The Hindu : Mineral deposits found on A.P. coast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Mineral deposits found on A.P. coast

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM DEC. 22 . The Srikurmam coast in Srikakulam district is found to contain one of the richest mineral-bearing deposits, according to the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) in the Department of Atomic Energy.

This was disclosed in a case study on Srikurkam coast, in relation to "mineralogical and textural variations of heavy minerals in different geomorphic domains," presented by the Beach Sand and Offshore Investigation Group of the AMD at a recent national seminar on "Coastal and offshore sedimentary basins and their resource potential" here. The Srikurmam mineral sand deposits extending over 21 km — flanked by the Nagavali and Vamsadhara rivers — according to the AMD, revealed an average heavy mineral grade of 34.36 per cent with important economic minerals of garnet, sillimanite and ilmenite as the major constituents.

The Srikurmam sand deposits are also made up of minor constituents such as rutile, leucoxene, zircon, monazite, pyroxene and amphiboles with traces of magnetite.

The paper classified the sand dunes, based on geomorphic setting, into three domains — fore, inter and rear dunes — and found garnet, ilmenite and sillimanite accounting for more than 90 per cent of the total minerals in all of them.

It reported that the fore dunes largely comprised medium grained sand with appreciable heavy mineral concentration ranging from 35 to 40 per cent, the distribution pattern of indicating abundance of garnet (35 to 48 per cent) ilmenite (28 to 35 per cent) and sillimanite (20 to 25 per cent).

Fine sands dominated the rear dune domain with the heavy mineral grade ranging from 32 to 38 per cent in raw sand with higher content of ilmenite content (30 to 35 per cent). The heavy mineral grade concentration varied from 25 to 32 per cent in inter dunes lying between the fore and rear dunes with relatively higher sillimanite presence (25 to 30 per cent), the paper pointed out.

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