SAND AND MINERAL BASED INDUSTRIES IN KERALA OR

WILL KERALA SHINE IN MINERAL MARKET?

Prof.ThrivikramjiK.P.
thrivikramji@yahoo.com

Introduction

A wise man once said “civilization exists with geological consent”. Though it was not quite
well understood in those days like it is to day, examples of petrified human bodies in a layer in
volcanic ash (Pompeii), or a buried village centre in an earthquake (preserved in one of the
islands in mediteranian) are examples of massive destruction by one or other geological
process that unleashed destruction and death. Unfortunately an average citizen is unaware of
these. Even in respect of Tsunami, we have an example of destructive waves that wiped out
the beach strollers in Alexandria. As the population in those days were miniscule compared to
what It is today, the no. of lives lost then would not appear to be alarming for us. Perhaps far
more people die now due to natural disasters like floods, landslides, earthquakes and
technological disasters (MIC of Bhopal).

The cave man came out of the cave and built cities and paved streets like in Indus valley, or
in the ancient Rome only because of the skills and technologies (application of specialized
knowledge) that he mastered and used to modify materials around his environs or how to
process and extract metals like iron and copper out of it. Right from those days mining,
smelting and manufacturing existed – all are in to day’s terms exploitation of nature.

Quality of life of a society is directly related to the wealth (whether natural or man-made) they
make use of in every day life. Only moot point is about the parameters or method or basis of
assessing the quality of life. What ever be the basis, to a lay citizen, it is equivalent of good
food, healthcare, education and a place to live or a house.

All of us would agree that with the rise in the population and rise in the demand for better
services, environs and products, our ability to find more and more natural inputs gets trapped
in the law of diminishing returns.

So we continue to look again and again at the earth for our basic needs and not so basic
needs. There is a very large question, how big a population that the earth can support by
itself. Any way, we have proved ourselves that it is possible to support at least 6. Billion
people, though all of them may not enjoy the same quality of life.

The only place we can look for and gather the basic input materials in any one or more of the
states of matter is the mother earth or planet earth. We may also have to understand that it is
a closed system, i.e., only energy goes in or out of it but not matter.
. .
The Frame work

Problem or situation now as far as Keralites are concerned is about the need to preserve or
make use of the natural bounty we are blessed with. I bring the nonliving resources like
wealth of minerals and rocks of the state to the spot light for consideration.

At the very outset, for the benefit of the lay reader, a primer on the the geologic profile of the
state is offered. The land area (=38863 km2) is divided into highland, midland and coastal
land. Highland and midland are really geologically very antique and is underlain by very
ancient rocks (crystalline metamorphics and small intrusive -20 or so- granite bodies) as old
as 600 ma or more (but the later basic intrusives still younger) The laterite cover draping most
of the midland is 65 ma or younger.

The Cliff forming rocks in Papanasam Beach or parts of Kannur shoreline are still younger
and belong to the category of Sedimentary rocks. The so called golden beach sand fringing
the modern beaches and made the state god’s own along with certain other natural systems,
are perhaps the youngest of all. Truly, the black sand placers of Chavara-Kayamkulam belt
also is part of the former.

The rock formations and sediment cover (irrespective of their age and state of compaction or
induration) occurring in the land area and EEZ (exclusive economic zone) of nations and
states are warehouses of natural mineral wealth.

Admittedly, Kerala is not endowed with a vast mineral potential, and there is no surprise in
this when we consider the size (area =38863 km2) and the geologic profile of the terrain.

Kerala is one of the densely populated states of the union, with a support square of only 36 m
side. There are 41 west flowing and 3 east flowing rivers of which 11 belong to the category of
medium (basin area=20000-2000 km2) rivers while the rest group under small rivers (basin
area=<2000 km2).

Majority of Kerala rivers has been around for a very long geological time and at least from
cretaceous time, when a climate congenial for formation of laterite, had set in.

Mineral Resources

Nonetheless, the state is well known in the world over for the Ilmenite and monazite rich black
mineral sand, china clay and gold in Nilambur.

