Minerals and Energy Resources Test - 2

Copper being a good conductor of electricity, has a very low resistance and it is readily available and is very cheap and reasonable. It is highly ductile and malleable in nature and so allows flow of electricity through it very rapidly. So, it is used in electrical cables and electronic industries. India is critically deficient in the reserve and production of copper. Major copper ore deposits are located in Singhbhum district (Jharkhand), Balghat district (Madhya Pradesh) and Jhunjhunu and Alwar districts (Rajasthan). In addition, there are small deposits in Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

Potash is found in many places in the world but is not found in ocean waters and ocean beds. Although magnesium can be obtained from the minerals dolomite and carnalite, outside China, its main source is seawater and briny lakes. Each cubic kilometre of seawater contains more than a million tons of magnesium compounds. The two ions that are present most often in seawater are chloride and sodium. These two make up over 90% of all dissolved ions in seawater. By the way, the concentration of salt in seawater (salinity) is about 35 parts per thousand. The most recoverable form of bromine is from soluble salts found in seawater, salt lakes, inland seas and brine wells.

Bituminous coal is the most popular coal in commercial use. Anthracite, often referred to as hard coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highest ranking of coals. Lignite is a low-grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content. Metallurgical coal is high grade bituminous coal which has a special value for smelting iron in blast furnaces.

Tidal energy is produced by the surge of ocean waters during the rise and fall of tides. Tidal energy is a renewable source of energy. Various ways were developed to use tidal movement to generate electricity in areas where there is a significant tidal range—the difference in area between high tide and low tide. All methods use special generators to convert tidal energy into electricity. No experimental projects to harness tidal energy in India have been established as yet. Gulf of Kuchchh in Gujarat on the western coast and the other in the Gangetic delta in Sunderban region of West Bengal are the sites where conditions are ideal for harnessing tidal energy, but it hasn't been done as yet.

Aluminium is a silvery-white, lightweight metal. It is soft and malleable. Aluminium is used in a huge variety of products including cans, foils, kitchen utensils, window frames, beer kegs and aeroplane parts. Aluminium is an important metal because it combines the strength of metals such as iron, with extreme lightness and also with good conductivity and great malleability.

Coal is the most abundantly found fossil fuel in India. Its three major forms are Anthracite, Bituminous and Lignite. Coal is of more than three types. Anthracite: The highest rank of coal. It is a hard, brittle, and black lustrous coal, often referred to as hard coal, containing a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter.
Bituminous: Bituminous coal is a middle rank coal between subbituminous and anthracite. Bituminous usually has a high heating (Btu) value and is the most common type of coal used in electricity generation in the United States. Bituminous coal appears shiny and smooth when you first see it, but look closer and you may see it has layers.
Subbituminous: Subbituminous coal is black in color and dull (not shiny), and has a higher heating value than lignite.
Lignite: Lignite coal, aka brown coal, is the lowest grade coal with the least concentration of carbon.
Also, there is peat. Peat is not actually coal, but rather the precursor to coal. Peat is a soft organic material consisting of partly decayed plant and, in some cases, deposited mineral matter. When peat is placed under high pressure and heat, it becomes coal.

Metallic minerals, as the name suggests, are the minerals containing one or more metals. These usually occur as mineral deposits and are a great heat and electricity conductor, such as iron, copper, silver, bauxite, manganese.
Metallic minerals are classified into two categories:
(1) Ferrous minerals: The metallic minerals that contain iron are known as ferrous minerals. In the total production of metallic minerals, 75% is constituted by ferrous metallic minerals. Its common examples include iron ore, manganese, chromite and nickel.
(2) Non-Ferrous minerals: The metallic minerals that don't contain iron are known as non-ferrous minerals. They don't have magnetic properties and are generally more resistant to corrosion than ferrous minerals.

A mineral is a naturally occurring organic and inorganic substance, having an orderly atomic structure and a definite chemical composition and physical properties. A mineral is composed of two or more elements. But, sometimes single element minerals like sulphur, limestone, copper, silver, gold, graphite, etc. are found. Bauxite is a rock composed mainly of aluminium-bearing minerals. It forms when laterite soils are severely leached of silica and other soluble materials in a wet tropical or subtropical climate.
Granite is formed from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly solidifies underground. It is common in the Earth's continental crust, where it is found in bodies called plutons. These range in size from dikes only a few inches across to batholiths exposed over hundreds of square kilometres. Limestones are composed only of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) in the mineral form calcite, but there are several other important carbonate minerals with which limestones are associated.

In sedimentary rocks a number of minerals occur in beds or layers. They have been formed as a result of deposition, accumulation and concentration in horizontal strata. In igneous and metamorphic rocks, minerals may occur in the cracks, crevices, faults or joints. The smaller occurrences are called veins and the larger are called lodes. Examples are minerals like tin, copper, zinc, lead etc.

India has great potential of wind power. The largest wind farm cluster is located in Tamil Nadu from Nagarcoil to Madurai. Apart from these, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra and Lakshadweep have important wind farms. Nagarcoil and Jaisalmer are well known for effective use of wind energy in the country.

A non-ferrous metal is a metal, including alloys, that does not contain iron in appreciable amounts.. Non ferrous metallic minerals include metals such as copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, gold, silver, cobalt, chromium, zinc, lead, bismuth, tin, tungsten, tantalum, or niobium.

The Kudremukh mines located in the Western Ghats of Karnataka are a 100 per cent export unit. Kudremukh deposits are known to be one of the largest in the world. The ore is transported as slurry through a pipeline to a port near Mangalore.

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 the rock systems of the peninsula has reserves of many non-ferrous minerals.

Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt lies in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. It lies in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh. Very high grade hematite is found in this belt. The range of hills has 14 deposits of super high grade hematite iron ore. It has the best physical properties needed for steel making. Iron ore from these mines is exported to Japan and South Korea via Vishakhapatnam port.

Limestone is found in association with rocks composed of calcium carbonates or calcium and magnesium carbonates. It is found in sedimentary rocks of most geological formations. Limestone is the basic raw material for the cement industry and essential for smelting iron ore in the blast furnace.