India bans private firms from mining beach sand

The Indian government has banned beach sand mining by private companies in a bid to check illegal sand mining and coastal erosion from rampant violations of mining rules across coastal states.

“Coastal areas in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh where beach sand is laced with rare earth minerals have been suffering erosion, damaging the ecosystem and threatening livelihood of indigenous fishermen, owing to unscientific and illegal mining of beach sand,” the notification imposing a ban on mining by private companies said.