The discovery process for this huge Indian deposit was accidentally initiated in the year 1909 when C. W. Schomberg, a German chemist, identified the presence of monazite in the sand remnants of contaminants of coir imported from Kerala.

Subsequent to the arrest of Schomberg on charges of being a German spy during the First World War, both his plants at Manavalakurichi and Chavara were closed down.

In 1920, Hopkins and Williams (H & W), yet another London based English Company started operation at MK and Chavara.

The first export of ilmenite from Chavara took place in the year 1922 and the Indian ilmenite maintained a virtual monopoly in the world market as basic raw material for titania pigment (white) till 1940 when four plants belonging to Travancore Minerals Ltd (TMC), Hopkins & William Travancore Ltd (H&W) and Fx Pereira & Sons (FXP) together exported as high as three hundred thousand tons of ilmenite from Chavara.

Ownership of the company subsequently changed hands three times, after which in 1956 it was taken over by the state government and placed under the control of the industries department.

[5] The unit was subsequently converted as a limited company in 1972 by the name of 'The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd.' with the objectives of better utilisation of mineral wealth found along the sea coast of Kollam and Alappuzha Districts, generation of growth and employment in the state in general and the local area in particular.