 Among the Subjects of Earth

Sciences, Economic Geology

deals with all the Mineral
resources, mineral fuels,
their distribution and their
role for the economic
development of a nation.
 Among the resources, minerals
are the major contributors of
the national economy.
 India is a country, much
dependant on the available
natural resources for its
economy.
 This lesson is on the “ Mineral
Resources in India”.
1. Crude Oil
2. Petroleum refinery products
3. Coal
4. Electricity
5. Cement
6. Finished carbon steel.
 All of them are supported by the mining
sector.
 This, in turn, depends on Mineral resources.
 2999 mines working on all
minerals
 574 mines working on Coal

 700 mines concentrating on

Metallic minerals &
 1725 mines working for getting
Non-metallic minerals.
 The average daily employment
provided in mining sector is almost
0.52 million.
 Among these, the Public sector
provides about 0. 419 million, i.e.
About 81% and the Private Sector
gives the balance of 19%.
 A mineral is an element or chemical
compound that is normally crystalline, in
nature.
 It might have been formed as a result of a
geological process.
 It may be occurring alone or in association
with other minerals or rocks.
 Minerals containing metals as their major
constituents are called as ore minerals.
Minerals have a characteristic
chemical composition, ordered
atomic structure and specific
physical properties.
The minerals range in composition
from pure elements and simple
salts to very complex silicates
with thousands of known forms.
About 1000 minerals are very
important among the several
thousand minerals occurring in
nature.
 Many of the Mineral resources are non-
renewable, some are non-recyclable.
 They invariably control the economy,
mining sector, industrialization, and the
environmental conditions as well.
 Most of these mineral resources are
unevenly distributed in the
heterogeneous geological formations.
They are:
 10 metallic minerals

 46 non-metallic minerals (industrial)

 3 atomic minerals and

 23 minor minerals (including building

and other materials)
 4 fuel minerals.
 The total resources of Iron ores in India
are about 28.52 Billion tonnes of
hematite (Fe2O3) and magnetite
(Fe3O4).
 India is one among the leading
producers as well as exporters of iron
ore in the world.
 The total resources of hematite alone
are estimated at 17,882 million tonnes.
 The manganese provinces are in the Peninsular
India which include the ore deposits of Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Bihar.
 Two states namely Karnataka and Orissa
dominate the ore reserve scenario accounting 40%
and 25% of the national endowment respectively.
 M. P. - Maharashtra manganese belt and Goa
provide a substantial amount of manganese ores.
India has 203 million tonnes of Chromite.
More than 93% resources of chromite are
located in Odisha, mostly in the Sukinda
valley in Cuttack and Jajpur districts.
Minor deposits are scattered over Manipur,
Nagaland, Karnataka, Jharkhand,
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh.
Resources of bauxite in the country are about
3,480 million tonnes.
By States, Odisha alone accounts for 52% of
country's resources of bauxite followed by
Andhra Pradesh (18%),
Gujarat (7%),
Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra (5% each) and
Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand (4% each).
Major bauxite resources are concentrated in the
East Coast.
The total copper metal resources in India are about 12.29
million tonnes.
Largest resources of copper ore to a tune of 777.17
million tonnes (49.86%) are found in the state of
Rajasthan. It is followed by
Madhya Pradesh with 377.19 million tonnes (24.2%) and
Jharkhand with 288.12 million tonnes (18.49%).
The Copper resources in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya,
Odisha, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West
Bengal accounted for about 8% of the total all India
resources.
The total resources of lead and zinc ores are estimated
to be around 685.59 million tonnes.
Rajasthan is endowed with the largest resources
of lead-zinc ore amounting to 607.53 million tonnes in
India. It is about 88.61%.
It is followed by
Andhra Pradesh 22.69 million tonnes (3.31%),
Madhya Pradesh 14.84 million tonnes (2.16%),
Bihar 11.43 million tonnes (1.67%) and
Maharashtra 9.27 million tonnes (1.35%).