Yet the state is known world over for the black sand mineral accumulation, seasonally along
the beaches between Chavara and Kayamkulam as well as in the offshore.

China Clay deposits of Kerala, though of limited extent, are very significant considering the
market potential due to its very special nature. Clays are associated with the Warkalli series
of rocks of Tertiary age and also with the residual laterite formed on the crystalline gneissic
rocks.

Though the gold occurrences in the Nilambur Valley encouraged the British company to take
up exploration and mining in this sector, better and larger deposits of gold in the Mysore
plateau attracted the industry over to there.

To day’s skyrocketing gold price in the Bullion market forces my mind to re-examine the
prospects of mining alluvial gold as well as primary gold from Nilambur valley.

Prospect

An egalitarian society contemplated by the founding fathers of the Union of India and
enshrined in the constitution of India, will remain a distant dream if housing for all or equity in
housing is not provided for.

The worth and value of mineral sand are misunderstood and grossly misinterpreted by the
leaders and individuals of the society. This mineral wealth is regenerated every year during
the SW monsoon. The monsoon of India is as antique as the Paleocene period, say 65 ma.
BP. The rivers have been supplying sediment to the proto Laccadive sea since then.

A period of 65 ma would have weathered at least 65 m thick slab of rocks from the highland
and midland regions of Kerala or approximately 33263 Km2 area of Kerala or let us say
30000 km2 area yielding a sand volume of about
(33000x0.065 Km3x0.33) 707 km3, or let us say 700 km3. A vast portion of this sandy
sediment is in the onshore Warkalli basin and offshore Kerala Konkan basin.

If 10 % of this sediment remained unconsolidated and lies in the modern sea bed (in the
Kerala continental shelf of approximately 40,000 km2), it will supply the mineral sand to the
Kerala beaches and should continue to do so for 4 to 6 generations to come in the future.
However, the system of supply to offshore and transport during SW monsoon to on shore is a
continuum, as a geoscientist I believe that the process of accumulation will go on into the
distant future.

If sand is not removed from the beaches or let us say we stop mining of beach sand, being a
dynamic system and open system, the beach between Chavara and Kayamkulam will face a
“room problem” and will not allow the beach to build wide or tall than what it is today soon
after the monsoon. The accumulation process is strictly controlled by the availability in the
seabed of sand, wave energy and relative sea-level in the west coast of India. All these
factors are nature-controlled and hence does not follow our wish or will. The data tables 1, 2
and 3 provide sufficient insight into the monetary worth of the mineral sand of Kerala.

One important input in the construction industry is what are called coarse aggregate (a.k.a.
metal) and fine aggregate (a.k.a. fine aggregate which is unfortunately equated with
river sand). Both are extensively used in making concrete and mortar.

Any large scale housing project should demand huge investment in respect of materials and
money. As we all would know housing sector consumes huge volumes of manufactured
inputs like cement and steel, electrical wires and lamps as well as sanitary fittings. Very large
skilled and semi-skilled man-power is employed directly and indirectly by this sector.

In so far as the fine aggregates are concerned, the basic instinct even today is to gather it
from the river bed. Removal of river sand did not affect the physical system or the ecosystem
of the river any way in the early decades of the last century.

Till the end of the second 5yr. plan, housing was not a priority sector of any developmental
activity. The administration worried about housing for individuals employed directly in the
government sector or say in the public sector. Employees in the lower echelons and their
housing needs never received any proper attention.

With the dawn of seventies and opening up of the employment market in the West Asian
countries, housing sector received a new impetus. So did the demand for inputs including the
fine aggregate or sand and by choice the river sand.

Gathering sand from river channels of Kerala or as it is addressed now as mining of river
sand, reached feverish peaks with the entry of Banks as well as other financial institutions in
the housing sector. (Last yr. for e.g., banks of Kerala released close to 7000 Crore to the
housing sector). This is figure is a window to the construction boom in Kerala. NABARD on
the other hand provides assistance in the form of loans part of which finally ends up in certain
special areas of construction sector. ADB and WB have also financed and financing
construction of bridges and roads. What ever be the ultimate use of the built structure, there is
an input of sand or fine aggregate along with cement and steel.

