Mineral

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

A mineral is a natural substance of organic or inorganic origin that has definite chemical and physical properties (Class 12 definition). Geologists use the Class 10 definition: "a homogenous, naturally occurring substance with a definable internal structure". Minerals are the raw material for metals, fuels, cement and fertiliser. They also feed India's metal-making and energy industries. Because they cannot be replaced once used up, India must plan carefully how to mine and conserve them.

Explanation

What makes something a mineral

• Natural origin. A mineral is made by nature, not in a factory.
• Organic minerals came from living things. Example: coal, which formed from buried plants.

• Inorganic minerals did not come from living things. Examples: iron ore, mica.

• Fixed make-up. Each mineral has definite chemical and physical properties.

• Homogenous means it is the same all the way through.

• Definable internal structure means its atoms sit in a fixed, regular pattern.

• Properties depend on how it formed. A mineral's colour, hardness, crystal form, lustre and density change with the physical and chemical conditions it formed in. Lustre means how the surface shines.

• More than 2,000 minerals are known, but only a few are common.
• Rocks are combinations of minerals. Some rocks are made of only one mineral. Limestone is an example.

Mineral and ore

• Ore: a mineral mixed with other elements, in a concentration high enough to make mining it pay.
• Every ore is a mineral, but not every mineral deposit is an ore. If the mineral is too thinly spread, mining it costs more than it earns.
• How the ore formed decides how easy and how costly it is to mine.
• A rich, thick deposit near the surface allows cheap open-cast mining (digging from the surface).
• A thin, deep vein needs costly underground mining.

Types of minerals (Class 12, Fig. 5.1)

Class	Type	Meaning	Examples
Metallic	Ferrous	Contains iron, or is used to make iron and steel	iron ore, manganese, chromite, nickel, cobalt
Metallic	Non-ferrous	Contains no iron	copper, bauxite, lead, zinc, tin
Metallic	Precious	Rare, high-value metals	gold, silver, platinum
Non-metallic	Organic (mineral fuels)	Formed from buried plants and animals	coal, petroleum
Non-metallic	Inorganic	No metal and no organic origin	mica, limestone, graphite, gypsum, dolomite, phosphate

• Metallic minerals give a metal when processed. Non-metallic minerals do not.
• Ferrous minerals make up about three-fourths of the value of India's metallic mineral production.
• India is poorly endowed with non-ferrous minerals, except bauxite (the ore of aluminium).
• Mica is India's most important non-metallic mineral.
• India produces about 100 minerals: 4 fuel, 11 metallic and 52 non-metallic minerals, with minor minerals making up the rest [3].
• Legal types (MMDR Act 1957):
• Major minerals are controlled by the Centre.
• Minor minerals (sand, building stone and similar) are controlled by the States.
• Atomic minerals (uranium, thorium-bearing monazite) fall under the Atomic Energy Act.

Characteristics of minerals

• Uneven distribution. Minerals are spread unevenly across space.
• Quality and quantity are inversely related. High-grade ore is found in small amounts. Low-grade ore is plentiful.
• Exhaustible. Minerals take geological ages to form and cannot be refilled. There is "no second crop", so they must be conserved.
• Workable deposits make up only about 1% of the earth's crust.
• Why mining gets costlier over time:
• The richest ore near the surface is mined first.
• Mines then go deeper, and the ore left is of lower grade.
• So each tonne of metal costs more, and more waste is left behind.

Where it occurs

• Peninsular plateau. Most of India's valuable minerals are pre-Palaeozoic, meaning more than about 540 million years old. They lie in the igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Peninsular plateau.
• Igneous rocks form when molten rock cools.

• Metamorphic rocks are rocks changed by heat and pressure.

• Northern plains. The northern alluvial plains are made of river-laid sediment and have almost no economic minerals.

