MINERAL & ENERGY RESOURCES LESSON 7

INTRODUCTION

 India is rich in variety of minerals due to varied geological structure
 Minerals in India are of pre-palaezoic age
 Variation in mineral distribution
 Minerals provide base for industrial development

TYPES OF MINERAL RESOURCES

CHARACTERISTICS OF MINERALS

 Unevenly distributed over surface
 Quality of minerals has inverse relationship with quantity of minerals
 Minerals are exhaustible over time, non replenishable
 Minerals need to be conserved, limited in nature

*Geological Survey of India , Oil & Natural Gas Commission , Indian Bureau of Mines are mineral surveying & exploring agencies

MINERAL DISTRIBUTION

 Metallic mineral in India occur in peninsular plateau
region in old crystalline rocks.
 97% of coal reserves are in valleys of Damodar, Sone,
Mahanadi & Godavari.
 Petroleum reserves are located in sedimentary basins of
Assam, Gujarat, Mumbai high
 Major minerals lie in eastern part of India

MINERAL BELTS OF INDIA

 NORTH EASTERN PLATEAU REGION
▪ Covers Chhotanagpur, Odisha plateau , West Bengal & Chhattisgarh
▪ Major iron & steel industries are located here
▪ Minerals found:- Iron, Coal, Bauxite & Manganese

 SOUTH WESTERN PLATEAU REGION
▪ Covers Karnataka , Goa, Kerala & uplands of Tamil Nadu
▪ Rich in ferrous metals & bauxite; high grade iron ore & limestone
▪ Kerala has monazite & thorium deposits
▪ Goa has rich iron ore deposits

 NORTH WESTERN REGION
▪ Extends along Aravalli & parts of Gujarat
▪ Minerals found are associated with Dharwar rock system
▪ Rajasthan is rich in building stones like sandstone , granite
& marble
▪ Gujarat is rich in petroleum deposits
▪ Gujarat & Rajasthan have rich salt sources
▪ Dolomite & limestone are raw materials of cement
industry

 Himalayan belt also have minerals like copper, zinc, cobalt, & lead
 Assam valley has rich oilfields like Digboi
 Oil sources are also found in offshore areas like in Mumbai High & Bassein

FERROUS MINERAL

 Provide strong base for development of metallurgical industries
 India is rich in ferrous minerals in both reserves & production

 IRON ORE
▪ India has abundant iron ores resources
▪ India has largest iron ore reserves in Asia
▪ Hematite & Magnetite are iron ores found
▪ 95 % of total iron ore reserves are in Odisha, Jharkhand, Karnataka
▪ Important iron ore mines are:- Mayurbhanj, Ballari & Ratnagiri

 MANGANESE
▪ Important for iron smelting & manufacture of ferro alloys
▪ Found in all geological formations, associated with Dharwar system
▪ Major Producer:- Odisha
▪ Major Mines:- Balaghat, Shivamogga
▪ Minor producer:- Telangana , Goa

NON-FERROUS MINERALS

 India is rich only in Bauxite among non-ferrous minerals
 India has poor sources of other non-ferrous minerals

 BAUXITE
▪ Bauxite is used to manufacture in Aluminum
▪ It is found in tertiary deposits
▪ Occurs on plateau & hill ranges of peninsular tracts
▪ Major producer:- Odisha
▪ Major mines:- Katni , Koraput, & Bilaspur
▪ Minor producer:- Tamil Nadu , Karnataka

 COPPER
▪ Important in electrical industry
▪ Copper is used for making wires & electric motors
▪ Copper is alloyable, malleable, ductile
▪ Mixed with gold to strengthen jewellery
▪ Major deposits:- Singhbhum , Balaghat, Khetri
▪ Minor deposits :- Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

NON – METALLIC MINERALS

 MICA
▪ Used in electrical, electronic industries
▪ Mica can be split into thin sheets which are flexible & tough
▪ Major deposits:- Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka

ENERGY RESOURCES

 Include mineral fuels ( coal, petroleum , natural gas) which are important
for power generation required by all sectors of economy

 COAL
▪ Used in power generation & iron ore smelting
▪ Occurs in Gondwana & tertiary deposits
▪ Important coal deposits :- Damodar valley, Jharia , Bokaro & Raniganj
▪ Largest coal field: Jharia ( Jharkhand )
▪ Mining centres :- Singrauli , Talcher & Singareni
▪ Lignite ( Brown coal ) is found in coastal areas of Tamil Nadu & Gujarat

 PETROLEUM (LIQUID GOLD)
▪ Crude oil contain hydrocarbons of liquid & gaseous state
varying in chemical composition
▪ It is essential energy source in automobiles, railways etc.
▪ By products are processed in petrochemical industries like fertilizer, synthetic fibre
▪ Crude petroleum occurs in sedimentary rocks
▪ ONGC explores & produces oil
▪ Important oil fields:- Digboi , Ankleshwar, Mumbai high
▪ Field based like Digboi & Market based like Barauni are refineries

 NATURAL GAS
▪ Gas Authority of India Ltd. (GAIL) setup in 1984
▪ GAIL transport & market Natural Gas
▪ It is obtained along with oil in oilfields
▪ Reserves:- Tamil Nadu , Andhra Pradesh, Tripura & Rajasthan

ENERGY RESOURCES- DIFFERENCE

NUCLEAR ENERGY

 Emerged as viable source in recent years
 Uranium & Thorium generate nuclear energy
 Uranium deposits occur in Dharwar rocks
 Monazite deposits occur in Kerala
 Atomic Energy commission established in 1948
 Atomic Energy Institute estb. In 1954 progressed nuclear energy later renamed in 1967 as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
 Important projects:- Tarapur, Rawatbhata & Narora

 SOLAR ENERGY
▪ Sun’s rays are tapped in photovoltaic cells & converted into energy
▪ Photovoltaic & Solar thermal technology are two
processes to tap solar energy
▪ More effective than coal & nuclear plants
▪ Used in heaters, cookers & other appliances
▪ Western India has great potential for development of solar energy

 WIND ENERGY
▪ Pollution free & inexhaustible source of energy
▪ Kinetic energy of wind is converted to electric energy by turbines
▪ Trade winds, Westerlies permanent wind systems are sources ,land & sea breezes also used to produce electricity
▪ India plans to install 250 wind turbines In 12 locations
▪ Increase in use of wind energy will reduce oil import bills
▪ Favourable wind energy generation conditions in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra

 TIDAL ENERGY
▪ Produced by ocean currents & tidal waves
▪ India has great potential for development of tidal energy as large tides occur on west coast of India

 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
▪ Produced by heat energy generated from interior of earth
which is converted into electric energy
▪ Hot spring wells also generate this type of energy
▪ Geothermal energy plant is at Manikaran (HP)
▪ First successful attempt was made by USA to tap this energy

 BIO ENERGY
▪ Derived from biological products like agri. remains, industrial & other wastes.
▪ Potential source can be converted into electric energy & cooking gas
▪ It improves rural economic life in developing countries
▪ Bio energy reduce pollution & pressure on fuelwood
▪ Bio energy project is at Okhla ( Delhi )

CONSERVATION OF MINERAL RESOURCES

 Economic development needs to be integrated with environmental concerns for sustainable development
 Traditional resources generate large quantity of waste
 There is need to conserve resources for future generation
 NCER need to be developed to replace conventional sources
 Use of scrap metals will enable recycling of metals
 Substitutes of scarce minerals may reduce consumption
 Export of strategic & scarce sources should be reduced