Mineral Resources India Iron, Coal, Aluminium, Copper,

Lead, Zinc
iasmania.com /mineral-resources-india-iron-coal-aluminium-copper-lead-zinc/

Metallic Ferrous Containing iron contents (Iron ores, Ni, Co, Mn etc.)

Non Ferrous Gold, Silver, Cu, Pb, Al, Zn etc.

Non Metallic Organic Fossil fuels Coal, Petroleum etc.

Inorganic Mica, Limestone, Graphite, Gypsom etc.

Iron & Coal Industries

Iron Ores

Magnetite Best quality iron ore containing 72 % iron (Have magnetic properties)
Hematite 60 70 % iron content
Limonite 40 60 % iron content
1/8
 Siderite ~ 40 % iron content

Iron-coal industry

Iron ore + coke + limestone + heat Pig iron

Pig iron ore processing cast-iron, wrought iron, steel and variety of alloys

Therefore, Essential inputs are:

iron ore, coking coal and limestone

water for cooling
energy for heating

Steel industry also requires dolomite, manganese etc. but in small quantities
Hence their presence is not the main deciding factor for the location

Deciding locations for iron-coal industry

2/8
 Near Forest
Near Coal mines
Near Coastal Areas

Near Forest

Until the end of medieval period, iron production was done on small scale
Energy was immobile (No wires to move electricity, No trains to move coal)
To produce five tons of iron, you had to chop down one acre of forest to get sufficient charcoal
Therefore, wood supply was primary factor for deciding location
Hence, smelters were usually setup near forest areas
Even in Modern times, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (Karnataka) was setup near jungle to get wood-
charcoal
Later it was switched to hydro-electricity from Sarawati river

Near coal fields

During the Industrial Revolution, iron and steel industry were setup near coalmines, due to following reasons
-

The coalfield region had a tradition of iron working based on charcoal

As a result coalfield areas already had the labour and technology
In Britain, iron ore was found embedded with coal seams same area provided both iron ore
+ coal
During that era, to process 1 tons of iron ore, you needed 8-12 tons of coal
Railway engines were also inefficient
So, weight-wise, it was cheaper to transport iron ore to coalfields rather than transporting coal
to iron ore site

Near coastal areas

By early 20th century the coal and iron ore mines in US-Europe started getting depleted
So, they started importing iron ore from other countries
As a result the iron space and steel industry started moving toward coastal sites to reduce cost of
transporting ores from port to factory via railways
Example Steel plants at Vishakhapatnam, Ratnagiri, Mangalore
3/8
Need for Coking coal

Iron ore has iron oxide but were only interested in iron
So, weve to get rid of the oxide part
Hence to remove the oxide part we blend it with carbon to form Carbon dioxide
Coking coal has high concentration of carbon, compared to cheap varieties of coal like Lignite
Therefore youve to mix the coking coal with iron ore

For heating you can use other variety of coal / even electricity

Steel Industries India

Jharkhand Jamshedpur (TISCO), Bokaro

West Bengal Durgapur, Burnpur
Odisha Rourkela
Chhattisgarh Bhilai
Andhra Pradesh Vishakhapatnam
Karnataka Vishveshwarya
Tamil Nadu Salem

Aluminium-Bauxite Refining

Bauxite to Alumina

Aluminum is an abundant mineral in the earth crust

But for mining or commercial scale exploitation, you require significant concentration of bauxite ore at one
particular site
Bauxite occurs frequently in the tropical areas where limestone rocks are exposed to weathering
First, Bauxite ore is crushed, washed and mixed with caustic soda to remove impurities

4/8
 Then it is dried in large furnaces to remove moisture content You get alumina
During this phase, ~50% or more weight loss happens
Hence, this process (of converting bauxite to Alumina) is done near the raw material side
Because less weight less transportation cost

Alumina to aluminum (By Electrolysis)

The white powder of alumina is dissolved in a bath Electric current is passed through it using carbon
electrodes alumina is converted to aluminum
Requires massive amount of electricity
Hence, aluminum smelting facilities are set up near sources of cheap electricity, rather than near to raw
material or near to final market

