Nizampatnam beach sand project to begin this year

WSIL Mineral Sands India Limited, which was granted permission to extract beach sand minerals such as ilmenite and synthetic rutile across 124-square km area in Guntur and Prakasam district limits is expected to begin work on the Nizampatnam beach sand project by the year end.

Company sources said the exploration of beach sand minerals has reached the advanced stage. Foreign experts are already studying the samples collected from various parts of the coastal stretch, sources said.

The Government of India's atomic division has furnished all the technical data required by the company for beach sand mineral extraction.

As per the Government of India guidelines, the company has to surrender the core atomic minerals, which will be available as byproducts to the Atomic Energy Commission for free of cost. The other minerals such as ilmenite will be mainly marketed abroad by the company, which is a subsidiary of an Australian firm.

According to the sources, these minerals have industrial usage, which are used in delicate finishing of the surfaces. " Final coating of the surface of jet airplanes is done by these materials," they said.

The investment in the mineral extraction project will be anywhere between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,200 crore, they added.