This MCQ module is based on: Non-Metallic Minerals & Conventional Energy
TOPIC 14 OF 27
Non-Metallic Minerals & Conventional Energy
🎓 Class 12
Social Science
CBSE
Theory
Chapter 5 — Mineral and Energy Resources
⏱ ~28 min
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Non-Metallic Minerals & Conventional Energy Resources of India
NCERT India: People and Economy — Unit III, Chapter 5 (Part 2)
Non-Metallic Minerals
Among non-metallic minerals produced in India, mica is the most important. The other minerals extracted, mainly for local consumption, are limestone, dolomite, gypsum, asbestos and phosphate. None of these is glamorous in itself, but together they keep the cement plants, glass factories, fertiliser units and electrical insulators of India working.
Mica
Mica? is mainly used in the electrical and electronic industries. It can be split into very thin, transparent sheets that are simultaneously tough and flexible — a rare combination — and that resist heat and electricity, which is why it is used as an insulator in capacitors, transformers and microwaves.
Mica is produced in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Rajasthan, followed by Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
| State | Mining belt & key fact |
|---|---|
| Jharkhand | High-quality mica from a belt extending about 150 km in length and 22 km in width in the lower Hazaribagh plateau (centred on Koderma) |
| Andhra Pradesh | Nellore district produces the best quality mica |
| Rajasthan | The mica belt extends about 320 km from Jaipur to Bhilwara and around Udaipur |
| Karnataka | Mysuru and Hasan districts |
| Tamil Nadu | Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli, Madurai, Kanniyakumari |
| Other | Alleppey (Kerala); Ratnagiri (Maharashtra); Purulia & Bankura (West Bengal) |
Limestone, Dolomite, Gypsum & Asbestos
Limestone is the basic raw material for the cement and iron-and-steel industries (as flux). It is widely distributed: large reserves exist in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Dolomite, a magnesium-rich variant of limestone, is used in the steel industry as a flux and a refractory; it is mined in Chhattisgarh (Bhandarpani), Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
Gypsum is calcium sulphate; it is the white powder that gives Plaster of Paris and is also added to cement to slow setting time. India’s gypsum is concentrated in Rajasthan (especially Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Barmer) and is also found in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir.
Asbestos — the fibrous mineral used in fire-resistant cloth, brake linings and roofing — is mined in small quantities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. Because of health hazards, its use is now strictly regulated.
Conservation of Mineral Resources
Resources of the mineral kingdom are exhaustible: every tonne mined is one tonne less in the ground. Conservation does not mean leaving everything underground; it means using minerals so that future generations can also depend on them.
Recycling Scrap
Re-melting copper, lead and zinc from scrap saves both ore and energy. Use of scrap is especially significant where Indian reserves are meagre — copper, lead and zinc.
Substitutes
Plastics replace some metals; aluminium replaces copper; fibre-optic cables replace copper wire in telecom — cutting demand for scarce metals.
Regulated Extraction
Strategic and scarce minerals must be exported less, so the existing reserve may be used for a longer period. Mining leases must include reclamation conditions.
R&D & Technology
Improved beneficiation, deep-sea mining research and use of low-grade ores extend reserves and reduce waste.
Think About It — The conservation calculus
India is a major exporter of iron ore but imports about 80% of its crude oil. Why does the same logic of “mineral conservation” lead to different policy choices for these two cases?
Hint: Iron-ore reserves are abundant (4th largest globally) and the country has an exportable surplus, so a partial export ban + value-addition (steel) is logical. Crude-oil reserves are limited, so conservation here means reducing demand — switching to gas, renewables and electric vehicles — rather than restricting exports. Conservation strategy must match the reserve–demand profile of each mineral.
Energy Resources: An Overview
Mineral fuels — coal, petroleum and natural gas — together with nuclear-energy minerals are the conventional sources of energy. They power agriculture, industry, transport and domestic life. They are exhaustible and largely polluting. The alternatives are non-conventional or renewable sources — solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass — which are equitably distributed and environment-friendly.
Fig 5.3 — Classification of Energy Resources
Conventional Energy — Coal
Coal is one of the most important minerals which is mainly used in the generation of thermal power and the smelting of iron ore. India holds the third-largest coal reserves in the world after the USA and China. Coal in India occurs in rock sequences mainly of two geological ages: Gondwana (Carboniferous to Triassic, ~250 million years old, accounting for almost 98 per cent of reserves) and Tertiary (~55 million years old, ~2 per cent).