As a result of removal of sand, all the rivers of Kerala are either already dead or dying. Both
aesthetically and scientifically, a true river channel shall contain sediment in the channel bed
and flowing water above it. Sediment will not move as fast as the water. When the water flows
over the sediment in the channel, sediment particles are propelled down stream but in a stop
and go fashion. Finer particles of course would float down in the water at the same velocity of
the moving water. Saving the rivers of the Kerala is like saving any heritage we have. Only
difference being the former is a natural heritage.

If no river sand is available we must be using sand manufactured by crushing the rocks (like
was done in respect of the dams at Idukki and Sabarigiri hydel projects). A picture of
production of river sand by nature is provided in the Table 4.

The steep rise in gold price should be a good reason to examine the prospects of mining
primary gold from Malappuram dist and Palakkad dist.
The environmental clearance can be sorted out with the ministries and state administration. It
may take a longer while like the clearance for Sabarimala projects.
Summary
1. A geoscientist does not find any reason for not making use of the natural-rock and mineral
resources – available in the state.

2. The revenue generated from this sector can add to the GDP and any economic activity
should help the citizens to improve their living conditions, which is the aim of any
administration.

3. With the knowledge and initiative we have, it must be possible to solve the problems arising
out of such projects. No modern man will run away from problems, but will venture to find
solutions. We have not yet fathomed the human mind.

Acknowledgements
I thank the organizers for the invitation to participate in the Kerala 2nd Kerala Vikasana
Seminar.

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Table 1. Monetary worth of Mineral sand reserve, Chavara-Kayamkulam Belt

(Anthraper and Samuel, 2005)

Million Monetary worth,

Item Value, Rs./T
Tons (Rs.,Crores)
Total Raw sand 1645.51
Total HM 144.02
Ilmenite 88.48 1,500.0 13272.0
Rutile 6.02 15,000.0 9036.0
Leucoxene 4.31 15,000.0 6459.0
Zircon 5.22 18,000.0 9399.0
Monazite 0.99
Garnet 0.56
Silimanite 34.38 3000.0 2062.0
Kyanite 0.89
Other 3.28
40229.55

Table 2. Valuation of 4.0 million tons of mineral sand (Anthraper and Samuel, 2005)
Annual Accrued Accrued
Cost, Rs
Mineral Production, value in 30 value in 50
(Crores)
T/yr yr yr
Ilmenite 1,000,000.0 150.0 3000.0 7500.0

Rutile 100,000.0 150.0 3000.0 7500.0

Leucoxene 50,000.0 75.0 1500.00 3750.0

Zircon 80,000.0 144.0 288.0 7200.0

Sillimanite 40,000.0 12.00 240.0 600.0

 Total 1,270,000.0 425.0 6422.40 21240.0

Table 3 Additional data

Mineral Sand
Tonnage factor of Raw sand = 3600 kg or 3.6 tons
Volume at 4.0 mt = 1111111.1 m3
Area to be mined= a sand cake of 1 m (thickness) x 1111111.1 m2 (area)
Or slightly over 1.0 km2 (or 100 ha)
i.e., 111.1 ha.

Table 4
Construction Sand
Rivers 41 west flowing

1.0 m3 of country rock has 0.33 % of quartz (sp.g, 2.65 and Hardness, 6.0)
or 1.0 m3 will yield 0.33x2.65 tons of quartz sand ~870 kg or 0.8 ton of sand

I.0 m thick layer of rock needs nearly a million years of time to release the quartz to form
sand. All quartz will not be in sand grade so let us say per m3 yield is about 750 kg or 0.75
ton. Nearly 66% is feldspar and should yield a similar quantity if the rock is crushed,
1500 kg or 1.5 ton
Q+F =2250 kg or 2.25 ton
Allowing a waste of say 10%, 2025 kg or 2.025 ton

If crusher sand is used in construction sector, rivers can be saved and will regenerate at least
with in next 3 to 6 generations.
Rate of weathering is so slow and low @ 1.00/yr or even lower.