Distribution of Key Natural Resources across India and World. Bauxite | Lead & Zinc – Galena | Tungsten – Wolfram | Pyrites Distribution in India & World.

Bauxite

• 80 % of bauxite [ore of aluminium] ore is used for making aluminium.
• Found mainly as hydrated aluminium oxides.
• Total resources == 3,480 million tonnes == 84 per cent resource are of metallurgical grade

Bauxite Distribution in India

• Odisha alone accounts for 52 per cent
• Andhra Pradesh 18 per cent
• Gujarat 7 per cent
• Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra 5 per cent each
• Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand 4 per cent.
• Major bauxite resources are in the east coast in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
• India manages to export small quantities of bauxite.
• Major importers are Italy (60%), U.K. (25%), Germany (9%) and Japan (4%).

Odisha

• Largest bauxite producing state.
• One-third of the total production of India.
• Kalahandi and Koraput districts.
• Extends further into Andhra Pradesh
• The main deposits occur in Kalahandi, Koraput, Sundargarh, Bolangir and Sambalpur districts.

Chhattisgarh

• Second largest producer.
• Maikala range in Bilaspur, Durg districts and the Amarkantak plateau regions of Surguja, Raigarh and Bilaspur are some of the areas having rich deposits of bauxite.

Maharashtra

• Third largest producer.
• Largest deposits occur in Kolhapur district.
• Kolhapur district contain rich deposits with alumina content 52 to 89 per cent.
• Other districts: Thane, Ratnagiri, Satara and Pune.

Jharkhand

• Ranchi, Lohardaga, Palamu and Gumla districts.
• High grade ore occurs in Lohardaga.

Gujarat

• Jamnagar, Junagadh, Kheda, Kachchh, Sabarkantha, Amreli and Bhavnagar.
• The most important deposits occur in a belt lying between the Gulf of Kachchh and the Arabian sea through Bhavnagar, Junagadh and Amreli districts.
• Amarkantak plateau area, the Maikala range in Shandol, Mandla and Balaghat districts and the Kotni area of Jabalpur district are the main producers.

Bauxite Distribution – World

• Australia (31.34%),
• China (18.41%),
• Brazil (13.93%),
• Guinea (8.36%), etc.

Lead

• Malleable [can be hammered into thin sheets], soft, heavy and bad conductor.
• Lead is a constituent in bronze alloy and is used as an anti-friction metal.
• Lead oxide is used in cable covers, ammunition, paints, glass making and rubber industry.
• It is also made into sheets, tubes and pipes which are used as sanitary fittings.
• It is now increasingly used in automobiles, aeroplanes, and calculating machines.
• Lead nitrate is used in dyeing and printing.
• Lead does not occur free in nature. It occurs as a cubic sulphide known as GALENA.
• Galena is found in veins in limestones, calcareous slates and sandstones.

Zinc

• Zinc is a mixed ore containing lead & zinc.
• Zinc is found in veins in association with galena, chalcopyrites, iron pyrites and other sulphide ores.
• It is mainly used for alloying and for manufacturing galvanized sheets.
• It is also used for dry batteries, electrodes, textiles, die-casting, rubber industry and for making collapsible tubes containing drugs, pastes and the like.

Distribution of Lead and Zinc ores – India and World

• Rajasthan is endowed with the largest resources of lead-zinc ore (88.61 per cent),
• Andhra Pradesh (3.31 per cent),
• Madhya Pradesh (2.16 per cent),
• Bihar (1.67 per cent)
• Maharashtra 9 (1.35 per cent).
• Almost the entire production comes from Rajasthan.

Tungsten

• Ore of Tungsten is called
• Most important property is that of self-hardening which it imparts to steel.
• Over 95 per cent of the worlfram is used by the steel industry.
• Steel containing the requisite proportion of tungsten is mainly used in manufacturing amunitions, armour plates, heavy guns, hard cutting tools, etc.
• Tungsten is easily alloyed with chromium, nickel, molybdenum, titanium, etc. to yield a number of hard facing, heat and corrosion resistant alloys.
• It is also used for various other purposes such as electric bulb filaments, paints, ceramics, textiles, etc.

Distribution of Wolfram

• Karnataka (42 per cent)
• Rajasthan (27 per cent)
• Andhra Pradesh (17 per cent)
• Maharashtra (9 per cent)
• Remaining 5 per cent resources are in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal
• Domestic requirements are met by imports.

Pyrites

• Pyrite is a sulphide of iron.
• Chief source of sulphur.
• High proportion of sulphur is injurious to iron. Hence is it removed and used to produce sulphur.
• Sulphur is very useful for making sulphuric acid which in turn is used in several industries such as fertilizer, chemicals, rayon, petroleum, steel, etc.
• Elemental sulphur is useful for manufacturing explosives, matches, insecticides, fungicides and for vulcanizing rubber
• Pyrites occur in Son Valley in Bihar, in Chitradurga and Uttar Kannada districts of Karnataka and the pyritous coal and shale of Assam coalfields.
• It is widely distributed and scattered across the country.

Primary References: NCERT Geography, Indian Geography by Kullar [Amazon and Flipkart], Wikipedia, Geology.com