Concerns grow over depletion of barytes reserves

Environmentalist Boliseti Satyanarayana on Monday called for urgent measures to protect the barytes deposits at Mangampeta in Kadapa district, describing them as a strategic mineral resource critical to the country’s oil security rather than an ordinary mineral.

In a statement, Mr. Satyanarayana said barytes, used extensively in the global oil and gas drilling industry, play a vital role in preventing blowouts during deep drilling operations. He pointed out that the high-grade reserves at Mangampeta had declined from 49 million tonnes to less than 23 million tonnes, and that at current rates of consumption, these would meet the country’s requirements for only about eight more years.

He noted that while countries such as the United States and China conserved their strategic mineral reserves, India had continued exporting barytes since before Independence, treating it as a low-value mineral. He termed continued exports, an act against the nation’s long-term interests, and demanded that barytes be declared a strategic mineral with an immediate ban on exports of the high-grade variety.

Mr. Satyanarayana also alleged that mining in the region was not adhering to environmental norms, particularly the requirement to replace every tonne of mineral extracted with an equivalent reclamation measure. He said this violation amounted to environmental destruction and called on the government and mining agencies to ensure that forests, hills and the livelihoods of local communities were protected during extraction.

He urged the government and mining companies to draw up an immediate action plan to conserve the resource for future generations, and commended the Mangampeta Protection Struggle Committee of Railway Kodur, for its efforts.