Mineral and Energy Resources
What minerals are
Distinguish ferrous from non-ferrous minerals.
Most of India's valuable minerals formed in the pre-Palaeozoic age, over 500 million years ago. They are found in the metamorphic and igneous rocks of the peninsular plateau.
The vast northern alluvial plains, made of river deposits, have no minerals of economic use.
Minerals are of two kinds:
- Metallic: ferrous (containing iron: iron ore, manganese) or non-ferrous (copper, bauxite).
- Non-metallic: organic (fossil fuels: coal, petroleum) or inorganic (mica, limestone, graphite).
Three facts about minerals: they are unevenly spread; high-quality ores are scarce; and they are exhaustible. Once used up, they are gone: minerals have no second crop.
Minerals have no second crop.
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