What is 'black-gold'? How many people in our country know about black-gold'?
It is a mixed component of various minerals zircon, ilmentie, rutile garnet, magnetite and monazite etc, etc, found in huge quantity in Cox's Bazar, Teknaf, Inani, Moheshkhali, Nijhumm Dwip, Kuakata and some other coastal areas of Bangladesh.
Only a handful of persons might have seen the 'black-gold'. The President of our country, Prime Minister, Ministers, MPs, Secretaries to the government, teachers, students and scores of people might have read news and reports published in various national dailies and magazines and watched some TV programs on sea beach sand, the valuable minerals 'black-gold' of Cox's Bazar. Many meetings and seminars on valuable minerals were also held in the country during the last three decades, but all in vain.
The authorities concerned do not pay any attention to the valuable minerals 'black-gold' of Cox's Bazar. Sometime the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Science and Technology, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and others say that the minerals found in the coastal areas are not economically viable. Sometime they claim that exploitation and utilization of the valuable minerals involve crores of taka which the government cannot afford due to fund constraint.
Thus millions of tons of valuable minerals 'black-gold' have been wasted and washed away in the sea and continue to do so till today due to negligence and inefficiency of our authorities concerned.
My contention is if we can produce salt, make shrimp cultivation in the coastal area and earn crores of taka why can't we utilize the valuable minerals 'black-gold' and why can't our people earn money?
Getting the minerals lost in the sea is not something is better than nothing?
It is true that separation and refining the valuable minerals 'black-gold' is a costly affair. But why don't we move step by step? Slow but steady wins the race.
Why don't we first of all extract and collect the valuable minerals in crude form and export for the economic benefit of our people? Why doesn't the government engage private sector for exploitation, commercial utilization and export of the valuable minerals 'black-gold'?


Estimated Deposits of Valuable Minerals

1. Zircon (Estimated 158 thousand tons): About 60 percent of all zircon production is used in foundry facing works while 15 percent is consumed in the manufacture of zircon metal, alloys and chemicals. Zirconium in the form of zirconium alloys is used as a cladding for fuel rods in nuclear power plants.
2. Rutile (70 thousand tons): Rutile is used as a raw material in the pigment industry. This industry consumes about 66 percent of the total rutile production while 10 percent is used in the wielding rod coating, 15 percent in manufacturing of titanium metal and only one per cent in all other uses.
3. Ilmentie (1,026 thousand tons): The principal use of ilmentie is a source of TI02 which is used chiefly as a white pigment. To some extent ilmentie is employed in the manufacturing of various titanium salts of ferrotitanium alloys used in metallurgy. Presently ilmentie is extremely used in manufacturing wielding rods.
4. Garnet (223 thousand tons): The important use of garnet is as abrasive. It is extensively used in the manufacture of emery paper and clothes, emery wheel and grinding stones. Garnet is sometimes used as jewels in watches, also in meters and scientific apparatus. Recently the special quality of garnet has found its use in lasers.
5. Monazite (17 thousand tons): Monazite as a source of rare earth metals and thorium. It is used in nuclear technology. Rare earth oxides are used in electronic, nuclear ceramic, catalyst, paint and enamel industries.
6. Magnetite (81 thousand tons): Magnetite is a principal source of iron. It is extensively applied in the manufacture of ferrite rods used in radio and other instruments. Magnetite has also found its application in the manufacture of radiation, shielding blocks used or installation of nuclear reactors, X-ray machine and other radiation emitting machinery. Magnetite may also be used in the manufacture of red and black oxides for painting purposes.