Akash Sabat

IREL (India) Limited- CPSE under DAE

IREL (India) Limited incorporated on August 18,1950 established its first unit in Rare Earths Division (RED), Aluva, Kerala to extract Rare Earths and other strategic elements for the energy security of the Country. It became a full-fledged Government of India Undertaking under the administrative control of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in the year 1963 and subsequently, took over companies engaged in mining and separation of heavy minerals in southern part of the country, by establishing two Mineral Divisions, one at Chavara, Kerala and the other at Manavalakurichi, Tamilnadu. IREL commissioned its largest flagship heavy mineral mining & separation unit, Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) at Chatrapur, Odisha in 1986. Presently IREL has established plant capacity of about 6 lakh tons per annum (tpa) of minerals production i.e. Ilmenite and other associated heavy minerals viz. Rutile, Zircon, Sillimanite and Garnet at its three Mineral Divisions. IREL has also set up a Rare Earths Extraction Plant at Odisha to produce 11,000 tpa Rare Earths Concentrate which is further refined to produce separated High Pure Rare Earths. IREL also extracts other strategic elements for the DAE, the content of which in the ore body is as low as 1 ppm, making its extraction long and complex. IREL is a profit-making CPSE since 1997-98 with its sales turnover reaching a peak exceeding Rs.10380 million in 2019-20, with an export component of about Rs.5300 million. IREL is also in the process of facilitating setting up of industries in the value chain of minerals and Rare Earths, besides expanding its existing mineral producing capacities. IREL has in house R&D division at Kollam, Kerala to support mineral and chemical operation and Corporate Office at Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Company envisages "To be a significant contributor to the global clean energy mission by providing high-quality performance enhancing materials and operating in a socially responsible manner".