Minerals
- Minerals are substances that are obtained from nature
- Minerals are obtained from within the soil/rocks
- Minerals are obtained through the process of mining
Use of the mineral
- minerals are obtained through mining
- The discovery and use of minerals began with human development
- Like Copper Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age.
- In ancient times, minerals were used to make tools, utensils and weapons
- The real development of minerals happened after the industrial revolution which led to its modern development
Mineral identification
- Minerals are identified based on their colour, crystal structure, lustre , hardness, density, condition and electrical conductivity.
Types of Mineral Resources
I. Metallic minerals
- Sources of metals Metallic minerals are gold, silver, iron, copper, manganese
- Metallic minerals can be divided into ferrous and non-ferrous metallic categories.
1. Ferrous metallic minerals
- All minerals that contain traces of iron are called ferrous metallic minerals
- Such as – iron ore, iron, manganese, nickel, tungsten, cobalt etc.
2. Non-ferrous metallic minerals
- All those minerals which do not contain iron are called non-ferrous metallic minerals
- e.g. copper and bauxite
II. Non-metallic minerals
- Non-metallic minerals include limestone, graphite, diamond, gypsum, marble, granite, salt, graphite, mica, etc.
III. Energy resources or fuel minerals
- These are also known as fossil fuels or mineral fuels.
- These minerals are obtained from animal and plant organisms buried in the earth
- Like – coal and petroleum etc.
Characteristics of Khanijas
- Mineral resources are unevenly distributed.
- There is an inverse relationship between quality and quantity of minerals, i.e. minerals of higher quality are found in lesser quantities than minerals of lower quality.
- All these minerals get depleted with time.
- Minerals take a long time to form
- They cannot be recharged immediately when needed. That is why mineral resources should be conserved
- Mineral resources should not be misused as they cannot be regenerated
Distribution of minerals in India
- Most of the metallic minerals in India are found in the ancient crystalline rocks of the peninsular plateau region.
- About 97 percent of coal is found in the valleys of Damodar, Son, Mahanadi and Godavari rivers.
- Reserve reserves of petroleum are found in Assam, Gujarat and Mumbai High i.e. offshore areas of the Arabian Sea.
Minerals in India are mainly found in three broad belts.
1. North Eastern Plateau Region
A. Major States
- Chota Nagpur (Jharkhand) Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal,
B. Major minerals
- Iron ore, coal, manganese, mica
2. South-Western Plateau Region
A. Major States
- Karnataka, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
B. Major minerals
- Iron ore, coal, manganese, mica
3. Northwest Territories
A. Major States
- Rajasthan (Aravalli) Gujarat
B. Major minerals
- Copper, Zinc, Sandstone, Granite, Marble, Gypsum, Multani Mitti
Ferrous minerals
Iron ore
- India has abundant resources of iron ore.
- Asia's largest iron ore reserves are found here.
- In our country, two main types of this ore are found – hematite and magnetite.
- Due to its excellent quality, it is in great demand all over the world.
- Iron ore mines are located near coal fields in the north-eastern plateau region of the country
- About 95% of the total reserves of iron ore are located in the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Iron ore regions in India
- In Odisha - Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Jhar hill ranges
- Jharkhand has some of the oldest iron ore mines in such hill ranges
- In Karnataka, iron ore deposits are found in Sandur Hosapete area of Ballari district and Baba Budan Hills of Chikmagalur district.
- In Maharashtra – Chandrapur and Ratnagiri
- Telangana - Karimnagar, Warangal district,
- Andhra Pradesh - Kurnool, Kadapa and Anantapur districts
- Tamil Nadu - Salem and Nilgiris districts are other iron ore mining areas.
- Goa - has emerged as an important producer of iron ore.
Properties of iron-
- We can see the use of iron everywhere, from a small pin to a big ship, iron is used in everything.
- Machines are made using iron. Machines are the basis of industry.
- Iron is cheap and durable
- Iron is heavy and strong
Manganese
- Manganese is an important raw material for the smelting of iron ore
- It is also used in making iron alloys, batteries and paints.