• Iron ore (by value, 2009-10). Odisha 36%, Goa 22%, Karnataka 18%, Chhattisgarh 16% [3].
• Coal. Coal lies mostly in the Damodar, Mahanadi and Godavari valleys. In 2009-10, Jharkhand gave 22% of coal value, followed by Madhya Pradesh (16%) and Chhattisgarh (15%) [3].
• Beach-sand minerals (rutile, ilmenite, zircon, sillimanite, garnet). IREL (India) Ltd mines them at Chavara (Kerala), Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu) and the Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) in Odisha [2].

• IREL runs a Rare Earth Extraction Plant at Chatrapur (Odisha) and a Rare Earth Refining Unit at Aluva (Kerala) [2].

• Rare earths in Rajasthan [2]:

• Balotra holds about 1,11,845 tonnes of in-situ rare earth oxide (REO).
• GSI surveyed for neodymium in Sirohi and Bhilwara.

• 35 of GSI's 195 critical-mineral projects (2024-25) are in Rajasthan.

• Agencies.

• The Geological Survey of India (GSI), set up in 1851, assesses mineral resources [3].
• The Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) collects exploration data and makes mineral maps [3].

Don't confuse with

• Ore is a mineral deposit rich enough to mine at a profit. Every ore is a mineral, but not every mineral deposit is an ore.
• Rock is a combination of minerals. A mineral has one fixed make-up. Limestone is a rock made of a single mineral.
• Ferrous vs non-ferrous. In NCERT, nickel and cobalt are ferrous even though they are not iron. Copper, bauxite, lead, zinc and tin are non-ferrous.
• Critical mineral is a policy label, not a type of rock or mineral. It covers minerals that are vital for the economy and national security but whose supply is at risk [2]. A mineral like cobalt can be both ferrous (NCERT) and critical (policy).

Prelims Hooks

• Coal and petroleum are non-metallic organic minerals (mineral fuels). Mica, limestone, graphite and gypsum are non-metallic inorganic minerals.
• Bauxite is the only non-ferrous mineral India has in plenty. Ferrous minerals make up about three-fourths of the value of India's metallic mineral production.
• Titanium oxide in toothpaste comes from rutile and ilmenite. India mines them from beach sands at Chavara (Kerala), Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu) and OSCOM (Odisha) [2].
• 30 critical minerals were identified. 24 are in Part D of the MMDR Act's First Schedule, and only the Central Government can auction them [2].
• Minor minerals such as sand and building stone are regulated by State governments. The Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988 do not apply to coal, atomic minerals or minor minerals [3].
• GSI was set up in 1851 [3]. The Ministry of Mines handles survey and exploration of all minerals except petroleum and natural gas [3].

Mains Points

• Uneven distribution leads to unequal development (GS-I/GS-III)
• Minerals are concentrated in the peninsular plateau (Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka), so mining-led industry grows there.

• Many of these are tribal and forested districts, where mining displaces people and harms the environment.

• Exhaustibility and the inverse quality–quantity relation call for conservation

• High-grade ore is used up first, so mines go deeper and costs rise.

• Policy answers include beneficiation (upgrading low-grade ore), recycling, substitutes, and recovering minerals from fly ash, tailings and red mud [2].

• India is rich in some minerals and short of others, which shapes policy

• India is rich in ferrous minerals, bauxite and mica, but poor in non-ferrous and critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and REEs (rare earth elements).
• Depending on imports for these minerals puts clean-energy goals at risk.
• Responses:
  • the critical minerals list
  • Centre-run auctions under Part D
  • the National Critical Mineral Mission (2025), under which GSI is to run 1,200 exploration projects from 2024-25 to 2030-31 [2]
  • a new Exploration Licence to bring in private firms [2]
• Weak State control over minor minerals helps explain illegal sand mining.

Related concepts

• Ore
• Classification of minerals
• Characteristics of minerals
• Ferrous minerals
• Non-ferrous minerals
• Non-metallic minerals

Read more

• Minerals, ores and their classification