a suitable manufacturing process, whereby coarse and fine aggregates are
manufactured for reuse.

2e.Glass bottles of various descriptions are in plenty in our communities and consequently in
our state. If this excellent feed stock is recycled into fine aggregate, to a large extent the
scarcity of this commodity in the construction sector can be relived. We need to keep in
mind that glass is infinitely recyclable. The committee proposes incentives and
encouragements for enterprises and entrepreneurs in the glass to fine aggregate conversion.

2f. In general, there is no immediate buyer or user of the stockpile of stripped overburden in
rock quarries/mines. This overburden is an excellent source material to recover coarse and
fine aggregates. Currently such material remains condemned from any further downstream
use. It is yet another example of making wealth from waste.

2g. Disposal of unusable stripped waste is not without options. Once the service life of the
quarry/mine is reached, the quarried land is recovered by refilling the void with quarry/mine
waste and followed by landscaping.
Recommendation: The recovery or reclamation of the quarried/mined land shall be
made mandatory and be declared as the responsibility of the mining company.
3. Adopting more technology oriented scientific mining.
In the pre-independence days, i.e., during the days of Raj/Maharaja, mining practice in
Travancore state was purely either strip mining or quarrying and minimally mechanized. In
place of machines, several types of hand-tools and human labour were intensively used.
In stockpiling of black sand of placers, gathering of in-stream sand (as fine aggregate), or
collecting and washing of lime-shell for subsistence, human (both genders) labor was
extensively used. Reasons for the low level of mechanization could have been the dull
market demand and plentiful supply of workforce. .
In the post 90s, a good deal of mechanization has come into the strip mining sector,
primarily to raise the output in order to meet the market demand. Machines such as
Bulldozers, Powershovels, Jackhammers, dynamite, heavy duty tipper trucks and trained and
skilled operators are a common scene in the quarries/mines. Also used extensively are
various sorts of mechanized pumps to dewater the operational area.
Recommendation: The mining sector truly needs use of more machines for capacity
expansion, to meet market demand. The mines and quarries currently are one-shift
operations. The Government shall encourage adding more shifts in the operations to
raise the production to meet the demand from the infrastructure sector of the state.
4. Adoption of most efficient competitive and environmentally responsible method of
mining.
The founding of EPA in 1970 in the USA, had set a new road for many nations of the world
making them to take a relook at the large and small activities and interventions in the
ecosphere of the earth. In 1976, by adding article 48A to the Indian constitution, the wildlife
and forests which remained in the state list were transferred to the concurrent list of the
constitution. However, mining and quarrying for minor minerals remained with the state.
Regulations and rules framed subsequently by the MoEF governed and ensured the
environmental safe guards essential to opening up of a mine to extract major minerals and
fuels.

Truly, Mining never was and has been an environment friendly activity in any part of the
world at any point of time in the past or in the present. However, new insights, knowledge,
operational methods and modern technologies enabled modern mining to co-exist with a
healthy environment and supportive and happy community or society.

In Kerala, though text book examples of reclamation and reuse of quarry/mine pits exist,
these are exceptions and not the rule. For example, the IRE at Kollam has built a township
in the backshore, over a parcel of land reclaimed after dredging to recover the valuable black
or heavy mineral sand in the backshore.

Secondly at Thonnakkal, Thiruvananthapuram Dist., (on the eastside of NH47 and Asan
Memorial), M/s English India Clays Ltd., reclaimed and landscaped their abandoned clay
mine (roughly an area = ~15.0 ha) and sold the same to M/s Tata Consultancy Services.
Outside of these examples, the reclamation of abandoned quarries and mines continues to
be a far-cry.

In spite of the roughly 8000 rock rubble quarries (of which roughly 3000 are abandoned) of
variable sizes and depth, recovery or reclamation of the land to the approximate original lay
has not happened. This abandon is detested by the society or community in and around the
extraction sites and shall not happen anymore now and in the future.

While issuing permit or license for mining or quarrying, the authority shall mandate the
operator to backfill, landscape and reclaim the holes created by the extraction. Certainly, this
shift in policy and mandating to reclaim and restore the holed area back to the near
original lay might invite initially very strong objections from the industry. However, such
objections will die off with time.

Recommendation: All prospective quarrying/mining operations are subject to a
satisfactory clearance based on EIA and SIA stipulations specifically drawn up by an
expert agency or group or institution. The list of expert agencies with latest contact
information shall be displayed in the web sites of the Department of Environment
and Climate Change, State Biodiversity Board, State Pollution Control Board, The
Directorate of Mining and geology and KSCSTE.