Definition — Grades of Coal
Anthracite: the highest grade with 80–95% carbon and very little smoke (rare in India — only Jammu & Kashmir).Bituminous: 60–80% carbon — the workhorse of coal types and the bulk of Indian Gondwana coal; about 80 per cent of Indian deposits are of bituminous type and of non-coking grade.
Lignite: 30–50% carbon (also called brown coal); large deposits at Neyveli (Tamil Nadu) and smaller ones in Puducherry, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir.
Peat: the youngest, lowest-rank fuel with under 30% carbon — not commercially mined in India.
Gondwana Coalfields — Damuda Series
The most important Gondwana coal fields of India are located in the Damodar Valley (Jharkhand–West Bengal coal belt). The principal fields are Raniganj, Jharia, Bokaro, Giridih and Karanpura. Jharia? is the largest coal field in India, followed by Raniganj.
Other river valleys associated with coal are the Godavari, Mahanadi and Sone. The most important coal-mining centres outside Damodar are:
- Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh (a part of the field lies in Uttar Pradesh)
- Korba in Chhattisgarh
- Talcher and Rampur in Odisha
- Chandra–Wardha, Kamptee and Bander in Maharashtra
- Singareni in Telangana and Pandur in Andhra Pradesh
Tertiary Coal & Lignite
Tertiary coals occur in the north-eastern states — Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland. They are extracted from Darangiri, Cherrapunji, Mewlong and Langrin (Meghalaya); Makum, Jaipur and Nazira in upper Assam; Namchik — Namphuk in Arunachal Pradesh; and Kalakot in Jammu & Kashmir. Brown coal or lignite? occurs in the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu (Neyveli), Puducherry, Gujarat and J&K.
Chart — Indian coal production by region (1950 vs 2024, indicative shares)
Damodar Valley (Jharia, Raniganj) dominated in 1950; today output is more spread between Damodar, Mahanadi (Talcher, Korba) and Godavari/Singareni belts.
Let’s Explore — Damodar Valley as India’s ‘Black Diamond’
List the four large coal fields of the Damodar Valley belt and explain why almost all of India’s integrated steel plants of the colonial and Nehru era were sited within or near them.
Fields: Raniganj (West Bengal), Jharia, Bokaro, Karanpura (Jharkhand). Reasons for steel-plant clustering: coking coal was scarce nationally and very heavy to transport; iron ore lay only ~150 km south at Singhbhum; the Damodar river provided process water and coal-washing water; the Eastern and South-Eastern Railways linked the belt to Calcutta port for export; British and Indian capital was already concentrated in Bengal. The combination produced Asansol, Jamshedpur (Tata, 1907), Burnpur, Durgapur (1955), Bokaro (1972), Rourkela (1959, just outside the belt) and Bhilai (1955).
Petroleum (Crude Oil)
Crude petroleum consists of hydrocarbons in liquid and gaseous states which vary in chemical composition, colour and specific gravity. It is an essential energy source for all internal-combustion engines — in automobiles, railways and aircraft — and yields by-products that are processed in petrochemical industries into fertiliser, synthetic rubber, synthetic fibre, medicines, vaseline, lubricants, wax, soap and cosmetics.
NCERT note
Petroleum is referred to as liquid gold because of its scarcity and its diversified uses.
— NCERT, Class XII (paraphrased)
Geology & History
Crude petroleum occurs in sedimentary rocks of the Tertiary period, formed when ancient marine plankton and algae were buried, compressed and partially heated. Oil exploration and production was systematically taken up after the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) was set up in 1956. Until then, Digboi (Assam)? — where the country’s first commercial well was struck in 1859 (and refining began in 1901) — was the only oil-producing region. After 1956 the picture changed dramatically.
