Home ›› 12 Sep 2021 ›› Nation
Valuable minerals, such as ilmenite, zircon, rutile, magnetite, leucoxene, kyanite, garnet and monazite worth billions of US dollars-- are lying unused at different sand deposit sites in Cox’s Bazar coastal area.
A total of 17 mineral sands deposits containing 23 per cent heavy minerals for an estimated reserve of 4.35 million tonnes have been identified in the area, according to Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC).
Experts from National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Port said that due to the government’s indifference and inaction regarding the matter, these economically viable minerals are being wasted and lost into the sea for the last 53 years.
Anu Muhammad, a prominent economist of Bangladesh and the member-secretary of the organisation, said that the government’s inclination towards permitting the Australian, Singaporean company’s involvement in the extraction project would not be fruitful for the country’s economy in the long run.
According to sources, before Bangladesh’s independence, the then Pakistan Geological Survey Department first detected the presence of radioactive minerals in the beach sand in 1968.
After the independence, the newly-formed Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission set up a pilot plant at Cox’s Bazar in 1975. They started collecting sand from the beach and found the existence of valuable minerals on them.
Upon which a sand extraction centre named Beach Sand Minerals Exploitation Centre was set up at Kalatali area in the Cox’s Bazar city. They found abundant resources of beach sands along the country’s longest coastline.
According to BAEC, one of the sand minerals, monazite, is radioactive. However, the amount of monazite in the deposit is relatively small and therefore not harmful. Besides monazite, a number of other minerals were discovered.
The most economically important minerals found is ilmenite - a mineral of titanium metal, which also contains some iron. The authorities also found zircon - a mineral of zirconium metal – and rutile-a mineral of titanium metal.
Between 1968 and 1986, BAEC officials have surveyed the coastal region and discovered the 17 deposits: 15 deposits along Chittagong coastal belt, one deposit in Nijhum Dwip and one deposit in Kuakata.
Between 1975 and 1987, BAEC ran a pilot plant set up with Australian technical assistance and separated 400 tonnes of heavy minerals, notably ilmenite, zircon, rutile.
Mahmudul Hasan, a member of BAEC, told The Business Post that Bangladesh is capable of extracting these minerals from the beach with its available resources.
“However, the massive investment the project needs is difficult to accumulate for a developing country like us,” he said.
“Not only that, we will have to amend the existing law to extract sand from the Cox’s Bazar coastline,” he added.
Visiting the area, over 25 residential hotels, five restaurants and hundreds of residential houses have been found on 15 of the sites across the Katatali to Nazirartek coastline.
Ashraful Haque, managing director of residential hotel Kallol, built on a deposit site at Labani Point, told The Business Post that he had no idea that he was building his hotel on an important mineral deposit site. “No one from the authorities has notified us about it,” he said.
Anu Muhammad, member-secretary of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports told The Business Post that the government is not deliberate enough to recognise the importance of these invaluable minerals and build an infrastructure that can successfully, sustainably extract and marketise it so that it can contribute to the country’s benefit.
“We need to strengthen the institutions, increase our funding, and initiative should be taken to extract these domestically,” he said.
He added that a comprehensive feasibility study needs to be conducted first to ensure proper implementation of the extraction project.
He further said that the unplanned installations of residential infrastructures that are harmful to the entire coastal ecosystem must stop now.
Masud Iqbal Mohammad Shamim, director (environmental clearance) of the Department of Environment, told The Business Post that they have no new plans or initiatives to address the issue.
“If we receive any proposal regarding the project, we will surely examine and think about it. Even if amendments to the existing laws are needed, we will consider it,” added Masud.
