IIT-Ropar researchers discover rare metal in Sutlej
Bahadurjeet Singh/Rupnagar,November 24,2023
A team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar has detected the presence of tantalum, a rare metal used in manufacturing of electronic components, in the Sutlej river sand in Punjab.
The presence of the metal was detected while the research scholar, Sakshi Rohilla (team member of Dr. Resmi Sebastian) was characterizing the sand, prior to the study on dynamic properties of the sand. This study on the dynamic properties of sand was intended to get the information on the behavior of the sand under seismic loading and the results are already published in the international journal of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering. These tests were conducted in 2021 and the EDX analysis of the material showed the presence of the metal in Sutlej sand. While the results look promising, further investigations are required to quantify the extent of the availability of the metal at various locations. The Himalayan region is known to be the source of abundant natural and mineral resources and therefore, the presence of the rare metal in the Sutlej sand may be due to the origin of the river in the Himalayas.
Dr Sebastian explained that the experiments were basically aimed at studying dynamic properties of soil and rocks and how these would have a bearing in case of an earthquake. “Mineral analysis was otherwise never a goal in the experimentation we were doing,” she said. She also mentioned that since traces of tantalum have been found, it could be in the interest of the state to assess the economic viability of mining such rare metals.
Tantalum is a hard, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion resistant. The annual report of the Union Ministry of Mines for 2020-21 identified it as “one of the 12 critical and strategic minerals”.
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