Minerals and Energy Resources Test - 11

1. Nonmetallic minerals are a special group of chemical elements from which no new product can be generated if they are melted.
2.  Nonmetallic minerals are, for example, sand, gravel, limestone, clay,graphite.
3. Such materials lack metallic characteristics like good electric and thermic conductivity, luster, rigor, and malleability; they are, however, essential for many industries.

1. Diamonds are at the top of Friedrich Mohs scale of mineral hardness next comes topaz, quartz, feldspar, apatite, fluorite, calcite, gypsum.
2. They are incredibly hard because they have crystallized in a particular atomic shape that resulted from heat and pressure on Earth at a depth of 140 to 150km.

Renewable energy is used to describe energy sources that are replenished by natural processes on a sufficiently rapid time-scale so that they can be used by humans more or less indefinitely, provided the quantity taken per unit of time is not too great. Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth.

Energy resources consume around 70% of coal in India. India is still dependent on thermal power which accounts for almost 60% of electricity production in India, with hydroelectricity(15%) a distant second. Iron and steel plants consume only 7% of coal in India. After electrification of railways lines, their consumption of coal is highly reduced.

Assam- oldest oil producing state in India. Digboi, Naharkatiya and Moran-Hugrijan are the most important oil fields.

• Minerals are natural resources which are limited.
  
• If they are continuously mined and used they will get exhausted.
• The geological processes of mineral formation are so slow that the rate of replenishment is small in comparison to the present rates of consumption.

India is very rich in iron ore. It is one of the countries that has vast reserves for the good quality of iron ores. India has about one fourth of the world reserves. Haematite, Magnetite and Limonite are the three types of the iron ores found in India.

Manganese- India is 6th largest producer of this important element which is a very useful constituent of industrial metal alloys.

Bauxite is an important ore which is used for making aluminium. it is an oxide of aluminium. it is not a specific mineral but a rock consisting mainly of hydrated aluminium oxide, so, aluminium industry uses Bauxite as a raw material.