India's rare earths come mostly from monazite, a heavy mineral in the black sands of the Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra coasts, mined alongside ilmenite, rutile and zircon.
Miners dredge or dig heavy-mineral sand, concentrate it on spirals, and separate ilmenite, rutile, zircon, garnet and monazite. Monazite (rare earths plus thorium) goes to IREL for processing.
India has about 6.9 million tonnes of rare-earth oxide reserves (USGS), among the world's largest; the government puts it at 7.23 million tonnes in coastal monazite. Budget 2026-27 announced Rare Earth Corridors in exactly these four states to tie mining to processing and manufacturing.
Rare earths are a by-product of a titanium-minerals business. Value is controlled by the state: monazite handling sits with IREL (Department of Atomic Energy), and state miners like KMML focus on titanium minerals.