India’s Major Oil-Producing Regions
| Region | Major fields | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Assam | Digboi, Naharkatiya, Moran | The oldest producing region; on-land |
| Gujarat | Ankleshwar, Kalol, Mehsana, Nawagam, Kosamba, Lunej | Cambay basin; on-land + off-shore |
| Mumbai High | Off-shore, 160 km west of Mumbai | Bombay High? — discovered 1973, production from 1976; today contributes about 65 per cent of India’s crude |
| East Coast | Krishna–Godavari basin, Cauvery basin | New finds from exploratory wells; both oil and gas |
Fig 5.4 — Bombay High Off-shore Oil Rig (Schematic)
Refineries — Field-based vs Market-based
Crude oil from a well is full of impurities and cannot be used directly — it must be refined into petrol, diesel, kerosene, naphtha, LPG and bitumen. India has two types of refineries:
- Field-based — located near the oilfield itself; example Digboi (Assam, 1901).
- Market-based — located near the consuming market; example Barauni (Bihar, 1964).
India today has 23 refineries with a combined capacity exceeding 250 mmtpa. The largest is the Reliance Jamnagar complex in Gujarat, the world’s largest refining complex with capacity of about 1.24 million barrels per day; other major centres include Vadinar (Gujarat), Mangalore (Karnataka), Paradip (Odisha), Kochi (Kerala), Bina (MP) and Mathura (UP).
Chart — Top Indian Oil Refineries by Capacity (mmtpa, indicative)
Reliance Jamnagar dwarfs the rest; market-based refineries (Mathura, Panipat, Bina) supply the inland heartland.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is found with petroleum deposits and is released when crude oil is brought to the surface. It can be used as a domestic and industrial fuel: in the power sector to generate electricity, for heating in industry, and as raw material in chemical, petrochemical and fertiliser industries.
With the expansion of gas infrastructure and local City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks, natural gas is also emerging as a preferred transport fuel (CNG) and cooking fuel (PNG) at homes.
India’s major gas reserves are in:
- Mumbai High and allied fields along the west coast (the largest contributor)
- Cambay basin in Gujarat
- Krishna–Godavari (KG) basin on the east coast — the deep-water D6 block holds the country’s biggest gas finds
- Cauvery basin in Tamil Nadu
Discuss — One Nation, One Gas Grid
Collect information about cross-country natural-gas pipelines laid by GAIL (India) under the ‘One Nation One Grid’ programme and discuss how a unified gas grid changes regional energy access.
Notes: GAIL operates more than 16,200 km of trunk gas pipelines — HVJ (Hazira–Vijaipur–Jagdishpur), DUPL/DPPL, JLPL, KG basin pipeline, Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga (Jagdishpur–Haldia–Bokaro–Dhamra). Effects: (i) industries in landlocked Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha can access gas; (ii) fertiliser plants restart on cheaper gas; (iii) CNG/PNG retail spreads beyond metros; (iv) power-sector emissions fall as gas substitutes for coal at peak hours.
Hydroelectric Power
Hydroelectricity is generated by the falling water of large dams. Although hydropower is technically renewable, NCERT classifies it under conventional energy because the technology and its dependence on big dams emerged in the early industrial age. India has built more than 300 large dams since 1947, including Bhakra-Nangal (Punjab/HP), Hirakud (Odisha), Nagarjuna Sagar (Telangana–Andhra), Rihand (UP), Sardar Sarovar (Gujarat) and the Damodar Valley project. The total installed capacity of hydropower in 2024 is about 47 GW, contributing roughly 11 per cent of national electricity.
Nuclear Power
Nuclear energy has emerged as a viable source in recent times. The minerals used are uranium and thorium.
Where the fuel comes from
- Uranium deposits occur in the Dharwar rocks. Geographically, uranium ores are known to occur along the Singhbhum copper belt — with Jaduguda (Jharkhand) being India’s flagship mine. They are also found in Udaipur, Alwar and Jhunjhunu districts of Rajasthan, Durg district of Chhattisgarh, Bhandara district of Maharashtra and Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
- Thorium is mainly obtained from monazite and ilmenite in the beach sands along the coast of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The world’s richest monazite deposits occur in Palakkad and Kollam districts of Kerala, near Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and the Mahanadi river delta in Odisha.
Institutional history & major plants
The Atomic Energy Commission was established in 1948, but progress could be made only after the establishment of the Atomic Energy Institute at Trombay in 1954, which was renamed the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in 1967.