The final assent or dismissal of request will be vested with the High Power
Environment Advisory Committee of the state. However, first or second denial of
request can be reviewed for a third time with revised documents on EIA and SIA.

5. Committee can also look into research and development and human resource
development in this sector.

The Central Mining Research Institute, Dhanbad, a member institute of CSIR family, is in
charge of developing new technologies, modifying existing technologies and practices in the
mining sector of the country. Mining and quarrying cause high levels of noise and dust
pollution due to drilling, blasting, bulldozers, tippers, and heavy trucks ferrying large
volumes of cargo, and neo-sediment laden water discharge outside of quarry limits, and
discharge of oil and grease from the machinery and vehicles.

Recommendation: The State Pollution Control Board shall continue the monitoring
of noise and dust pollution from the various sources and stipulate remedial or
corrective measures by way of adoption of new technologies or practices instead of
existing systems.

In Kerala, the demand for Geoscientists is met combinedly by at least half a dozen or so
colleges plus university departments. But a huge void exists in respect of professionals in
areas of Mining Engineering or Applied Geophysics. South of the latitude of Hyderabad,
there is no place where one aspirant could earn a degree in Mining Engineering. The Govt.
School of Mines, KGF, Karnataka offers a diploma course in Mining Engineering. The
scene is a bit better in respect of Applied Geophysics. Below the latitude of Hyderabad, the
CUSAT and MS University, Trunelveli are the two places offering a PG course in Applied
Geophysics. .

Recommendation: The Committee recommends starting a B.Tech. course in Mining
Engineering in the CET, Thiruvananthapuram and a diploma course in Mining
Engineering in the Central Polytechnic, Thiruvananthapuram. Also recommended is
M.Sc., course in Applied Geophysics, in the Calicut University. The State Planning
Board may recommend to the government to allocate adequate funds from AY 2015-
16.


6. Adoption of capital and energy saving practices and zero-waste-mining technologies
should be identified.
Capital and energy are closely linked. Capital input is essential first step in energy production,
whether it is mechanical or electrical. The higher the capital outlay the more efficient is the
energy production. The general area of mining or quarrying is one that is highly energy
intensive and hence capital intensive. Better energy efficiency in the operations would mean
less energy consumption. The proper upkeep of mining machinery (including bulldozers,
tippers and trucks), pumps, air compressors and electrical equipments and above all scientific
and efficient lighting systems would lead to efficient use of energy.

On the other hand, zero-waste-mining technologies are in realm of reality. As long as value
addition of the strip mining waste is practiced, the bulk of the waste can be sharply reduced
to the satisfaction of all.

Recommendation: The quarry waste-->fine aggregate technology is full of promise
and the quarry permit issuing authority of the state shall demand inclusion of this
technology in the flowchart of operations and at the stage of implementation.

7. Role of government, PSUs and private indigenous and foreign industries should be
identified.
The government may involve in mining and quarrying only indirectly. Perhaps government
role in this sector shall be one of regulator and not the operator which can be achieved by
putting place appropriate acts and rules. The PSUs are already involved in the core sectors of
mining and downstream processing as exemplified by the KMML, TTPL, Clay mining at
Madayi and Kundara.

Attracting Indian private capital in this sector is subject to many considerations. New
investors will look for a host of concessions and subsidies. The private capital will go to
states where they can maximize their benefits.

Foreign tie ups in the mining sector or fully owned foreign operations are perhaps a pipe
dream primarily because of the limited mineral wealth in Kerala.

Recommendation: The Committee could not scope a sector suitable for the foreign
private investment in the state.

8. Labour-industry relation and socio-economic factors should be identified.

Currently Kerala labour market or bank is rife with non-Keralite human resource and in the
near future there will be no scarcity of the same. In the quarry industry, large number work
men (both semi-skilled and trainable) are engaged in different phases of the operations.
Unlike in the early days of industry, or in the pre-90s instances of loss of working days due
to labour scarcity or unrest is not wide spread. The wages are perhaps decent and
comparable to the other sectors of the similar skills. The non-Keralite workers enjoy the
work opportunities in the state irrespective of the sector they are in and quarry/mining is no
exception. In fact the employability and opportunities in Kerala as well as the social
acceptance of the migrant workers perhaps are some of the reasons for the peace and
harmony in the work site as well as social life.

