Minerals, Energy Resources and Industries: Mines, Power Plants and Steel Centres

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Where minerals lie

Most of India's metallic minerals and coal lie in the old rocks of the Peninsular Plateau, and the Chotanagpur plateau with the nearby parts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh forms the richest mineral belt. Petroleum, by contrast, lies in younger sedimentary rocks in Assam, Gujarat and offshore near Mumbai. Learn minerals as mine-and-state pairs, since that is how exams ask them.

Iron ore and other metals

Haematite is the most used iron ore, and magnetite the richest, with up to about 70 percent iron. The main iron-ore belts are the Odisha-Jharkhand belt (Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar in Odisha, Noamundi and Gua in Jharkhand); the Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt, with the Bailadila hills of Chhattisgarh, whose high-grade ore is exported through Visakhapatnam; the Ballari-Chitradurga-Chikkamagaluru-Tumakuru belt of Karnataka, including Kudremukh; and the Maharashtra-Goa belt, which exports through Mormugao. Odisha is the largest producer of iron ore. Manganese, about 10 kg of which goes into each tonne of steel, comes from Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh), Nagpur and Bhandara (Maharashtra) and Keonjhar (Odisha). Bauxite, the ore of aluminium, comes from the Amarkantak plateau, the Maikal hills and the Panchpatmali deposits of Koraput in Odisha. Copper comes from Khetri (Rajasthan), Malanjkhand in Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh) and Singhbhum (Jharkhand). Mica, an electrical insulator, comes from the Koderma-Gaya-Hazaribagh belt of Jharkhand and Bihar, Ajmer (Rajasthan) and Nellore (Andhra Pradesh).

Coal, petroleum and atomic minerals

Most Indian coal is Gondwana coal, about 200 million years old, found in the Damodar valley (Jharia, the largest coking-coal field, Raniganj, Bokaro and Giridih) and in the Godavari, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha valleys (Singareni in Telangana, Talcher in Odisha, Korba in Chhattisgarh and Singrauli on the Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border). Coal mining in India began at Raniganj in 1774. Tertiary coal, about 55 million years old, occurs in Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, and lignite is mined at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu. Oil was struck at Digboi in Assam in 1889, and India's oldest working refinery opened there in 1901; Naharkatiya and Moran-Hugrijan are other Assam fields. Gujarat has Ankleshwar, Kalol and the Khambhat basin, and Mumbai High is an offshore field found in 1974. Uranium is mined at Jaduguda in Jharkhand, and the monazite sands of Kerala contain thorium.

Power

Coal-based thermal power is India's largest source of electricity; NTPC, set up in 1975, runs plants such as Vindhyachal (Madhya Pradesh), Singrauli (Uttar Pradesh), Korba (Chhattisgarh), Ramagundam (Telangana) and Talcher (Odisha). Hydroelectricity comes from projects such as Bhakra Nangal, Tehri, Nathpa Jhakri on the Sutlej, Koyna and Srisailam. Nuclear power began at Tarapur in Maharashtra in 1969; other plants are Rawatbhata (Rajasthan), Kalpakkam and Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu, the latter built with Russia), Narora (Uttar Pradesh), Kakrapar (Gujarat) and Kaiga (Karnataka). Wind farms cluster at Muppandal in Tamil Nadu, large solar parks stand at Bhadla in Rajasthan and Charanka in Gujarat, and Puga valley in Ladakh is a geothermal site.

Industrial regions and steel plants

Industry gathers where raw material, power, labour, markets and transport meet. India's major industrial regions are Mumbai-Pune, Hugli, Bengaluru-Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Chotanagpur, Visakhapatnam-Guntur, Gurugram-Delhi-Meerut and Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram. The Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was founded in 1907 at Sakchi, now Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, as India's first large modern steel plant; Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel at Bhadravati in Karnataka dates from 1923, and the Indian Iron and Steel Company works at Burnpur in West Bengal. Of the public sector plants, Bhilai (Chhattisgarh) was built with help from the USSR, Rourkela (Odisha) with West Germany, Durgapur (West Bengal) with the United Kingdom, and Bokaro (Jharkhand) also with the USSR. Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) is the first shore-based integrated steel plant.

Textiles

The first successful cotton mill opened in Mumbai in 1854, and the industry grew in Maharashtra and Gujarat thanks to cotton from the black soil, a humid climate that keeps yarn from snapping, ports, capital and markets. Ahmedabad is the Manchester of India, Mumbai the Cottonopolis of India and Coimbatore the Manchester of South India; Surat, Solapur, Nagpur and Indore are other centres, and Tirupur is known for knitwear. The first jute mill was set up at Rishra near Kolkata in 1855, and jute mills still line the Hugli because of nearby jute fields, cheap water transport, plenty of water for processing, cheap labour and the port of Kolkata. India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods.

Key facts

Iron ore: Bailadila (Chhattisgarh), Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj (Odisha), Noamundi and Gua (Jharkhand), Kudremukh and Ballari (Karnataka), Goa (exports via Mormugao); Odisha produces the most.
Magnetite has up to about 70 percent iron (richest); haematite is the most used ore; about 10 kg of manganese goes into a tonne of steel.
Bauxite: Panchpatmali (Koraput, Odisha), Amarkantak plateau; copper: Khetri (Rajasthan), Malanjkhand (MP), Singhbhum (Jharkhand); mica: Koderma (Jharkhand), Nellore (Andhra).
Coal: Jharia (largest coking coal), Raniganj (mining from 1774), Bokaro, Korba, Talcher, Singrauli, Singareni; lignite at Neyveli (Tamil Nadu); tertiary coal in Meghalaya and Assam.
Oil: Digboi (struck 1889, refinery 1901), Naharkatiya (Assam); Ankleshwar, Kalol (Gujarat); Mumbai High (offshore, 1974); uranium at Jaduguda, thorium in Kerala's monazite sands.
Nuclear plants: Tarapur (Maharashtra, first, 1969), Rawatbhata (Rajasthan), Kalpakkam and Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu), Narora (UP), Kakrapar (Gujarat), Kaiga (Karnataka).
Steel collaborators: Bhilai - USSR, Rourkela - West Germany, Durgapur - UK, Bokaro - USSR; TISCO Jamshedpur 1907; Visvesvaraya Bhadravati 1923; Visakhapatnam first shore-based plant.
Textiles: first cotton mill Mumbai 1854; Ahmedabad Manchester of India; Coimbatore Manchester of South India; first jute mill Rishra 1855; jute mills along the Hugli.

Quick revision

Chotanagpur and Odisha richest mineral belt; Odisha leads iron ore; Bailadila, Keonjhar, Noamundi, Kudremukh; bauxite Koraput; copper Khetri, Malanjkhand; mica Koderma; Jharia coking coal, Raniganj 1774, Neyveli lignite; Digboi 1889 oil, refinery 1901; Mumbai High 1974; Tarapur first nuclear plant 1969; TISCO 1907; Bhilai and Bokaro USSR, Rourkela West Germany, Durgapur UK; first cotton mill Mumbai 1854; first jute mill Rishra 1855.

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