Our Infrastructure
Mining
V.V. Mineral is the only company in India with a 40 km stretch of beach area under a mining lease for 30 years; another 440 acres for 30 years and 26 fully owned patta lands. In addition to this, VVM owns multiple mining leases. The geological characteristics of the Gulf of Mannar like typical wind and wave action and beach structure make it a highly valuable zone for continuous deposition of heavy minerals, viz., Garnet, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon and Sillimanite. This ensures a continuous deposition of placer minerals from the Gulf of Mannar. Our inland deposits also add to our total output of 70,000 tonnes of heavy minerals (as of 2013).
As the leading Mining company of India, our mining process revolves around scientific and eco-friendly methodology. Manual mining in beaches ushers in job facilities to the downtrodden and sophisticated equipments employed in inland mining make the process outstanding . The proximity of the wet processing units to the sea-shore makes transport easy and reliable. We are the only Indian beach mining company to have obtained environment clearance from the Government of India.
India is home to one of the largest mineral sand resources in the world. These are also among the least exploited resources and have a high potential to meet the world's immediate need for Titanium dioxide pigments, blasting abrasives and refractory minerals. Of the 460 Million tonnes of the world's known resources, India possesses 278 million tonnes and these deposits generally contain 20-30% heavy minerals, which is considered high grade by world standards.
Processing
There are 9 wet plants (as of 2013) situated close to the mining areas for upgrading the mined ore in mining area itself. There are 8 dry plants (as of 2013) situated close to the mining areas and equipped with state-of-the-art machinery. The plants are equipped with machines from ERIEZ, Linatex, Ore Kinetics, Rotex, MINOX. Downer EDI Mining. Most of our processing machinery is imported, and wherever necessary, the entire process has been adopted by our in-house Engineers and R&D. An autonomous quality control department is responsible for the implementation of rigorous quality control checks in order to maintain our zero-rejection track record. Track record is maintained from the mines up till the end user with a unique identification number. Grade wise check is also done in all the plants before despatch. Cent percent exactitude is established in our centralized labs. Bags are thoroughly checked at the warehouses before despatch and pictures are taken during the whole process before shipment.
To enrich the quality and purity of our Super Garnet, we have separate washing units near the warehouses, dedicated to fix the quality in general and purity in particular. Water for the washing process is taken from the river and converted to pure water using reverse osmosis process. Our Super Garnet is washed with great care to make it chloride and silica free. The washing unit ensures below 25 PPM Chloride and 1000 TSS after the process in all our products. With the help of modern equipments, we take utmost care to maintain 99% purity in terms of mineralogical content.
R&D
We have efficient personnel in our R&D Department to proffer innovations of pre-eminent quality and for introducing the finest procedure ever known to the elite mining society. Our R&D department toils to improve the mineral segregation and acts as a prop to our production department to bring out products of supreme quality. This is achieved by scientifically designing the process flow sheets to match the unique mineral characteristics of each mining deposit. In addition, this department is engaged in Pilot plant scale of operations involved in improving the mineral segregation process to suit to the needs of its customers, achieving better recoveries, restricting reject streams, improving sand mining process and obvious significance for innovations.
We at VVM, strongly believe that our R&D department sets us apart from our competitors which helps us adapt to world’s best practices in manufacturing and mining. All this is owing to the countless lab and pilot plant scale equipments which we have invested along with our dedicated R&D staff.
VVM is the only Indian private mineral company to own Drill Rig for determining the quantity and the grades of mineral deposits. Our R&D prepares flow sheets, gauging the amount of mineral deposits and their characteristics.
Logistics
VVM is a wholly-owned and self-contained private company, with a huge fleet of trucks, tippers, trailers and constructive equipments moving raw materials and finished products on time. We have our own container loading and handling equipments which include container loaders, trailers and Reach Stacker. Different types of vehicles are deployed for different transportation needs.
Our first Bulk loading of Ilmenite was done at 4,000 metric tonnes a day, breaking a 4 year record by 60% increase in loading rate in the port of Tuticorin. Our own fleet of ship loaders ( first of its kind in India) helped us achieve Tuticorin port record handling of 17,800 tonnes in a single day. In the near future,VVM shall create records twice as fast. Our shipments are quick, agile and eco-friendly and our state-of-the-art equipments make the waste minimal. Usage of screens while loading ensures quality of our products.
Sophisticated equipments like Slinger help us store tonnages in bulk., We have a full-fledged crane, spreaders and forklifts in the warehouse for handling and loading them on to the containers and bulk vessels. Such mechanisation has ensured increased safer handling capacity. In addition, the in-house stuffing under the strict supervision of our quality control department enhances its superiority.
There are ten big warehouses situated near Tuticorin Seaport i.e. 5 km of the loading berth of the seaport which is the nerve-center of our export operations with a capacity to store 550,000 metric tonnes of heavy minerals in our warehouses. With such a high capacity warehouses near the port, VVM assures quick and large shipments at a very short notice. All the warehouses are well maintained and their proximity to the port makes shipment easier. VVM is licensed to in-house stuffing and self sealing of containers.