- Manganese is found in nearly all geologic formations
- Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are the leading producers of manganese.
Major Manganese Regions
- The main mines of Odisha are located in Bonai, Kendujhar, Sundargarh, Gangpur, Koraput, Kalahandi and Bolangir.
- The Madhya Pradesh manganese belt extends over the districts of Balaghat, Chhindwara, Nimar, Mandla and Jhabua.
- Karnataka is another major producer and has mines located in Dharwad, Ballari, Belgaum, North Kanara, Chikmagalur, Shivamogga, Chitradurga and Tumkuru.
- Maharashtra is also an important producer of manganese. Here manganese is mined in Nagpur, Bhandara and Ratnagiri districts.
- Telangana, Goa and Jharkhand are other minor producers of manganese.
Non-ferrous minerals
1. Bauxite
- Bauxite is an ore used in the manufacture of aluminium.
- Bauxite is found in tertiary and laterite rocks.
Major bauxite regions
1. Odisha is the largest producer of bauxite.
2. Kalahandi and Sambalpur are the leading producers.
3. Jharkhand, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are other major producing states
4. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Goa are minor producers of bauxite.
2. Copper
- Copper is an essential metal for the electrical industry to make electric motors, transformers and generators .
- It is an alloyable, malleable and ductile metal.
- It is also mixed with gold to strengthen the jewellery .
- Copper deposits are mainly found in Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and Jhunjhunu and Alwar districts of Rajasthan.
Non-metallic minerals
Mica
- Mica is mainly used in electrical and electronics industries.
- It can be decomposed into thin sheets
- Which is very tough and flexible.
key areas
- In India, mica is mainly found in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan. After this come Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
- In Jharkhand, high quality mica is found in a 150 km long and 22 km wide strip of the lower Hazaribagh plateau.
- In Andhra Pradesh, the best quality mica is produced in Nellore district.
- In Rajasthan, the mica belt is about 320 km long and extends from Jaipur to Bhilwara and around Udaipur.
- Mysore and Hassan districts of Karnataka, Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu, Ratnagiri of Maharashtra
energy resources
- These are also known as fuel minerals (fossil fuels)
- Energy is necessary for all activities. Energy is required for cooking, for light and heat, for running vehicles and for running machines in industries.
- Energy is produced from fuel minerals such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, uranium and electricity.
Energy resources can be classified into conventional and non-conventional (unconventional) sources.
1. Traditional Means
- Coal
- Petroleum
- natural gas
2. Non-traditional means
- Nuclear Energy
- Solar Energy
- Wind energy
- geothermal energy
- wave energy
Coal
- Coal is an important source of energy which is mainly used for electricity generation and smelting of iron ore.
- Coal is mainly found in the rock sequences of two geologic periods namely Gondwana and Tertiary deposits.
- The major resources of Gondwana coal are in the coal fields located in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
- Tertiary coal is found in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
- Apart from this, brown coal or lignite is also found in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.
- The most important Gondwana coal field in India is in the Damodar Valley.
Petroleum - Mineral Oil
- India imports it to meet its petroleum requirements
- Does India have petroleum resources?
- The first oil reserve in India was discovered in 1889 at Digboi in Assam
- The natural gas industry in India began in 1960
Use of petroleum
- It is an essential source of energy for internal combustion fuel of motor vehicles, railways and aircraft .
- Many of its co-products are processed in petrochemical industries, such as fertilizers, synthetic rubber, synthetic fibres, medicines, vaseline, lubricants, waxes, soaps and other cosmetics .
- Mumbai High, Gujarat and Assam are the major petroleum producing areas in India.
natural gas
- Natural gas is found along with petroleum deposits
- It can be used as an industrial fuel.
- It is used as a fuel in the power sector to generate electricity,
- It is used in industries for heating purposes, as raw material in chemical, petrochemical and fertilizer industries.
- Natural gas is the preferred transportation fuel (CNG) and
- It is also emerging as a cooking fuel (PNG) in homes .
- India's major gas reserves are found in the Mumbai High and other associated fields on the west coast, supplemented by fields in the Khambhat Basin.
