Mineral Belts of India

The following mineral belts may be identified in India (Fig. 7.1):

1. The Cholanagpur Bell This belt stretches over, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and West Bengal. This region is rich in coal, mica, manganese, chromite, ilmenite, bauxite, iron, uranium phosphate, copper, dolomite, china-clay, and limestone. The important mineral producing districts are Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Palamu, Ranchi, Santhal-Pargana, and Singhbhum in Jharkhand; Cuttack, Dhankenal, Kendujhar (Keonjhar), Koraput, Mayurbhanj, Sambhalpur, and Sundargarh in Odisha; and Bankura, Birbhum, Medinipur and Purulia in West Bengal. This region contains almost 100% of kyanite reserves, 93% of iron ore, 84% coal, and 70% of chromite of the country.

2. The Midland Belt This belt sprawls over the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. This belt is rich in manganese ore, bauxite, mica, copper, graphite, limestone, lignite, marble, and limestone.

Fig. 7.1 Mineral Belts

3. The Southern Belt It stretches over the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This belt is rich in gold, iron ore, chromite, manganese, lignite, mica, bauxite, gypsum, asbestos, dolomite, ilmenite, china-clay, and limestone.

4. The Western Belt This belt stretches over the states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The belt is rich in non-ferrous metals like copper, lead, zinc, uranium, mica, manganese, salt, asbestos, building stonnes, precious stonnes, mineral oil, and natural gas.

5. The South-Western Belt This belt sprawls over Goa, Karnataka, and Kerala. It contains the deposits of iron ore, ilmenite, zircon, monazite sands, garnet, china-clay, bauxite, mica, limestone, and soapstone.

6. The Himalayan Belt In general, the I limalayan belt is poor in metallic minerals. There are, however, valuable pockets of minerals, like copper, lead, zinc, bismuth, bauxite, antimony, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, precious stonnes, gold, silver, gypsum, limestone, and dolomite in the Himalayas.

7. The Indian Ocean The continental shelf of the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are rich in mineral oil and natural gas. The seabed also contains high grade nodules of manganese, phosphate, barium, aluminium, silicon, iron, titanium, sodium, potassium, chromium, monazite, ilmenite, magnetite, and garnet. The best quality of nodules are found at a depth of about 4000 metres.