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Rare Earth Mining in Vidarbha: Potential and Challenges

Rare Earth Mining in Vidarbha: Potential and Challenges
Rare Earth Mining in Vidarbha: Potential and Challenges

Vidarbha has long been synonymous with coal and manganese, but few associate this central Indian region with rare earth elements.


The region’s vast mineral reserves have historically remained underutilised, and rare earth minerals critical for modern electronics and green energy were not a part of Vidarbha’s mining story.


Now, recent geological findings are hinting that this might be changing. The discovery of significant rare earth deposits beneath Vidarbha’s soil is drawing attention to the region’s untapped potential.



A Region Rich in Minerals, But Rare Earths Scarce


Vidarbha’s subsoil is endowed with an abundance of minerals, yet the development of these resources has lagged behind.


In fact, about 70 percent of Maharashtra’s known mineral deposits, from coal and limestone to all of the state’s manganese and much of its iron ore are concentrated in Vidarbha’s districts.

Despite this wealth, much of it has remained buried. Barring major operations in coal, limestone, and manganese, most minerals in Vidarbha have seen little to no extraction. Decades of underinvestment and policy neglect left valuable resources, including high grade iron ore and even gold, unexploited in the region’s hinterlands.


This underdevelopment extended to the category of rare minerals. For instance, over 20 million tonnes of tungsten ore, a rare metal vital for defence and aerospace industries, lie untapped in Nagpur district. India has been importing tungsten for years, even as such local deposits sat idle. Historically, rare earth elements were similarly not on the radar in Vidarbha.


Rare earth elements are a group of 17 metals indispensable for high tech products, from smartphones and electric vehicles to missiles and wind turbines.


In India, rare earth mining was traditionally synonymous with coastal sands rich in monazite a thorium bearing mineral concentrated on the shores of states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Inland regions like Vidarbha, better known for base metals and coal, were not expected to host significant rare earth reserves.


Early Signs and Missed Opportunities


Geologically, there were faint signs of rare earth mineralisation in Vidarbha as far back as the late 20th century.


Preliminary surveys by the Geological Survey of India in the 1990s noted favourable geological horizons for rare earth and rare metal occurrences in parts of Vidarbha, particularly Nagpur and Bhandara districts.

Small quantities of rare earth bearing minerals were indeed found in locales like Pauninala and Salai in Nagpur district during those surveys. However, these occurrences were deemed too meagre to be economically viable. No high grade rare earth ore bodies were identified at the time, and interest in Vidarbha’s rare earth potential largely faded. In parallel, the region saw other mining prospects languish due to various hurdles.


Business leaders have long complained that Vidarbha’s mineral bounty received step-motherly treatment. Bureaucratic inertia and infrastructure gaps meant even proven deposits like the rich iron ore at Surjagarh in Gadchiroli stayed unmined for years.


Many of Vidarbha’s mineral-rich areas overlap with dense forests and tribal lands, posing environmental and social challenges for mining development. Officials have pointed out that stringent forest clearance laws and poor road access in these areas further slowed any new mining projects.


This combination of factors kept exploration for non traditional minerals like rare earths on the back burner.


Until recently, Vidarbha’s name barely figured in India’s rare earth plans, which remained focused on coastal beach sand minerals under the oversight of the Department of Atomic Energy.



New Rare Earth Discoveries Renew Hope


The landscape began to shift in the past couple of years as India intensified exploration for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earths.


Vidarbha has come under fresh scrutiny in this nationwide hunt for strategic mineral deposits. In a significant breakthrough, geologists have identified a substantial rare earth deposit in Vidarbha’s Nagpur district.

Geological Survey of India conducted exploration in the Kawalapur area of Nagpur and recently reported an estimated 27.95 million tonnes of resource bearing rare earth elements. Notably, this material has an average grade of around 4.35 percent total rare earth oxides, a surprisingly high concentration by industry standards.


The deposit, described as a placer type formed by sedimentary concentration of heavy minerals, spans roughly 1.3 square kilometres in influence.