- New reserves of natural gas have been discovered in the Krishna-Godavari basin on the east coast.
1. Traditional Means
- Coal
- Petroleum
- natural gas
2. Non-traditional means
- Nuclear Energy
- Solar Energy
- Wind energy
- geothermal energy
- wave energy
Nuclear Energy / Atomic Energy
- Important minerals used in the production of nuclear energy are uranium and thorium.
- Uranium is found in the Dharwad shales.
- Geographically, uranium ore is found at many places along the Singhbhum copper belt.
- It is also found in Udaipur, Alwar, Jhunjhunu districts of Rajasthan, Durg district of Madhya Pradesh, Bhandara district of Maharashtra and Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
- Thorium is mainly obtained from monazite and ilmenite found in beach sands of the coastal area of Kerala .
- The world's richest monazite deposits are found in Palakkad and Kollam districts of Kerala, Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and the Mahanadi river delta in Odisha.
- The Atomic Energy Commission was set up in 1948 and progress in this direction was made with the establishment of the Trombay Atomic Energy Establishment in 1954, which was later rechristened as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in 1967.
Important Nuclear Power Projects-
1. Tarapur (Maharashtra),
2. Rawatbhata near Kota (Rajasthan),
3. Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu),
4. Narora (Uttar Pradesh),
5. Kaiga (Karnataka)
Solar Energy
- Solar Energy The sun's rays trapped in photovoltaic cells can be converted into energy known as solar energy.
- Two processes that are considered very effective for harnessing solar energy are photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies.
- Solar thermal technology is more profitable than all other non-renewable energy sources. It is environmentally friendly and easy to manufacture.
- Solar energy is 7 percent more efficient than oil-based plants and 10 percent more efficient than nuclear energy.
- It is generally used in equipment like heaters, crop dryers, cookers etc.
- There is greater possibility of development of solar energy in the western parts of India like Gujarat and Rajasthan.
wind energy
- Wind energy is completely pollution free and inexhaustible source of energy.
- The engineering for converting energy from flowing wind is fairly simple.
- The kinetic energy of the wind is converted into electrical energy through a turbine.
- India has already started producing wind energy. Favorable conditions exist in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Karnataka for wind energy.
Tidal and Wave Energy
- Ocean currents are an infinite storehouse of energy.
- Efforts to create more energy systems from tidal waves and ocean currents have been underway since the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
- Large tidal waves are generated on the western coast of India.
- India has enormous potential for developing tidal energy along its coasts,
- But these have not been used yet.
geothermal energy
- When magma emerges from the core of the earth, a lot of heat is released. This heat energy can be successfully harnessed and converted into electrical energy.
- Heat energy can be produced from the hot water coming out of it. This is known as geothermal energy.
- This energy is now being considered as a major energy source which can be developed as an alternative source.
- The first successful attempt to harness underground heat from the Middle Ages was made (in 1890) in the town of Boyce, Idaho (USA), where a network of hot water pipes was built to heat surrounding buildings .
- This plant is still operational.
Bio-energy
- Bio-energy is the energy obtained from biological products which include agricultural residues, municipal, industrial and other wastes.
- Bioenergy is a potential source of energy conversion.
- It can be converted into electrical energy, heat energy or gas for cooking.
- It will process waste and garbage and also generate energy.
- It will also improve the economic life of rural areas of developing countries and reduce environmental pollution, increase their self-reliance and reduce pressure on firewood.
- One such project to convert municipal waste into energy is located in Okhla, New Delhi.
Conservation of Mineral Resources
- It takes millions of years for mineral resources to form, so if we want to make these resources available to our future generations , it is necessary to use them properly.
- In such a situation, we will have to focus on the conservation of minerals. To meet the challenge of sustainable development, it is essential to coordinate the desire for economic development with environmental issues.
- Conventional methods of resource use result in the generation of large amounts of waste as well as other environmental problems.
- Sustainable development calls for conservation of resources for future generations.
- Conservation of resources is extremely necessary. For this, alternative sources of energy such as solar energy, wind, wave, geothermal etc.
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