Hello, students, in this module we will learn about the distribution of minerals in India.

India is fortunate to have fairly rich and varied mineral resources. So, we have minerals resources found in large quantities and as well as that we have variety of minerals found in our country of India. However, the distribution of these minerals is not even. Rather it is much more uneven distribution in our country. Broadly speaking the Peninsular rocks contains maximum reserves of mineral deposits like coal, metallic mineral, mica and many other non-metallic minerals. So, out of all the major sub divisions of India, the Peninsular plateau region of India has maximum mineral deposits.

Let’s look at distribution in our country. The sedimentary rocks on the western and the eastern flanks of India that is the western part and the eastern part of India, especially, the states of Gujarat and Assam have most of the petroleum deposits. If you look at Rajasthan it has a rock system similar to the Peninsular region and that is why this region has large reserves of non-ferrous minerals. If you look at the North Indian plains, the dark green area which is shown in the map, this region is called as alluvial plains of India. The vast alluvial plains of North India are almost devoid of economic minerals. It means this entire region has very limited distribution of important minerals. These variations exist largely because of the differences in the geological structure of all these various regions, the processes and the time involved in the formation of minerals.

Let us now study the distribution of a few major minerals in India. But before we do that, we need to always remember that the concentration of minerals in the ore, the ease of extraction of the minerals and the closeness to the market plays a very important role in affecting economical viability that is the affordability of the reserve. Thus, to meet the demand, a choice has to be made between the number of possible options. When that choice is made, when it is done, a mineral deposit or a reserve turns into a mine.

Now, let us concentrate on very first on the ferrous minerals that is the minerals containing iron. Ferrous minerals accounts for about 3/4^th of the total value of production of metallic minerals in our country of India. They provide a strong base for the development of metallurgical industries. India exports substantial quantities of ferrous minerals after meeting her internal demands. So, we will learn about the very first ferrous minerals that is iron ore in the next module, thank you.