Previous Year Question
With reference to India, consider the following statements.
Monazite is a source of rare-earth elements.
Monazite contains thorium.
Monazite occurs naturally in the entire Indian coastal sands in India.
In India, Government bodies only can process or export monazite.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
1, 2 and 3
1, 2 and 4
3 and 4
1, 2, 3 and 4
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
Statement 1 is correct. Monazite is the primary mineral source of rare-earth elements in India. By September 2022, approximately 13.07 million tonnes of in-situ monazite resources had been established in India, containing approximately 55–60% total rare-earth-element oxides.
Statement 2 is correct. Monazite is a mineral containing thorium along with rare-earth elements. Due to the presence of this radioactive element, monazite is treated as a prescribed substance under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.
Statement 3 is incorrect. Monazite does not occur throughout India’s entire coastal sands. Its resources have been established in parts of the coastal placer sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It also occurs in inland placers in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Therefore, the expression “entire Indian coastal sands” is incorrect.
Statement 4 is correct. Under the arrangement relevant to the question, the Department of Atomic Energy had not permitted any private entity to produce monazite, undertake its downstream processing or export it. The government public-sector undertaking IREL was the authorised entity for producing and processing monazite and handling it for domestic use or export.
Rare-earth oxides or compounds from which radioactivity has been removed may be made available to the private sector; this is not equivalent to permission to process raw monazite.