Copper

Topic: Mineral Resources of India: Distribution and Conservation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Minerals and Energy Resources"; Class 12, Ch 5 "Mineral and Energy Resources"

Meaning

Copper is a non-ferrous metal (a metal with no iron in it) that is malleable (can be beaten into sheets), ductile (can be drawn into thin wires) and a very good conductor of electricity and heat. It is the main metal in electric cables, wires, motors, transformers and generators. India has little copper and buys much of it from abroad, so copper is now listed among India's 30 critical minerals (2023) [3].

Explanation

Properties: why copper is so useful

• Malleable: it can be beaten into thin sheets.
• Ductile: it can be drawn into long, thin wires. This is why most electric wiring is made of copper.
• Good conductor: electricity and heat pass through it easily.
• Easy to alloy: copper mixes well with other metals. For example, a little copper is added to gold to make jewellery harder and stronger.
• Uses: electric cables and wires, motors, transformers, generators, electronics and the chemical industry.

Where copper ore forms in India

• India's copper is found in the old rocks of the Peninsula.
• The main deposits lie in old metamorphic belts. Metamorphic rocks are rocks changed by great heat and pressure deep inside the earth.

• Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Balaghat (Madhya Pradesh) and Khetri (Rajasthan) are all belts of this kind.

• This is why copper mining, like most non-ferrous mining, is found in peninsular India and not in the Northern Plains.

From ore to metal: the supply chain

• Step 1, mining: copper ore is dug out. Output was 3,326 thousand tonnes in 2022-23, 7% less than the 3,570 thousand tonnes of 2021-22 [2].
• Step 2, smelting: the ore is heated to give blister copper, which is impure copper. India made zero blister copper in 2022-23 [2].
• Step 3, refining: this gives pure copper cathode. Output was 554 thousand tonnes in 2022-23, 14% more than the year before [2].
• Why blister copper output fell to zero:
• The Sterlite smelter at Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) closed in 2018.
• Since then India has had to depend more on imported copper concentrate (ore that has been processed to raise its copper content).

• So recycling copper scrap has become an important source of supply.

• By-product gold: when imported copper is refined, some gold is recovered with it. This gold is counted in India's total gold output of 13,854 kg in 2022-23 [2].

Why copper is a "critical mineral"

• A critical mineral is a mineral that matters a great deal to the economy and to national security, but whose supply is at risk because it comes from only a few sources and is mostly imported.
• In 2022-23, copper ores and concentrates were India's second-largest mineral import by value (8.38%), after diamonds [2].
• In 2023, copper was put on India's list of 30 critical minerals [3].
• The MMDR Amendment Act, 2023 added 24 of these minerals to Part D of the First Schedule of the MMDR Act, 1957, as "critical and strategic minerals" [4][3].

Where it occurs

Belt	State	Key mines / notes
Singhbhum	Jharkhand	Ghatsila, Mosabani, the old copper belt
Balaghat	Madhya Pradesh	Malanjkhand, India's largest open-cast copper mine (NCERT Fig. 5.4)
Khetri belt	Rajasthan	Jhunjhunu (Khetri) and Alwar
Minor deposits	Andhra Pradesh	Agnigundala (Guntur)
Minor deposits	Karnataka	Chitradurga and Hassan
Minor deposits	Tamil Nadu	South Arcot

• Open-cast mine (Malanjkhand): the ore is dug from a large open pit at the surface, not from tunnels underground.
• Hindustan Copper Ltd, a public sector company, runs these mines.
• Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) was the site of the Sterlite smelter, which closed in 2018.

Don't confuse with

• Bauxite: also a non-ferrous ore, but India has a lot of it and is self-sufficient in aluminium [2]. Bauxite is not on the 2023 critical minerals list, and copper is [3].
• Lead-zinc: also non-ferrous, but nearly all of it comes from Rajasthan's Aravalli rocks (Rampura Agucha, Zawar and others), and India is self-sufficient in zinc [2]. Khetri in Rajasthan is a copper mine, not a zinc mine.
• Ferrous minerals (iron ore, manganese): these contain iron. Copper contains no iron, so it is non-ferrous.
• Hindustan Copper Ltd vs Hindustan Zinc Ltd: Hindustan Copper is a public sector company that runs the copper mines. Hindustan Zinc runs the lead-zinc mines in Rajasthan, and Vedanta owns about 64.9% of it [5].

Prelims Hooks

• Malanjkhand is in Balaghat, Madhya Pradesh. It is India's largest open-cast copper mine.
• Khetri is in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan. Ghatsila and Mosabani are in Singhbhum, Jharkhand. Agnigundala is in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
• Trap: Balaghat is a copper area and a bauxite area (MP). Khetri is copper, not zinc.
• Copper ores and concentrates were India's 2nd-largest mineral import by value (8.38%) in 2022-23, after diamonds [2].
• Copper is one of the 30 critical minerals (2023). Bauxite and zinc are not [3].
• The Sterlite copper smelter at Thoothukudi (Tamil Nadu) closed in 2018. India made zero blister copper in 2022-23 [2].

Mains Points

• Distribution (GS-I): copper is found in the old metamorphic belts of the Peninsula: Singhbhum (Jharkhand), Balaghat (MP) and Khetri (Rajasthan). Smaller deposits are in AP, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

• The deposits are few and widely scattered, which limits domestic supply and makes India depend on imports.

• Resource security (GS-III): India has surplus bauxite, aluminium and zinc but is short of copper.

• Cause: small reserves, and the Thoothukudi smelter has been shut since 2018.
• Effect: copper ores and concentrates make up 8.38% of the mineral import bill (2022-23) [2]. Demand from power lines, motors and electronics keeps growing.

• Policy responses: copper added to the critical minerals list (2023), the MMDR Amendment Act, 2023, exploration for deep-seated deposits, buying overseas mines, and scrap recycling [3][4].

• Conservation: India has little ore and its high-grade ores are being used up. This argues for recycling copper scrap, using low-grade ores, and recovering by-products such as gold from copper refining (counted in the 13,854 kg total gold output of 2022-23) [2].

Related concepts

• Bauxite
• Panchpatmali
• Niyamgiri bauxite case
• Rampura Agucha mine
• Hutti gold mine

Read more

• Non-ferrous minerals: bauxite, copper, lead-zinc and gold