What are minerals and the status of mineral wealth in India:
What are minerals?: Minerals are physical substances that are extracted from mines. Some useful minerals are iron, mica, coal, bauxite (from which aluminum is made), salt, zinc, limestone, etc.
Mineral wealth in India: India has a vast store of mineral wealth, which provides raw material to the industries, especially the iron industry. According to the Geological Survey Department, there are 50 mineral-rich areas in India and minerals are found in about 400 places in those areas. There is a huge reserve of iron-ore in India. Apart from iron, India is not only self-sufficient in terms of manganese, chromite, titanium, magnasite, kyanite, sillimanite, nuclear-minerals mica and bauxite, but also exports them in large quantities.
The distribution of mineral wealth in India is very unequal. The Damodar Valley has the largest reserves of mineral wealth except petroleum in the state. While the peninsular region in the western part of the line from Mangalore to Kanpur has very less mineral deposits. In the east of this line, there are large deposits of metallic minerals, coal, mica and many non-metallic minerals. Gujarat and Assam have rich reserves of petroleum. Rajasthan has deposits of many non-metallic minerals.
Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland and West Bengal are deficient in mineral wealth. Other states that are rich in minerals are Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Meghalaya. Most of the production of metallic and non-metallic minerals and coal takes place in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
List of major mineral and most productive states of India:
| Name of mineral | Place of receipt |
| Iron ore | Odisha (Sonai, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj), Jharkhand (Singhbhum, Hazaribagh, Palamu, Dhanbad), Chhattisgarh (Bastar, Durg, Raipur, Raigarh, Bilaspur), Madhya Pradesh (Jabalpur), Karnataka (Bellary, Chikmagalur, Chital Durg), Maharashtra ( Ratnagiri, Chanda), Tamil Nadu (Salem, Tiruchirappalli), Govt. |
| Manganese | Odisha (Sundergarh, Sambalpur, Bolangir, Keonjhar, Kalahandi, Koraput), Maharashtra (Nagpur and Bhandara), Madhya Pradesh (Balaghat, Chhindwara), Karnataka (Shimoga, Bellary, Chitradurga, Bijapur), Andhra Pradesh (Srikakulam), Gujarat ( Panchmahal, Baroda), Jharkhand (Singhbhum) and Rajasthan (Banswara). |
| Coal | Jharkhand (Dhanbad, Singhbhum, Giridih), West Bengal (Raniganj, Asansol), Chhattisgarh (Raigad), Odisha (Desgarh and Talcher), Assam (Makum, Lakhimpur), Maharashtra (Chanda), Telangana ( Singreni), Meghalaya , Jammu and Kashmir , Nagaland , Arunachal Pradesh (Namchik, Namphuk). |
| Copper | Jharkhand (Singhbhum, Hazaribagh), Rajasthan (Khetri, Jhunjhunu, Bhilwara, Alwar and Sirohi), Maharashtra (Kolhapur), Karnataka (Chital Durg, Hassan, Raichur), Madhya Pradesh (Balaghat), Andhra Pradesh (Agni Gundal). |
| Bauxite | Odisha , Jharkhand (Koderma, Hazaribagh), Bihar (Gaya, and Munger), Maharashtra (Nagpur, Bhandara and Ratnagiri), Rajasthan (Ajmer, Shahpur), Andhra Pradesh (Nellore). |
| Gold | Karnataka (Kolar and Hatti Mines), Andhra Pradesh (Ramagiri Mine, Anantapur), Telangana (Warangal), Tamil Nadu (Nilgiris and Salem), Jharkhand (Hirabudani Mine Singhbhum). |
| Mica | Andhra Pradesh (Nellore District), Jharkhand (Palamu), Gujarat (Kheda), Madhya Pradesh (Katni, Balaghat, Jabalpur), Chhattisgarh (Bilaspur) Rajasthan. |
| Zinc | Rajasthan (Udaipur), Odisha , Jammu and Kashmir (2nd place in production) |
| Silver | Rajasthan (Jawar Mines) , Karnataka (Chitradurga, Bellary), Andhra Pradesh (Cuddapah Gutur), Jharkhand (Santhalpargana, Singhbhum) |
| Petroleum | Assam (Digboi, Surma Valley), Gujarat (Khambhat, Ankleshwar) Maharashtra (Bombay). |
| Magnesite | Uttarakhand, Rajasthan , Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh. |
| Diamond | Madhya Pradesh (Majgawan Khan, Panna District). |
| Uranium | Jharkhand (Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Singhbhum). |
| Thorium pyrites | Rajasthan (Pali, Bhilwara. |
| Tungsten | Rajasthan , Tamil Nadu , Karnataka. |
| Chromite | Jharkhand and Odisha. |
| Sisa | Jharkhand , Rajasthan . |
| lignite | Tamil Nadu , Rajasthan. |
| Tin | Chhattisgarh. |
Why conservation of minerals is necessary for India and what are the measures for conservation?
In view of their excessive exploitation being done for the present rapid industrial development, it is very necessary that mineral resources should be conserved, otherwise the stability of industrial civilization will be in danger in future. The following measures are necessary for mineral conservation:
1. Exploration of new minerals: Exploration of minerals has still not been completed in many wide areas of the world, such as in the polar regions, in the ocean floor, on the mountainous regions. Therefore, minerals should be explored in these areas and produced from those deposits. In such areas, where the work of mineral exploration has been completed, there still remains to be surveyed by geo-chemical and geo-physical methods.
2. Multipurpose use of minerals: Multipurpose use of minerals should be done so that maximum utility can be obtained from those minerals. For this, it is necessary to use minerals for various purposes. Conservation of minerals will be possible due to the multi-purpose use of all minerals. Some minerals are available in limited quantities. They should be used by mixing with other minerals to obtain new metals.
3. Construction of safe storage houses: After mining of minerals, they should not be left in the open places, due to which their basic properties get destroyed. Therefore, safe store-houses should be constructed to keep the minerals.
4. Exploration of alternatives to minerals: By studying the characteristics and properties of minerals whose reserves are less, their substitute substances should be searched and those minerals should be conserved by replacing them with alternative substances.
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☞ Minerals of India GK Questions and Answers 🔗
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FAQs:
Rhine valley in France is known for bauxite mineral. Bauxite is primarily a metallic mineral, although it is also used as an industrial mineral. It is the only ore used for aluminum production on a large scale.
Magadha had huge deposits of iron in the 6th century BC. At this time major iron mines were established in the Magadha region and large quantities of iron were extracted from here. Iron ores have been found in abundance in the Sarandip deposit area and the Bampore deposit area near Magadha.
Switzerland is a country where mineral resources are not found. Two-thirds of this | Part is covered with forests, mountains and lakes. Due to lack of mineral resources, Switzerland imports them, after the manufacturing process, the goods are resold as products to the customers.
India is the largest producer of mica. It holds up to 80% of the world's total mica reserves. Mica is an important non-metallic mineral mainly used in the electrical industry because it has a highly insulating property.
All mineral oils are referred to as "petroleum", which is an organic compound. Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbon compounds, consisting mainly of hydrocarbon molecules. These hydrocarbon compounds are formed from the remains of living organisms and geological processes over millions of years.