Mineral resources are one of the main components of the economic development of the state. With a variety of minerals, the country will not depend on external partners. At the same time, the emphasis will be on the development of areas with which the territory is rich. How it's done in India.
Features of the tectonic structure
By its tectonic structure, India is divided into three parts. The main territories of the country are located on the surface of the Hindustan plate. This part of the state is the most stable. In the northeast of modern India, the highest mountain range of the planet begins - the Himalayas, which was formed as a result of the collision of two plates - the Hindustan and Eurasian, with their subsequent unification into one continent. The same collision contributed to the formation of a trough of the earth's crust, which was later filled with alluvium and gave rise to the third part - the Indo-Gangetic plain. The relief features of India and minerals are closely related. The modern incarnation of the ancient plate -the Deccan plateau, which occupies almost the entire central and southern part of the country. It is it that is rich in deposits of various ore minerals, diamonds and other precious stones, as well as deposits containing coal and hydrocarbons.
Inventory summary
One can single out some feature of the state of India. Minerals containing ore: iron, copper, manganese, tungsten, as well as bauxite, chromite and gold, are located in the east and northeast of the country. In places of contact of the Deccan plateau with mountain ranges. Here, as well as on the more eastern plateau of Chhota Nagpur, the largest coal basins are concentrated. The raw materials of these deposits are not of high quality - they are mainly thermal coals and they are used as much as possible in the energy sector. South India is rich in bauxite, gold, and chromite deposits. Iron ore deposits are located in the central part of the country. Unlike coal mining, which is mainly aimed at the domestic market, the extraction of ore minerals is export-oriented. The coastal strip of the Indian coast has reserves of monazite sand, which contains thorium and uranium ores. And the question of what minerals India is rich in can be answered - all. And the presence of large deposits of precious metals - gold and silver - has allowed India, literally, to become the main source of jewelry in the world.
Ore minerals
Practically devoid of ore mineralsresources of the western lowland parts of the country and the mountainous northern lands of the state of India. The relief and minerals in this country are interconnected. Therefore, almost all ore deposits are associated with the Deccan Plateau. Its northeast is rich in huge deposits of various resources - iron, chromium, and manganese are mined here. Iron ore reserves are estimated at twelve billion tons. And they mine ore on such a scale that the local metallurgy does not have time to process it.
Therefore, most of the ore mined is exported. Indian manganese ores and chromites are famous for their high content of useful substances. And the polymetallic ores of the country are rich in zinc, lead and copper. Separately, it is necessary to highlight special fossils - monazite sands. They are found on many of the world's coasts, but India has the largest concentration of them. Minerals of this type have a large component of radioactive ores - thorium and uranium. The country profitably used the presence of this component on its territory, which allowed it to become a nuclear power. In addition to radioactive substances, monazite sands contain a sufficient amount of titanium and zirconium.
Non-metallic minerals
The main mineral of this type is hard coal, which accounts for ninety-seven percent of Indian coal reserves. Most of the deposits are located in the east and northeast of the Deccan Plateau and the Chhota Nagpur Plateau. Explored coal reserves are the seventh in the world. But the extraction of this fossil is sevenpercent of the global value - the highest among other countries.
Coal is used mainly as a fuel for thermal power plants. Only a small amount of it is involved in metallurgy. The extraction of brown coal in the country is insignificant. This fossil is only used as fuel. The northeastern lands are also rich in oil reserves. Until the middle of the last century, these were the only oil deposits that India knew. Minerals of this type from that period began to be explored throughout the country and large deposits were found in the west of the country and on the shelves of the Arabian Sea. The country produces more than forty million tons of oil annually, but this is not enough for the booming Indian industry, so the country has to import a significant part of the oil.
Jewelry leader
What else is India famous for? Minerals that are of significant importance in the life of the country were listed above. Almost everything - only precious metals and precious stones were not mentioned.
For several millennia, all the world's diamonds were mined in India near Golconda, in the eastern part of the Deccan Plateau. By the eighteenth century, it turned out that these deposits were practically empty. At the same time, large deposits were discovered in Africa, Canada, Siberia, and Indian diamonds began to be forgotten. Relatively small by world standards, diamond mining and the presence of platinum and gold components inore deposits in the east and northeast of the country have made India a world leader in jewelry.
