Jharkhand is a state of Mines. Minerals and Industries. Mines are located in almost all parts of state. Dhanbad District are known as coal capital of India, Koderma District is known as Mica capital of India, Singbhum District (Jamshedpur and Chaibasa) is the home of Tata industries and rich in iron and ore as well as Bokaro District has Asia’s largest steel production centre setup by government of India.

Iron Ore

The total reserve of Hematite in Jharkhand region is over 3000 million tones. Out of this total reserves 2000 million tones occur in Chiria, near Monoharpur in the Singbhum district is one of the largest single deposits of the world. The average quality of Chiria deposits 62-63% Fe content which should be judiciously exploited in, phased manner to suit the long term need of our country.

Coal

Almost 100% of prime coking coal, 93% of medium coking coal and about 30% of the semi coking coal or bendable coal reserves are available in Jharkhand. The total reserves of the coal in Jharkhand is of the order 69128 million tones which spread over Jharia, Bokaro, Rajmahal, Hazaribagh and Chatra area.

Copper

Singhbhum Copper Belt comprises of a Proterozoic volcano-sedimentary rock that creates a shear zone known as Singhbhum shear zone. Copper mineralization in SCB is localized along this shear zone. Prominent deposits of the belt are Chapri, Rakha, Surda, Kendadih, Pathargora and Dhobani. Other deposits are: Turamdih, Ramchandrapahar, Nandup, Bayanbil and Dhadkidih (Singhbhum, Jharkhand).

Indian Copper Corporation Ltd was established by a British company in 1930 at Ghatsila consisting of a cluster of underground copper mines, concentrator plants and smelter. On 25.09.72 the Govt. of India nationalized the company under provisions of the Indian Copper Corporation (Acquisition of Undertaking Act) and merged the same with HCL. Today it falls under the sate of Jharkhand, under the jurisdiction of east Singbhum district. 

Sindri: The famous fertiliser complex, 30 kms away from Dhanbad, is located on the bank of Damodar River.

Uranium

Jaduguda: Located in East Singhbhum district, it is the first place where exploration followed by exploratory mining was undertaken. Soon after, exploitation was undertaken by UCIL in 1967. Mining is still in progress and mineralisation has been found to continue beyond 900 meters vertical depth.  Here the mineralisation is associated with conglomerate and chlorite schist of Singhbhum group of Proterozoic age.

Bhatin: It lies 2 km west of Jaduguda along the Singhbhum shear zone.  Mineralisation is associated with brecciated quartzite and biotite chlorite schist, which are highly sheared. Mining is in progress.

Narwapahar: It lies 10 km west of Jaduguda along the Singhbhum shear zone.  The host rock for uranium mineralisation is chlorite-quartz schist and the mineralisation is spread over 2000 meters strike length.  Currently this deposit is under exploitation by UCIL.

Turamdih: A cluster of deposits (Turamdih-East, Turamdih-South, Turamdia-West, Keruadurgri) occur in proximity to each other at Turamdih located nearly 20 kms west of Jaduguda. Uranium mineralisation is associated with chlorite quartz schist. At Turamdih (East) the mineralisation is spread over 2 km X 1 km area and the entire resource occurs within a vertical depth of 200 meters. Mining of Turamdih east deposit is in progress by UCIL.

Mohuldih: It is located 5 km west of Turamdih. The host rock is tourmaline bearing quartz schist, quartzite and chlorite quartz schist.  Mineralisation is established over 1 km strike length and within a vertical depth of 250 m. 

Bagjata: It is located nearly 25 km South East of Jaduguda. Uranium mineralisation is hosted by quartz chlorite  biotite schist.   The mineralisation is spread over 450 m strike length with a vertical persistence of 260m.

Other smaller uranium occurrences along this shear zone, in a similar geological set up are (i) Kanyaluka (ii) Garadih (ii) Nimdih (iv) Rajgaon and (v) Nandup.

Lime Stone

There are 22 mines of limestone in Jharkhand having a total reserve of 563 million tones in Palamu, Hazaribag, Singbhum and Ranchi districts. All grades of lime stone (BF, SMS and Cement grade) are available in these mines.

Graphite

The Graphite reserve of Jharkhand is mainly located in Palamu district. The most important deposit of Palamu district is located at Sokra, Satbarba, Barwadih area where both flaky and amorphous graphite occur in lumpy form. A reserve of 0.6 million tones with 50 to 60% carbon content has been estimated at Sokra. The deposits of Palamu district are being mined mainly by State Mineral Development Corporation and few private parties.

Granite and ornamental stones

Extensive deposits of granite and ornamental stones such as dolomites, gabber, peridolite, banded hematite jasper and migmatites etc. are also available in this state. Based on the IBM reports, the granite reserved are estimated to be around 19 millions cu.mt.

Fireclay

Fireclay deposits are available in the coal bearing region of Dhanbad, Hazaribag, Giridih, Ranchi and Palamu district. Out of the total 703 million tones reserves in the country, Jharkhand has over 47 million tones deposits of fireclay.

© Copyright 2005-10 Jharkhand Org