Mineral and Energy Resources | SSC CGL Tier 2 - Study Material, Online Tests, Previous Year PDF Download

Key Terms

1. Biogas: Biogas is commonly defined as a blend of various gases resulting from the decomposition of organic matter without the presence of oxygen.
2. Geothermal Energy: Geothermal energy is the thermal energy originating from beneath the Earth's surface.
3. Drilling: Drilling is a machining process that utilizes a drill bit to create a hole with a circular cross-section in solid materials.
4. Ferrous Minerals: Ferrous minerals are minerals that contain iron, such as iron ore and manganese.
5. Mineral: A mineral is a naturally occurring substance with a distinct chemical composition.
6. Mining: Mining involves the extraction of valuable minerals or geological materials from the Earth.
7. Ores: Ores are rocks from which minerals are extracted. Among the thousands of identified minerals, only about 100 are considered ore minerals.
8. Open Cast Mining: Open-cast mining is a surface mining technique that involves extracting rock or minerals from the Earth by removing them from an open pit or borrow.
9. Metallic Minerals: Metallic minerals are those that contain one or more metallic elements, including iron ore, bauxite, and manganese ore.
10. Non-Metallic Minerals: Non-metallic minerals, such as limestone, mica, and gypsum, do not contain metals. Mineral fuels like coal and petroleum also fall into this category.
11. Non-ferrous Minerals: Non-ferrous minerals, like copper and aluminum, lack iron content.
12. Non-renewable Sources of Energy: Non-renewable energy sources, like fossil fuels, are finite and cannot be replenished or renewed after use.
13. Quarrying: Quarrying is the process of extracting rock, sand, or minerals from the ground for construction or other purposes.
14. Renewable Sources of Energy: Renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind energy, can be replenished or renewed after use.
15. Rock: A rock is a composite of one or more minerals without a definite composition of a mineral constituent.
16. Solar Energy: Solar power involves converting sunlight into electricity using photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, or a combination of both.
17. Shaft Mining: Shaft mining is an underground mining method using vertically-driven shafts from the top down to access ore or minerals.
18. Wind Energy: Wind power utilizes air flow through wind turbines to mechanically generate electricity.

The Significance of Minerals in Our Lives

• Ubiquity in Daily Life: Minerals are integral to every facet of our daily existence, encompassing what we consume, utilize, and drink.
• Catalysts for Economic Development: The presence of valuable minerals acts as a catalyst, propelling the economic development of individuals and nations to unprecedented levels.
• Enhancing Comfort and Convenience: Minerals play a pivotal role in making our lives not only comfortable but also immensely convenient.
• Crucial for Biological Processes: The responsibility for driving all biological processes on Earth can be attributed to minerals, underscoring their fundamental importance.
• Diverse Appearances and Occurrences: Minerals exhibit a remarkable diversity in appearance, occurring in various forms, colors, hardness, lustre, and density. Geologists leverage these distinctive properties to categorize minerals, considering their formation conditions.
• Rocks as Mineral Containers: Compacted substances constituting the Earth's crust are termed rocks. Rocks, as naturally formed aggregates of mineral particles, acquire their texture, color, shape, hardness, or softness from the minerals they contain.
• Minerals' Impact on Rocks: For instance, limestone, a rock consisting of a single mineral, vividly illustrates how minerals impart specific characteristics to rocks.
• Abundance and Variety: While the majority of rocks in the Earth's crust are a combination of various minerals, over 3000 minerals have been identified to date, with only a select few being abundantly prevalent.

Indispensable Elements in Our Lives

1. Utilitarian Products: From tiny pins to towering buildings and large ships, a myriad of products in our daily use are crafted from minerals.
2. Infrastructure and Transportation: Elements like railway lines, road pavement, machinery, and implements are fashioned from minerals.
3. Vehicle Manufacturing: Cars, buses, trains, and airplanes are not only manufactured from minerals but also operate on power resources derived from the Earth.
4. Incorporation in Food: Even the food we consume contains essential minerals.
5. Cultural and Societal Significance: Throughout human development, minerals have been employed for livelihood, decoration, festivities, and in various religious and ceremonial rites.

Modes of Mineral Occurrence

1. In Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks:

• Veins and Lodes: Occur in smaller veins or larger lodes. Examples include tin, copper, zinc, lead, etc.

2. In Sedimentary Rocks:

• Bed or Layer Formation: Minerals are found in beds or layers. Examples are coal, iron ore, gypsum, potash salt, and sodium salt.

3. Decomposition of Surface Rocks:

• Residual Mass Formation: Decomposition of surface rocks leaves a residual mass of weathered material containing ores. Bauxite is an example formed through this process.

4. As Alluvial Deposits:

• Placer Deposits: Found in sands of valley floors and hills' base. Examples include gold, silver, tin, platinum, etc.

5. In Ocean Water:

• Most minerals in ocean water are widely diffused but common salt, magnesium, and bromine are economically derived.

