Officials from the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) and the Department of Geology and Mining have completed the physical survey of 17 major mineral quarries and five granite quarries, in a little more than 70 hectares in the western districts of Tamil Nadu. This project has been launched to prepare a registry for satellite surveillance for the prevention of encroachments and excessive quarrying. Officials said that Coimbatore district accounted for 17 quarries for extraction of major minerals such as limestone, quartz, feldspar, garnet, magnesite, silica, bauxite, vermiculite, graphite heavy mineral and iron ore spread over 60 hectares of land. In addition, there are five granite quarries spread over 10 hectares. Phase one In the first phase, the State proposed to have GIS-enabled satellite surveillance in nine districts, namely Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tirunelveli, Krishnagiri, Tiruchi, Ariyalur, Virudhunagar and Villupuram.