Panchpatmali
Topic: Mineral Resources of India: Distribution and Conservation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Minerals and Energy Resources"
Meaning
Panchpatmali is the most important bauxite deposit in Odisha. Bauxite is a clay-like ore that is turned into alumina and then into aluminium. Like most Indian bauxite, it is a residual deposit. This means that rain washed away the other parts of the surface rock and left the ore behind in laterite caps on top of plateaus. Odisha is India's leading bauxite state.
Example
Panchpatmali is in Koraput district, Odisha. NALCO, a public sector company, mines it. The bauxite goes to NALCO's alumina refinery at Damanjodi, and the alumina then goes to its aluminium smelter at Angul.
Don't confuse with
- Niyamgiri: these are bauxite hills in Odisha that were not mined, because the gram sabhas rejected the plan in 2013.
- Lohardaga: this is a bauxite area in the patlands (flat-topped plateaus) of Jharkhand, not Odisha.