Zircon-rich Cox’s Bazar coast: What is the mystery behind leaving it neglected?

BENEATH the silvery sands of Cox’s Bazar’s blue beach, where thousands of tourists wander daily, captivated by its beauty, lies a highly valuable and strategically significant economic asset.

A newspaper report has revealed that precious mineral resources worth billions of dollars, including zircon and various other heavy ores, are scattered across 17 locations along the country’s coastline.

The demand for zircon is steadily rising in global high-tech industries such as space technology, jet engines, nuclear reactors, semiconductors, and advanced medical equipment.

Encouragingly, research indicates that the zircon found along Bangladesh’s coast boasts a purity level of approximately 96 percent, meeting international standards.

Yet, even so many years after independence, this invaluable national resource is being wasted, trapped in beach sands due to a lack of state foresight, gross negligence, and bureaucratic inertia, a situation that is utterly unacceptable.

A pilot project for mineral sand separation was launched in Cox’s Bazar in 1995; however, five years later, that promising initiative was mysteriously shut down.

The current dilapidated state of the Cox’s Bazar Beach Sand Minerals Extraction Centre (BSMEC) is shameful.

Against an approved staffing structure of 80 personnel, the centre operates with only four employees, facing a critical shortage of scientific officers, while laboratory equipment worth crores of taka is on the verge of ruin due to prolonged neglect.

While numerous developed nations, including Australia, and various private entities have repeatedly approached with proposals to invest billions in this sector, previous governments, for some unknown reason, completely overlooked this immense potential.

Naturally, a major and serious question arises: why did past governments display such indifference and reluctance regarding the extraction of this vital mineral? An impartial and thorough investigation into this matter is the need of the hour.

To this end, the sand extraction facility in Cox’s Bazar must be transformed into a fully functional entity, free from bureaucratic red tape.

Furthermore, it is crucial to formulate a robust policy outlining how these heavy minerals can be extracted using eco-friendly technology without compromising the country’s ecological balance or the coastal tourism sector.

The government, we hope, will break down the walls of past inaction and indifference to usher in this mineral revolution, one that will open up new horizons for boosting the country’s foreign currency reserves, driving industrialization, and creating employment for hundreds of thousands of unemployed youths.

We believe that this immense economic potential should no longer remain buried beneath the sand.

The government must immediately adopt a coordinated action plan to resolve the crisis and integrate these mineral resources into the mainstream of the national economy.