Recommendation: First and foremost of all an adhaar based or connected registry of
the work force need to be readied to enable the welfare and well being of these
workers and payment of wages, and health benefits on time and with legitimacy and
transparency.

9. Environmental management, sustainable quarrying technology and sustainable resource
should be given due importance.
As a state, Kerala cannot lag behind the rest of India in upgrading and expanding the
infrastructure as well as their up keep at par with the rest of India. In fact the basic inputs
like Portland cement and steel can be out sourced nationally or internationally. What is
impossible or non-remunerative is sourcing rock rubble and coarse and fine aggregates as
well as large block of rock from the neigbouring states. The environmentally sensitive groups
in the neighbouring states are more vocal and stronger lobbyist than their peers in Kerala.
Therefore if the vision and mission of the administration is to keep up with the rest of India
in respect of the port and harbor infrastructure, repairing or building new seawall, building
and repairing of the breakwaters of the fishing harbours from the south to north in coastal
Kerala, sustainable quarrying/mining of rock rubble of varying sizes and weights will be
indispensable. The state with roughly 1.62 lakh km long roads of different classifications is
bound to consume once in 3 to 5 yr, a several km3 of rock material. Then our railways will
call for the track upkeep a similar volume of coarse aggregate. The only recourse before the
state is sourcing such material from within.

Recommendations:
a.The state shall implement through the various scientific departments a sustainable
quarrying/mining policy based on science and technology and not the current rat-
hole mining/quarrying. Any ban of activities in this domain will only help the
deterioration of the quality of infrastructure in the state.

b.Therefore the state shall require the Geological Survey of India to map on ascale of
1:25000 or better and asses the volume of quarriable basement rock in parts of Kerala
but outside the special zones like ESAs or delicate areas for meeting the growing
needs of rock rubble and aggregates in the near and mid-future.

c.The Government in future shall not allow any quarrying/mining operation below a
bench mark prescribed based on the floor elevation of a lower order stream
draining the watershed in which the proposed quarry or mine will be located.
Besides if the EIA and SIA clearance or permissions are earned for the operation or
granted for the operation the sustainability also shall be met.

d.The recommendations of the Committee on reuse of quarries and mine pits lying
with the government be resurrected and points or recommendations drawn up in that
report also be utilized in making the quarry/mine operations environment friendly.

e.The vigorous but scientific placer sand mining shall be the declared policy of the
state. There is a huge resource of black sand sitting in the sea bed off the Chavara-
Ambalapuzha sector in the offshore. Offshore mining however is under the control of
the National government. The value and criticality of the offshore or placer mineral
wealth to the nation is unintelligible to the lay citizens. However, the government
policy shall be couched on the long term benefit to the society as well as the state
and nation.

10. Area of export and import of minerals should be focused.
Import of minerals is sort of a policy in the horizon and is not of immediate relevance as the
highest profit is made and is possible if the minerals are value added by refining and
manufacturing closer to the site where the mines/quarries are located. The pithead-thermal
plants are a case in point, so are the steel mills and zinc smelters now in operation in the
country.
.

Recommendation: The export of monazite shall be banned as it is one of those
minerals coming under the source of critical materials. In addition, thorium, (a
component chemical element in the mineral monazite) has a major role in the
nuclear power production if an appropriate technology is developed and
commercialized.

In respect of aggregates and rock rubble of varying dimensions, due to the
comparatively low unit value, local sourcing is deemed profitable by the business
class or trader and user.

11.A full-scale scientific assessment of the mineral and fuel resources a country is the
keystone of the foundation of economic growth, resource management and scientific
utilization of the resources. The UNFC-2009 is a generic scheme wherein the
resource quantities are classified based primarily on three specific criteria viz.,
E, (economic and social viability), F (field project status and feasibility) and G
(Geological knowledge) and uses a numerical code making it language free. This
proposal or scheme is a valuable infographic that addresses the economic viability, feasibility
and geological judgment. This scheme i.e., UNFC-2009, substitutes a variety of assessment
schemes that were in vogue globally so far. The Geological Survey of India adopted and
practices this frame work of assessing the nations mineral/ore/fuel wealth.

Recommendation: The EFG based numerical designation takes into account
economic and social aspects in the E axis, while in the F axis is embedded the
environmental questions. Therefore knowledge of UNFC-2009 based numerical EFG
classification of quarriable and minable resources of the state, be reckoned along
with EIA and SIA while granting permission or otherwise for mining/quarrying of a
resource.




(thrivikramji@gmail.com)