Mineral And Energy Resources Test - 1

Most of the minerals in India are nationalized and their extraction is possible only after obtaining due permission from the government. But in most of the tribal areas of the north-east India, minerals are owned by individuals or communities .Coal mining in Jowai  and Cherapunjee (Meghalaya) is done by family member.

Iron ore is the basic mineral and the backbone of industrial development. India is endowed with fairly abundant resources of iron ore. Iron is the backbone of the industrial development of a country. Iron and steel is the basic industry and it provides raw materials, all types of machinery to run other industries.

Odisha is the largest producer of manganese ores in India. It accounted for one-third of the country’s total production in 2000-01.

Mica deposits are found in the northern edge of the Chota Nagpur plateau. Koderma Gaya – Hazaribagh belt of Jharkhand is the leading producer.

Mica is a mineral made up of a series of plates or leaves.

It splits easily into thin sheets.

Lignite is known as 'brown diamond' since it is coal in brown color.

Maharashtra-Goa belt includes the state of Goa and Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. Though, the ores are not of very high quality, yet they are efficiently exploited. Iron ore is exported through Marmagao port.

Minerals are usually found in “ores”. The term ore is used to describe an accumulation of any mineral mixed with other elements.

India is fortunate to have fairly rich and varied mineral resources. However, these are unevenly distributed. Broadly speaking, peninsular rocks contain most of the reserves of coal, metallic minerals, mica and many other non-metallic minerals. Sedimentary rocks on the western and eastern flanks of the peninsula, in Gujarat and Assam have most of the petroleum deposits. Rajasthan with rock systems of the peninsula, has reserves of many non-ferrous minerals.

The Monazite sands of Kerala is rich in Thorium.

Thorium, is also available in Jharkhand and the Aravalli ranges of Rajasthan.

It is used for generating atomic or nuclear power.

When an alteration is made in the structure of atoms, much energy is released in the form of heat and this is used to generate electric power.

Bauxite deposits are formed by the decomposition of a wide variety of rocks which are rich in aluminum silicates, leaving a residual mass of weathered material.