STATES
Andhra Pradesh gives nod to mine rare earth minerals along its coastline
- IBJ Bureau
- Mar 01, 2026
With 25 per cent of India’s beach sand mineral (BSM) deposits, Andhra Pradesh is giving a strategic push to tap the immense economic potential of rare earths and titanium-based minerals.
The move is aimed at reducing India’s dependence on China, which has a vice-like grip on global supply chains, while creating a new downstream manufacturing hub along the State’s 1,053 km-long coastline.
According to Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation’s (APMDC) data, the State has the second-highest BSM reserves in India, with particularly high concentrations of ilmenite, rutile, zircon and monazite, the last being a key source of rare earth elements (REEs).
A government release has added that BSMs are critical inputs across a range of high-value industries from paints and aerospace components to nuclear fuel and permanent magnets used in electric vehicles and wind turbines.
Ilmenite and rutile are processed into titanium dioxide pigment and titanium metal, while monazite yields rare earth oxides essential for electronics and clean energy technologies.
Andhra’s move comes against Chinese domination over more than half of global titanium mineral production and controls over 90 per cent of rare earth processing capacity, creating significant supply vulnerabilities for importing nations like India.
India already imports over 75 per cent of its titanium dioxide pigment requirements, with nearly two-thirds of it sourced from China, despite having some of the world’s largest titanium mineral reserves.
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