NCERT Summary: Mineral & Energy Resources- 1 | Geography for UPSC CSE PDF Download

India is endowed with a rich variety of mineral resources due to its varied geological structure. Bulk of the valuable minerals are products of pre-Paleozoic age mainly associated with metamorphic and igneous rocks of the peninsular India. The vast alluvial plain tract of north India is devoid of minerals of economic use.

The mineral resources provide the country with the necessary base for industrial development. The availability of various types of mineral and energy resources in the country.

Minerals generally occur in these forms:

(i) In igneous and metamorphic rocks minerals may occur in the cracks, crevices, faults or joints. The smaller occurrences are called veins and the larger are called lodes. In most cases, they are formed when minerals in liquid/molten and gaseous forms are forced upward through cavities towards the earth’s surface. They cool and solidify as they rise. Major metallic minerals like tin, copper, zinc and lead etc. are obtained from veins and lodes.

(ii) In sedimentary rocks a number of minerals occur in beds or layers. They have been formed as a result of deposition, accumulation and concentration in horizontal strata. Coal and some forms of iron ore have been concentrated as a result of long periods under great heat and pressure. Another group of sedimentary minerals include gypsum. Potash salt and sodium salt. These are formed as a reulst of evaporation especially in arid regions.

(iii) Another mode of formation involves the decomposition of surface rocks, and the removal of soluble constituents, leaving a residual mass of weathered material containing ores. Bauxite is formed this way. 

(iv) Certain minerals may occur as alluvial deposits in sands of valley floors and the base of hills. These deposits are called ‘placer deposits’ and generally contain minerals, which are not corroded by water. Gold, silver, tin and platinum are most important among such minerals.

(v) The ocean waters contain vast quantities of minerals, but most of these are too widely diffused to be of economic significance. However,  common salt, magnesium and bromine are largely derived from ocean waters. The ocean beds, too, are rich in manganese nodules.

Rat-Hole Mining. Do you know that most of the minerals in India are nationalized and their extraction is possible only after obtaining due permission from the government? But in most of the tribal areas of the north-east India, minerals are owned by individuals or communities. In Meghalaya, there are large deposits of coal, iron ore, limestone and dolomite etc. Coal mining in Jowai and Cherapunjee is done by family member in the form of a long narrow tunnel, known as ‘Rat hole’ mining.

Agencies Involved in the exploration of minerals
In India, systematic surveying, prospecting and exploration for minerals is undertaken by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC), Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd. (MECL), National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), Bharat Gold Mines Ltd. (BGML), Hindustan Copper Ltd. (HCL), National Aluminum Company Ltd. (NALCO) and the Departments of Mining and Geology in various states.

Most of the metallic minerals in India occur in the peninsular plateau region in the old crystalline rocks. Over 97 percent of coal reserves occur in the valleys of Damodar, Sone, Mahanadi and Godavari. Petroleum reserves are located in the sedimentary basins of Assam, Gujarat and Mumbai High i.e. offshore region in the Arabian. New reserves have been located in the Krishna-Goadavari and Kaveri basins. Most of the major mineral resources occur to the east of a line linking Mangalore and Kanpur.

Minerals are generally concentrated in three broad belts in India. There may be some sporadic occurrence here and there in isolated pockets. These belts are: The North-Eastern Plateau Region. This belt covers Chotanagpur (Jharkhand), Orissa Plateau, West Bengal and parts of Chhattsgarh.

The South-Western Plateau Region: This belt extends over Karnataka, Goa and contiguous Tamil Nadu uplands and Kerala. This belt is rich in ferrous metals and bauxite. It also contains high grade iron ore, manganese and limestone. This belt packs in coal deposits except naively lignite.

This belt does not have as diversified mineral deposits as the north-eastern belt. Kerala has deposits of monazite and thorium, bauxite clay. Goa has iron ore deposits.

The North-Western Region: This belt extends along Aravali in Rajasthan and part of Gujarat and minerals are associated with Dharwar system of rocks. Copper, zinc have been major minerals. Rajasthan is rich in building stones i.e. sandstone, granite, marble. Gypsum and Fuller’s earth deposits are also extensive. Dolomite and limestone provide raw materials for cement industry. Gujarat is known for its petroleum deposits. Gujarat and Rajasthan both have rich sources of salt.

The Himalayan belt is another mineral belt where copper, lead, zinc, cobalt and tungsten are known to occur. They occur on both the eastern and western parts. Assam valley has mineral oil deposits. Besides oil resources are also found in off-shore-areas near Mumbai Coast (Mumbai High). 

