IREL to Establish Rare Earths Joint Venture

Mining Weekly reported that Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (Idcol) and Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) plan to establish a joint venture (JV) for the extraction of rare earth minerals from beach sand along the Orissa coastline.

As quoted in the market news:

According to the JV agreement, $72-million would be invested to establish a new rare earth mineral extraction plant in Orissa close to IREL’s existing plant, with Idcol and IREL holding a respective 49% and 51% equity stake in the JV.

Idcol Chairperson Vishal Dev stated:

The JV would be set up for the project since Idcol held the prospecting licence for three beach sand mines across 1 257 ha along the Orissa coast and IREL was the country’s leading and sole expert in separating rare-earth minerals from sands.

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