Material resource in our country

India has a large number of economically useful minerals and they constitute about one quarter of the world’s known mineral resources. Following are the five most commonly used material resources in India:
1. Iron (Fe): India is ranked 4th in the world in terms of iron ore. The total recoverable reserves are about 9602 million tons of Hematite and 3408 million tons of Magnetite. Leading states in Iron reserve are Jharkhand, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamilnadu.

2. Chromium (Cr): India is ranked 3rd in terms of Chromite reserve in the world. Chromium plays an important role in the development of high grade Fe-Cr alloys and Steel. Current reserve of Chromite is estimated to be approximately 124 million tons.

3. Aluminium (Al): India has 5th largest stock of Bauxite (ore of Aluminium). The total reserve is estimated as 3 billion tons. However, the production of Aluminium in the country is quite low. Our share in the capacity of Aluminium production is between 3-5%. Leading states are Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujrat and J&K.

4. Manganese (Mn): India has 6th largest stock of this material. It has a wide range of application ranging from the production of steel, ferro-alloys, ceramic glasses, chemicals and batteries. Total resource is estimated to be about 167 million tons. Leading states are Karnataka, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujrat and Andhra Pradesh.

5. Limestone: Total recoverable reserves of limestone in India is placed at 76,446 million tons. Currently, India is ranked 2nd in the production of cement based on limestone in the world. The estimated production is about 114.2 million tons.