Types of Minerals:

1. Metallic:

• Ferrous (Iron-Containing): Iron ore, manganese ore, chromite, pyrite, nickel, and cobalt.
• Non-Ferrous: Gold, silver, copper, lead, bauxite, tin, and magnesium.

2. Non-Metallic:

• Limestone, mica, gypsum, coal, petroleum, etc.

Significance of Specific Minerals:

1. Iron Ore:

• Varieties: Magnetite (70% iron), Hematite (60-70% iron), Limonite (40-60% iron), Siderite (40-50% iron).
• Major Belts in India: Odisha–Jharkhand, Durg–Bastar–Chandrapur, Bellary–Chitradurga–Chikmaglur–Tumkur, Maharashtra–Goa.
• Notable Mines: Durg, Bastar, Singhbhum, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra.

2. Manganese Ore:

• Reserves: Karnataka, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Goa.
• Uses: Batteries, alloying agent for aluminum, bleaching powder, insecticides, paints.

3. Copper:

• Reserves: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh.
• Uses: Utensils, electric wires, electronic and chemical industries.

4. Aluminium (Derived from Bauxite):

• Reserves: Amarkantak Plateau, Maikal Hills, Bilaspur-Katni, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jharkhand.
• Properties: Extreme lightness, good conductivity, great malleability.

5. Mica:

• Major Producers: Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan.
• Uses: Electrical and electronic industries, plastic industry as an extender and filler.

6. Limestone:

• Reserves: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh.
• Uses: Cement industry, smelting of iron, chemical industries.

Environmental Concerns:

• All minerals are exhaustible resources.
• Accumulation of wastes at various mining, processing, and utilization stages poses significant environmental challenges.

Enhancing Efficiency in Mining

1. Benefaction Technology:

• Current Inadequacies: Present technologies lack efficiency, necessitating the development of advanced benefaction technology.
• Example: Petroleum refining wastes are now utilized to create valuable by-products, reducing feedstock waste.

2. Environmental and Health Concerns:

• Mining Impact on Health and Environment:
  • Inhalation Hazards: Dust and noxious fumes expose miners to pulmonary diseases.
  • Structural Risks: The risk of mine roof collapses poses a constant threat.
  • Inundation and Fires: Mines face threats of inundation and fires, risking miners' safety.
  • Water Contamination: Mining often leads to water source contamination, impacting the local environment.
  • Land and Soil Degradation: Dumping waste and slurry degrade land and soil, increasing river pollution.

3. Substitution Strategies:

• Scarce Minerals: Develop biodegradable alternatives for scarce minerals.
• Example: Copper's extensive use in electrical industries has alternative materials like aluminum, reducing dependence on precious copper.

4. Recycling Initiatives:

• Worldwide Steel Recycling:
  • Mini Steel Plants: Globally, mini steel plants use scrap iron, a prime example of recycling.
  • Challenges: Efficient recycling technologies need further development, addressing challenges like mixing different mineral types.

5. Minimizing Exports:

• Value Addition: Prioritize exporting value-added manufactured products over raw minerals.
• Rationale: Minimizing raw mineral exports ensures better utilization of resources and promotes sustainable practices.

6. Sustainable Resource Management:

• Finite and Non-renewable Nature: Acknowledge that mineral resources are finite and non-renewable.
• Planning and Sustainability: Advocate for planned and sustainable approaches in resource extraction.

Energy Resources:

Definition and Importance:

• Energy Definition: Energy, the ability to do work, is measured in Watts.
• Versatility: Essential for cooking, lighting, heating, vehicle propulsion, and industrial machinery operation.

Conclusion: Efficiency improvements in mining, environmental safeguards, substitution, recycling, and sustainable practices are pivotal for responsible resource utilization. Simultaneously, recognizing the finite nature of mineral resources and transitioning to cleaner and sustainable energy sources is crucial for long-term environmental well-being.

Energy – The Source of Power

The primary sources of power encompass diverse forms, ranging from fossil fuels like coal, petroleum, and natural gas to nuclear materials, falling water, sun, and wind.

Wind, sunlight, and the force of falling water undergo conversion into electricity, whereas coal, petroleum, and natural gas find direct applications in motor vehicles and machinery.

Fossil fuels, integral for power generation, necessitate combustion, leading to the emission of gases and wastes, posing environmental hazards. Approximately two-fifths of global energy consumption is attributed to burning oil, with the remaining derived from burning coal and natural gas.

Energy stands as a fundamental prerequisite for economic development, permeating every sector of the national economy. The consumption of energy in various forms has exhibited a consistent upward trajectory across the country.

Escalating prices of oil and gas, coupled with concerns regarding potential shortages, have instigated uncertainties about the future security of energy supply.

Energy can be harnessed from fuel minerals such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, uranium, and through electricity.

