India AMCR could hinder mineral sands production

India's beach sand mineral reserves occur in an assemblage that generally consists of ilmenite, rutile, zircon, garnet, monazite, leucoxene and sillimanite coexisting with each other. The major mineral in most of these deposits is ilmenite, however the rare earths-bearing mineral monazite is also found in large quantities. On 14 July 2016, the BMPA appealed to [Narendra Modi] on behalf of private miners, asking for him to hold back the execution of the new AMCR 2016, claiming that the regulations, if implemented in their current form, will impact over 100,000 jobs, further affecting the country's Make in initiative, which was launched in 2014 by the Indian government as part of a wider set of nation-building initiatives to transform India into a global design and manufacturing hub. While the list was revised in the draft MMDR Act 2011, categorising them under 'beach sand the changes were not incorporated into the MMDR Amendment Act 2015, and the minerals continue as 'atomic minerals', [Subramanian] told IM.