Ferrous Mineral: Ferrous minerals such as iron ore, manganese, chromite, etc., provide a strong base for the development of metallurgical industries. Our country is well-placed in respect of ferrous minerals both in reserves and production.

Iron Ore: India is endowed with fairly abundant resources of iron ore. It has the largest reserve of iron ore in Asia. The two main types of ore found in our country are hematite and magnetite. It has great demand in international market due to its superior quality. The iron ore mines occur in close proximity to the coal fields in the northeastern plateau region of the country which adds to their advantage.

The total reserves of iron ore in the country were about 20 billion tones in the year 2004-05. About 95 per cent of total reserves of iron ore is located in the States of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In Orissa, iron ore occurs in a series of hill ranges in Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj and Jhar. The important mines are Gurumahisani, Sulaipet, Badampahar (Mayurbhaj), Kiruburu (Kendujhar) and Bonai (Sundergarh). Similar hill ranges, Jharkhand has some of the oldest iron ore mines and most of the iron and steel plants are located around them. Most of the important mines such as Noamundi and Gua are located in Poorbi and Pashchimi Singhbhum districts. This belt further extends to Durg, Dantewara and Bailadila. Dalli, Rajhara in Durg are the important mines of iron ore in the country. In Karnataka, iron ore deposits occur in Sandur-Hospet area of Bellary district, Baba Budan hills and Kudremukh in Chikmagalur district and parts of Shimoga, Chitradurg and Tumkur districts. The districts of Chandrapur, Bhandara and Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Karimnagar, Warangal, Kurnool, Cuddapah and Anantapur districts of Andhra Pradesh, Salem and Nilgiris- districts of Tamil Nadu are other iron mining regions. Goa has also emerged as an important producer of iron ore.

Manganese: Manganese is an important raw material for smelting of iron ore and also used for manufacturing Ferro alloys. Manganese deposits are found in almost all geological formations; however, it is mainly associated with Dharwar system.

Orissa is the leading producer of Manganese. Major mines in Orissa are located in the central part of the iron ore belt of India, particularly in Bonai, Keudujhar, Sundergarh, Gangpur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Bolangir.

Karnataka is another major producer and here the mines are located in Dharwar, Bellary, Belgaum, North Canara, Chikmagalur, Shimoga, Chitradurg and Tumkur. Maharashtra is also an important producer of manganese which is mined in Nagpur Bhandara and Ratnagiri districts. The disadvantage to these mines is that they are located far from steel plants. The manganese belt of Madhya Pradesh extends in a belt in Balaghat-Chhindwara-Nimar-Mandla and Jhabua districts districts. Andhra Pradesh, Goa, and Jharkhand are other minor producers of manganese.

Non-Ferrous Minerals: India is poorly with non-ferrous metallic minerals except bauxite.

Bauxite: Bauxite is the ore which is used in manufacturing of aluminum. Bauxite is found mainly in tertiary deposits and is associated with laterite rocks occurring  extensively either on the plateau or hill ranges of peninsular India and also in the coastal tracts of the country.

Orissa happens to be the largest producer of Bauxite. Kalahandi and Sambalpur are the leading producers. The other two areas which have been increasing their production are Bolangir and Koraput. The patlands of Jharkhand in Lohardaga have rich deposits. Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are other major producers. Bhavnagar, Jamnagar in Gujarat have the major deposits. Chhattisgarh has bauxite deposits in Amarkantak plateau while Katni-Jabalpur area and Balaghat in M.P. have important deposits of bauxite. Kolaba, Thane, Ratnagiri, Satara, Pune and Kolhapur in Maharashtra are important producers. Tamil Nadu. Karanataka and Goa are minor producers of bauxite.

Copper: Copper is an indispensable metal in the electrical industry for making wires, electric motors, transformers and generators. It is alloyable. Malleable and ductile. It is also mixed with gold to provide strength to jewellery.

The Copper deposits mainly occur in Singhbhum district in Jharkhand, Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh and Jhunjhunu and Alwar districts in Rajasthan.

Minor producers of Copper are Agnigundala in Guntur District (Andhra Pradesh), Chitradurg and hasan districts (Karnataka) and South Arcot district (Tamil Nadu).

Non-metallic Minerals: Among the non-metallic minerals produced in India, mica is the important one. The other minerals extracted for local consumption are limestone, dolomite and phosphate.