This discovery is the first of its kind for Maharashtra. It indicates that Vidarbha’s soils and stream sediments hold appreciable quantities of monazite or other rare earth bearing minerals, accumulated over geologic time. The news has generated excitement about the region’s prospects. Maharashtra’s Directorate of Geology and Mining has moved quickly to capitalise on the find.


The Kawalapur rare earth block is being prepared for auction as a composite licence, inviting private or state miners to conduct detailed exploration and potentially begin extraction. This comes on the heels of another critical mineral auction in the region, a large tungsten ore block in Nagpur has also been notified for mining lease, aiming to finally tap the tungsten reserves identified years ago.


The rare earth discovery in Vidarbha dovetails with India’s broader push for resource security. India possesses around 7.23 million tonnes of rare earth oxides in its known reserves, mostly locked in monazite sands across coastal states and some inland alluvial patches.


Yet India has remained a minor player in the global rare earth supply chain. The country imports almost all of its high end rare earth products, relying heavily on foreign suppliers for magnets and components.


In 2022, a staggering 81 percent of India’s rare earth imports came from China, the world’s dominant producer.

With China imposing export restrictions on rare earth materials and magnets, the urgency to develop domestic sources has never been greater. In this context, Vidarbha’s rare earth potential is seen as a strategic opportunity.


It could not only bolster India’s resource base but also spur local economic activity in a region that has often lagged in industrial investment.



From Potential to Production Challenges Ahead


Turning Vidarbha’s rare earth potential into a productive reality will not be straightforward. Significant technical, regulatory, and environmental challenges loom on the path to mining these elements. One major historical barrier has been regulatory.


Because monazite, the chief rare earth ore, contains thorium, a radioactive element, India’s atomic energy laws tightly controlled rare earth extraction for decades.

Until recently, only a government owned company was authorised to mine and process rare earth minerals, mainly from beach sands. This monopoly, born from nuclear security concerns, effectively stalled private or state initiatives to exploit inland rare earth deposits.


Regulatory reforms are now gradually opening up the sector, but navigating the permissions and ensuring safety compliance, especially where radioactive by products are involved, remains complex. Extracting rare earths is a chemically intensive process, often involving steps like concentrated acid leaching, solvent extraction, and careful handling of radioactive waste.


Developing a local processing facility in Vidarbha would require substantial investment and expertise, as India’s value add capacity in rare earth refining is currently limited. Environmental considerations are equally pressing. The newly found rare earth deposit lies in alluvial sediments, and its extraction could involve open pit mining or dredging, with potential impacts on land and water systems.


A proper assessment will be needed to prevent soil erosion or contamination of nearby streams. Moreover, any mining activity must contend with local ecological sensitivities. Vidarbha’s districts, like Nagpur and Bhandara, include fertile agricultural lands and pockets of forest that communities depend on.


Gaining public acceptance through transparent engagement will be crucial, even though recent policy changes have exempted strategic mineral mining from certain public hearings in the national interest.


Finally, security and infrastructure pose challenges in parts of Vidarbha. While Nagpur district is relatively developed, some mineral-rich areas in the wider region face issues like insurgent activity and poor connectivity, which could complicate large mining projects. Ensuring adequate infrastructure, roads, power, and logistics for mining operations will be a prerequisite for success.


In spite of these hurdles, the emergence of rare earth potential in Vidarbha is a development laden with significance. It represents a chance to diversify the region’s mining sector beyond the usual staples and contribute to India’s quest for critical mineral self reliance.


For Vidarbha, which has often been viewed as an economic backwater of Maharashtra, such projects could herald new investment and job creation in high-tech mineral processing industries.


For India at large, even a modest output of rare earth elements from Vidarbha’s soil can help reduce import dependence on a fragile global supply chain.

The coming years will test how this potential is managed. If exploration is expanded and hurdles addressed with care, Vidarbha may well find itself on the map as an unlikely source of rare earth elements, a development that could redefine the region’s role in the country’s mineral landscape.



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