Aluminium Industry India

UP Hindalco (Birla)
Odisha Hirakund (Birla), Jharsuguda (Vedanta)
Chhattisgarh Korba (Vedanta)
BALCO Ratnagiri, Maharashtra
NALCO Koratpur, Odisha
MALCO Mettur, TN

Copper Refining India

5/8
 With 20th century, copper became important for electric industry
As the demand for copper increased, new mining-smelting technologies developed to utilize even lower
quality ores
Location principle for copper and aluminum industries same, but smelting process is different

Concentrating ore (Copper ore Blister copper)

Copper ore is soaked in water and mixed with oils

The copper revering matter floats on the top, and is separated out for further processing
After this concentrating stage, barely 2.5% of the original matter remains
Less weight less transportation cost, therefore, copper concentrating mills are set up near the raw material
(mines)
After this stage, sulfur and oxygen impurities are separated from the concentrated copper ore & we get
blister copper
Even in the state, the weight loss ratio is significant, therefore smelting is usually done near raw material

Blister to copper (Electrolysis)

Although Blister copper is 99% pure metal, but still unsuitable for manufacturing electronic wires, utensils etc.
Because it contains impurities of gold, silver, lead and zinc
Therefore, blister copper is refined via electrolysis method
Blister copper is immersed in a bath of copper sulphate, electricity is passed and impurities are removed
Here, the weight loss ratio is extremely small. (~1%)
So, there is no economic factor to setup copper refining factories near the raw material

Copper Refineries India

Hindustan Copper Khetri, Jhunjnu district, Rajasthan

BACLO Korba, Chhattisgarh

6/8
 Hindalco (Birla) Dahej, Bharuch district of Gujarat
Sterlite Industries Tutikorin, Tamil Nadu

Acid Industry

From the Copper refining process, by products can be used for making phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid
Copper smelting SO2gas Used in making Sulphuric Acid
Sulphuric acid + Rock Phosphate Phosphoric Acid which can further it can be used for making fertilizers
Rock Phosphate is usually imported, because SO 2gas is difficult to transport, so, better import rock
phosphate here
Hence, such acid industries are located in the vicinity of Copper refineries
Nowadays, copper refining companies have integrated plants to produce such acids within their premises

Copper Industry Challenges in India

Special copper alloys are still imported, because we dont have technology to produce them locally for e.g.
Beryllium copper
Mining & smelting technology is obsolete Causes substantial air pollution because of sulphur dioxide
emission
Still dont have technology for downstream copper products e.g. copper tubes for refrigeration/AC etc.
majority of them still imported.
Still dont have technology for complete recovery of precious metals such as Cobalt, Nickel etc from copper
concentration.
Producing 1 ton Copper from ore takes almost 14000 kwh energy, but producing 1 ton copper from
scrap/recycling takes only 1700 kwh.
However, scrap based copper smelter are not yet well established in India
Very few plants using scrap metal to recycle copper (e.g. Lonavala, Hyderabad)
Manpower requirement per tonne of finished copper is very high compared to developed countries due to less
automation.
There is huge gap between demand and supply, almost 70% copper is imported.
There is no smelter at Malanjkhand (MP) hence the concentrate has to be transported to Khetri (Rajasthan)
cost of production increases
Overall, Indian copper ore is average quality, hence mining/refining is a costly because copper yield is low

Lead and Zinc Industry

Lead and Zinc

7/8
 Ore concentrate (Smelting) Refining (Electrolysis)
Runs on the principle that certain minerals have an affinity for certain oils
Hence the ore is mixed with water, oil and chemicals
The mineral particles get attach with oil bubbles and float on the surface, foam (containing mineral particles)
is skimmed off

Location Factors

Concentration stage involves significant weight loss carried out near mining site.
Refining stage require lot of electricity done near large thermal plants /hydroelectric sites.
India doesnt have sufficient ores of Lead/Zinc, so majority of requirement met via imports.

State Ore Smelter

Jharkhand Lead At Tundoo

Andhra Pradesh Lead Vishakhapatnam, based on imported lead concentrates

Rajasthan Zinc
At Debari Ore comes from Rajpur-Dariba mines + via. import
At Chanderia Ore comes from Bhilwara

Kerala Zinc Based on imported zinc concentrates

8/8