Mica: Mica is mainly used in the electrical and electronic industries. It can be split into very thin sheets which are tough and flexible. Mica in India is produced in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. In Jharkhand high quality mica is obtained in a belt extending over a distance of about 150 km, in length and about 22 km, in width in lower Hazaribagh plateau. In Andhra Pradesh. Nellore district produces the best quality mica. In Rajasthan mica belt extends for about 320 kms from Jaipur to Bhilwara and around Udaipur. Mica deposits also occur in Mysore and Hassan districts of Karnataka, Coimbatore. Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu, Alleppey in Kerala, Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, Purulia and Bankura in West Bengal.

Energy Resources: Mineral fuels are essential for generation of power, required by agriculture, industry, transport and other sectors of the economy. Mineral fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas (known as fossil fuels), nuclear energy minerals, are the conventional sources of energy. These conventional sources are exhaustible resources.

Coal: Coal is a one of the important minerals which is mainly used in the generation of thermal power and smelting of iron ore. Coal occurs in rock sequences mainly of two geological ages, namely Gondwana and tertiary deposits.

Lignite is a low grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content. The principal lignite reserves are in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and are used for generation of electricity. Coal that has been buried deep and subjected to increased temperatures is  bituminous coal. It is the most popular coal in commercial use. Metallurgical coal is high grade bituminous coal which has a special value for smelting iron in blast furnaces.

Anthracite is the highest quality hard coal. About 80 per cent of the coal deposits in India is of bituminous type and is of noncoking grade. The most important Gondwana coal fields of India are located in Damodar Valley.

They lie in Jharkhand-Bengal coal belt and the important coal fields in this region are Raniganj, Jharia, Bokaro, Giridih, Karanpura.

Jharia is the largest coal field followed by Raniganj. The other river valleys associated with coal are Godavari, Mahanadi and Sone. The most important coal mining centres are Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh (part of Singrauli coal field lies in Uttar Pradesh), Korba in Chhattisgarh, Talcher and Rampur in Orissa, Chanda-Wardha, Kamptee and Bander in Maharashtra and Singareni and Pandur in Andhra Pradesh.

Tertiary coals occur in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland. It is extracted from Darangiri, Cherrapunji, Mewlong and Langrin (Meghalaya); Makum, Jaipur and Nazira in upper Assam, Namchik- Namphuk (Arunachal Pradesh) and Kalakot (Jammu and Kashmir). Besides, the brown coal or lignite occur in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.

Petroleum: Crude petroleum consists of hydrocarbons of liquid and gaseous states varying in chemical composition, colour and specific gravity. It is an essential source of energy for all internal combustion engines in automobiles, railways and aircraft. Its numerous by-products are processed in petrochemical industries such as fertilizer, synthetic fibre, medicines, Vaseline, lubricants, wax, soap and cosmetics.

Most of the petroleum occurrences in India are associated with anticlines and fault traps in the rock formations of the tertiary age. In regions of folding, anticlines or domes, it occurs where oil is trapped in the crest of the up fold. The oil bearing layer is a porous limestone or sandstone through which oil may flow. The oil is prevented from rising or sinking by intervening non-porous layers.

Petroleum is also found in fault traps between porous and non-porous rocks. Gas, being lighter usually occurs above the oil.

About 63 per cent of India’s petroleum production is from Mumbai High, 18 per cent from Gujarat and 16 per cent from Assam.

Crude petroleum occurs in sedimentary rocks of the tertiary period. Oil exploration and production was systematically taken up after the Oil and Natural Gas Commission was set up in 1956. Till then, the Digboi in Assam was the only oil producing region but the scenario has changed after 1956. In recent years, new oil deposits have been found at the extreme western and eastern parts of the country. In Assam, Digboi, Naharkatiya and Moran are important oil producing areas. The major oil fields of Gujarat are Ankaleshwar, Kalol, Mehsana, Nawagam, Kosamba and Lunej. Mumbai High which lies 160 km off Mumbai was discovered in 1973 and production commenced in 1976. Oil and natural gas have been found in exploratory wells in Krishna-Godavari and Kaveri basin on the east coast.

Oil extracted from the well is crude oil  and contains many impurities. It cannot be used directly. It needs to be refined. There are two types of refineries in India:
(a) field based and
(b) market based.
Digboi is an example of field based and Barauni is an example of market based refinery.

Natural Gas: The Gas Authority of India Limited was set up in 1984 as a public sector undertaking to transport and market natural gas. It is obtained alongwith oil in all the oil fields but exclusive reserves have been located along the eastern coast as well as (Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh), Tripura, Rajasthan and off-shore wells in Gujarat and Maharashtra.