Coal

Renowned as the "Mother of Industries" or "Black Gold," coal holds a pivotal role as the prime energy source. Serving as the cornerstone of the industrial revolution, coal functions as a raw material in the iron and steel industry and chemical sectors. It stands as the principal fuel for thermal power generation. India, boasting the seventh-largest coal reserves globally, plays a significant role in coal-related industries.

Types of Coal:

Anthracite:

• Contains 80% carbon, hard, black, and compact.
• Exclusive to Jammu and Kashmir.
• Highest quality hard coal.

Bituminous:

• 60-80% carbon, widely used.
• Holds special value for smelting iron in blast furnaces.

Lignite:

• 60% carbon, low grade.
• Referred to as "brown coal."
• Soft with high moisture content.
• Utilized for generating electricity.

Peat:

• Contains less than 50% carbon.
• Burns like wood.
• Low carbon, high moisture content, and low heating capacity.

Petroleum:

• Liquid fossil fuel extracted through wells on land or offshore.
• Crude oil undergoes refining in refineries, transforming it into gasoline and petrochemicals.
• Nodal industry for chemical, fertilizer, and synthetic textile sectors.
• Provides fuel for heating, lighting, machinery, vehicles, lubricants, and raw materials for manufacturing plastics and chemicals.

Importance of Petroleum:

1. Major energy source in India.
2. Supplies fuel for heat, lighting, and lubricants.
3. Acts as a raw material for various manufacturing industries.
4. Petroleum refineries serve as nodal industries for synthetic, textile, fertilizer, and chemical sectors.

Natural Gas:

• Clean energy resource associated with petroleum.
• Extracted through drilling wells, doesn't require processing, emits no CO2, burns hotter and clearer.
• Used for energy and as an industrial raw material in the petrochemical industry.

Significance of Natural Gas in a Power-Deficient Country:

1. Source of energy with quicker power plant construction.
2. Industrial raw material in the petrochemical industry.
3. Used in building fertilizer plants to boost agricultural production.
4. Easy transportation via pipelines enhances utility.
5. Growing popularity of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for vehicles.
6. Clean and environment-friendly fuel with low carbon emissions.

Electricity:

• Generated through various methods, including thermal electricity from coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
• Hydroelectricity produced from water at high force.
• Nuclear electricity obtained from uranium and thorium.

Non-conventional Sources of Energy

1. Geothermal Energy:

   • Utilizes heat from the Earth's depth to generate electricity.

2. Solar Energy:

   • Converts sunlight into electricity through photovoltaic technology.
   • Widely used for cooking, pumping, water heating, and street lighting.

3. Wind Energy:

   • India's wind power potential of 20,000 MW.
   • Prominent wind farms in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Lakshadweep.
   • Nagercoil and Jaisalmer known for effective wind energy use.

4. Biogas:

   • Produced from shrubs, farm wastes, and animal and human wastes.
   • Used for domestic consumption in rural areas.

5. Other Non-conventional Sources:

   • Include tidal energy, wave energy, and geothermal energy.

Conservation of Energy Resources:

Energy is a fundamental necessity for economic development, and its demand has been steadily rising due to industrialization, modernization, and urbanization. Conservation of energy resources is crucial, considering their limited nature. Here are ways to achieve this:

1. Developing Sustainable Energy Paths:

   • Prioritize energy development that considers environmental preservation and the needs of future generations.

2. Judicious Use of Limited Resources:

   • Optimize the use of available energy resources efficiently.

3. Minimizing Wastage of Minerals:

   • Reduce unnecessary wastage of minerals in energy production and consumption.

4. Utilizing Modern Technology:

   • Implement advanced technologies for the exploitation and consumption of energy resources to minimize waste and enhance efficiency.

5. Minimizing Export of Energy Resources:

   • Limit the export of energy resources to ensure an adequate domestic supply.

Reasons for Conservation:

1. Dependence of Industry and Agriculture on Minerals:

   • Industries and agriculture heavily rely on minerals for their operations, emphasizing the need for conservation.

2. Slow Process of Mineral Formation:

   • The natural formation of minerals is a slow process, making their preservation crucial.

3. Non-Renewable Nature of Minerals:

   • Many minerals are non-renewable, necessitating careful management to avoid depletion.

1. Recycling of Metals:

   • Promote the recycling of metals and metal-made products to prevent scarcity.
   • Example: Sending used steel blades for recycling to reuse the steel for various purposes.

2. Evolution of Improved Technologies:

   • Replace traditional technologies with new and improved ones to minimize wastage and enhance efficiency.

3. Use of Substitute or Alternative Resources:

   • Replace non-recyclable or non-reusable resources with sustainable alternatives.
   • Example: Adopting green gas instead of coal for cooking purposes.

Conclusion: Conservation efforts are essential to ensure a sustainable and balanced use of energy resources, considering their limited availability and the impact on the environment. Embracing recycling, advanced technologies, and alternative resources can contribute to a more sustainable energy future.