MGMI Foundation day lecture delivered by
Prof. B. B. Bhattacharya
Director-in-Charge
Indian School of Mines
Dhanbad
At Karmik Bhavan, Dhanbad
NATIONAL MINERAL SCENARIO, TODAY AND TOMORROW
MINERAL SCENARIO TODAY
India is among the top ten mineral producing nations in the world and stands third in coal production after China and USA. The Indian economy to a great extend depends
, on the value of the minerals produced as these are the raw materials for the industrial
activities. The present production of coal of the order of about 320 MTY is supporting about 70,000 MW of thermal power generation and with the development planned for the next decade the quantum of power generation will increase to over 200,000 MW of\. which the share of thermal power will be about 150,000 M:W. Thus, in the next ten years it will be required to double the production of power grade coal.
The total value of the minerals being produced in the country has been increasing and it was Rs 45,233 crore in 1999-2000. During the last decade of 20th Century the production of coal, lignite, natural gas. Iron ore, bauxite, chromite, lead concentrates, zinc concentrates, manganese ore, appetite & phosphorite, dolomite and limestone increased while the production of petroleum (crude), barytes, copper concentrates, fire clay, kyanite, sillimanite, magnesite and mica (crude) ~ecreased. .In the year the share of fuel.minerals was 82% in the total value and that of the non-metallic minerals was about 10%. The share of the metallic minerals was only 7%. Among the states the share of MP (including Chattisgarh) was the highest followed by Jharkhand. Table 1 gives the details of the value of the minerals produced.
Table1:Value of mineral production in India(Million Rupees)
(Source:Indian Minerals Yearbook,2000)
| Sector
| 1997-98
| 1998-99
| 199-2000
| 2000-01
|
| Total:All sectors
| 440,940
| 445,504
| 452,335
|
|
| Fuels
| 364,978
| 367,430
| 372,268
|
|
| (a) Solid fuels
| 166,800
| 195,177
| 199,865
|
|
| (b)Liquid & gaseous fuels
| 198,178
| 172,253
| 172,403
|
|
| Metallic minerals
| 32,841
| 33,102
| 34,192
|
|
| Non-metallic minerals
| 15,914
| 17,405
| 18,307
|
|
| Minor minerals
| 27,207
| 27,567
| 27,567
|
|
Looking at the growth of the mIning sector in the country it is seen that since 1949, i.e., immediately after independence, the value of mineral production registered a significant growth from a mere Rs 65 crore to Rs 45233 crore. The value of fuel minerals rose (rom Its 49 crore to Its 37,227 crore while that of the all other minerals taken together the value rose form Rs 16 crore to Rs 8006 crore. The position of the country in the world scenario was as given in Table 2.
Table2:Number of operating mines in 1998-1999 and 1999-2000
(Source:Indian Minerals Yearbook,2000)
| Sector
| 1998-99
| 1999-2000
|
| All minerals*
| 3283
| 3100
|
| Coal(including lignite)
| 567
| 566
|
| Metallic minerals
| 621
| 561
|
| Non-metallic minerals
| 2095
| 1973
|
*Excluding petroleum and natural gas wells ,mines of 'minor'minerals
and minerals prescribed under the Atomic Energy Act,1962
The number of reporting mines declined in the last decade from 4,300 in 1990-91 to 3, 100 in 1999-2000 (Table 3). The decline was mainly in the number of mines of non- melallic minerals (from 3,017 to 1,973) and the mines of metallic minerals (from 578 to 561). The number of coal and lignite mines rose from 525 to 566). .In both the fuel mineral and non-fuel mineral sectors the overall production from the opencast mining increased while that form the underground mining decreased. The number of non-fuel underground mines decreased from 128 to 113 in the corresponding period.
Table3: Contribution and position of India in world production of the principal
minerals and metals in 1998
(Source:Indian Minerals Yearbook,2000)
| Commodity
| World
1998
| India
1998-99
| Contribution
%
| Rank
|
| Mineral fuels(Million tonne)
|
|
|
|
|
| Coal & lignite
| 4598
| 315.6
| 6.8
| 3rd
|
| Petroleum
| 3355
| 32.7
| 1.0
| 26th
|
| Metallic minerals(Thousand Tonne)
|
|
|
|
|
| Bauxite
| 125500
| 6609.5
| 5.2
| 6th
|
| Chromite
| 13200
| 1418.1
| 10.7
| 3rd
|
| Iron ore
| 1111000
| 72230.0
| 6.5
| 6th
|
| Manganese ore
| 23300
| 1537.7
| 6.6
| 6th
|
| Industrial minerals(Thousand tonne)
|
|
|
|
|
| Barytes
| 6200
| 660.8
| 10.6
| 2nd
|
| Kyanite,Andalusite & Sillmanite
| 360
| 18.2
| 5.1
| 3rd
|
| Magnesite
| 18500
| 349.8
| 1.9
| 13th
|
| Apatite & rock phosphate
| 135000
| 127.6
| 0.9
| 13th
|
| Talc/Steatite Pyrophyllite
| 7600
| 573.4
| 7.5
| 4th
|
| Mica(tonne)
| 300000
| 1484.0
| 0.5
| 1*
|
| Metals/alloys(Thousand tonne)
|
|
|
|
|
| Aluminium
| 22700
| 543.4
| 2.4
| 11th
|
| Copper(refined)
| 14000
| 148.8**
| 1.1
| 20th
|
| Steel(Crude)
| 776000
| 23333#
| 3.0
| 5th
|
| Lead(primary & secondary)
| 6000
| 47.9
| 0.8
| 21st
|
| Zinc(primary)
| 8000
| 173
| 2.1
| 21st
|
*World data relating to mica blocks and splittings is not available for 1998.As much India's ranking in mica blocks and splittings prodution which was hitherto No.1 is not known.However,it would descend to the 9th during 1998 if all forms are considered.Indian production in the table relates to crude mica only.
**Relates to copper production of primary
# Relates to steel ingots only