By Desaraju Surya, with some technical inputs provided by Meta AI
AMARAVATI: The Chandrababu Naidu-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh is making swift moves to create wealth for the state.
As a step in that direction, the government has decided to go all out to extract fullerene and turn it into a money spinner for the cash-starved state.
“Fullerene is a strategic mineral that is ten times more valuable than gold,” according to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation.
This is one of the major projects in APMDC’s pipeline.
Andhra Pradesh is the only state in India with rich deposits of fullerene in Mangampeta region of Kadapa district.
According to one estimate, the global fullerene market is expected to grow to 5011 million USD by 2029, up from 2288 million USD in 2024.
The AP Mineral Development Corporation is borrowing Rs 9,950 crore through non-convertible debentures to take up full-scale exploration of fullerene from the Mangamapet barytes mines, apart from development of other projects like beach sand, coal, bauxite and gold.
While approving the APMDC’s proposal to raise the loan, the state government categorically said the money should be used “to acquire and develop new mining projects as well as invest in any other profitable ventures”.
As per basic estimates, based on the prevailing price of C60 and C70 fullerene in domestic and international markets, the state government expects a revenue of over Rs 90,000 crore from fullerene over the next five-six years if the mineral is properly exploited, according to official sources.
To sustain its remarkable growth, the APMDC is aiming to diversify and scale up operations multi-fold by expanding capacity of existing projects, operationalising projects under development and also by acquiring new projects in various major minerals including beach sand mineral, coal, bauxite, gold, iron ore, etc.
The Rs 9,950 crore loan is to achieve this ambitious growth target, according to APMDC authorities.
Fullerene (C60 and C70 variety) has been discovered in the Mangampeta area, way back in 2007-08, and the APMDC had initially asked the National Metallurgical Laboratory to conduct research on the mineral’s usage.
In the later years, the APMDC has collaborated with the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) for research on the invaluable mineral, with an aim to commercialising fullerene extraction and refining.
Exploration of the the strategic mineral is getting delayed as the research into it has been progressing at a slow pace for the past few years.
But, with the demand growing, the process may be hastened so as to derive full potential benefits.
Fullerene is widely used in pharmaceutical industry in drug delivery systems, electronics industry in semiconductor components and the energy sector in solar cells. This could lead to increased adoption in the renewable energy sector while demand is growing in the pharmaceutical and electronics industries as well.
While fullerene has a large global market, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to hold a significant share, driven by growth of pharmaceutical industry in countries like India, China, Japan, and South Korea.