India today operates 7 nuclear power complexes with about 24 reactors:
Fig 5.5 — India: Nuclear Power Plants (Schematic Locations)
| Plant | State | First reactor |
|---|---|---|
| Tarapur | Maharashtra | 1969 — India’s first commercial nuclear power station |
| Rawatbhata (near Kota) | Rajasthan | 1973 |
| Kalpakkam | Tamil Nadu | 1984; site of the prototype Fast Breeder Reactor |
| Narora | Uttar Pradesh | 1991 |
| Kakrapar | Gujarat | 1993 |
| Kaiga | Karnataka | 2000 |
| Kudankulam | Tamil Nadu | 2013 — built with Russian VVER-1000 reactors |
Competency-Based Questions — Conventional Energy
Case Study: A policy paper notes that almost 98% of India’s coal is of Gondwana age, that Bombay High alone supplies about 65% of crude, that Reliance Jamnagar is the world’s largest refinery, and that Jaduguda in Singhbhum is India’s flagship uranium mine while Kerala’s monazite sands hold thorium. Use this background to answer the questions.
1. Approximately what fraction of Indian coal reserves is of Gondwana age?
L1 Remember
Answer: (c) About 98%. The remaining ~2% is of Tertiary age, mostly in the north-eastern states.
2. Distinguish between field-based and market-based refineries with one Indian example each.
L3 Apply
Answer: A field-based refinery is built near the producing oilfield to minimise crude transport — Digboi (Assam, 1901). A market-based refinery is built near the consuming market to keep finished-product transport short — Barauni (Bihar, 1964) or Mathura (UP). Coastal refineries like Jamnagar and Kochi sit at ports because both inputs and outputs travel by sea.
3. Indian coal is mostly bituminous and non-coking. Why does this geological reality oblige India to import coking coal?
L4 Analyse
Answer: Steel-making in a blast furnace requires coking coal — coal that softens, fuses and forms a strong porous mass when heated, so it can support the burden of iron ore. India’s Gondwana coal has high ash and low caking power; ~80% of it is non-coking. To make steel, integrated plants therefore mix Indian coal with imported low-ash coking coal from Australia and the USA. This is why Indian steel costs are sensitive to global coking-coal prices despite India holding the third-largest coal reserves overall.
4. Should India invest more in nuclear power as a low-carbon bridge between coal and renewables? Argue with two facts and one risk.
L5 Evaluate
Answer: Two facts in favour: (i) India holds about 25% of the world’s thorium reserves in Kerala’s monazite, opening a long-term fuel cycle; (ii) nuclear plants run at high capacity factor (~80%) and emit almost no CO₂, complementing variable solar/wind. One risk: capital cost is very high (Kudankulam cost about ₹13,000 cr per 1000 MW) and accidents like Fukushima (2011) cause public-acceptance problems. A balanced answer therefore favours moderate expansion (e.g. 22 GW by 2031) coupled with safety regulation.
HOT — Bombay High has been called the ‘backbone of India’s oil security’. What strategic vulnerabilities does this concentration create?
L6 Create
Answer: Concentrating ~65% of crude in one offshore field leaves India exposed to: (a) geological depletion (Mumbai High’s production has declined from peak ~470,000 bpd in 1989 to under 200,000 bpd today); (b) cyclones and platform fires (the 2005 Mumbai High North fire shut a 5th of national output); (c) maritime security — a hostile naval threat could blockade the field. Mitigations: diversify into KG and Cauvery basins; build the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur; accelerate switch to electric mobility and gas to reduce oil dependence.
Assertion & Reason — Conventional Energy
Assertion (A): Almost all major Gondwana coalfields lie in the Damodar Valley.
Reason (R): The Damodar river basin sits in a narrow, faulted graben in which Gondwana sediments — including coal seams — were preserved.
Reason (R): The Damodar river basin sits in a narrow, faulted graben in which Gondwana sediments — including coal seams — were preserved.
Correct: (A) — Coal is preserved in down-faulted basins. The Damodar graben protected Gondwana sediments from erosion, giving Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro and Karanpura.
Assertion (A): India set up the Oil and Natural Gas Commission in 1956 to systematically explore for petroleum.
Reason (R): Until 1956, Digboi in Assam was the only commercial oil-producing region in the country.
Reason (R): Until 1956, Digboi in Assam was the only commercial oil-producing region in the country.
Correct: (A) — Both statements are factually correct, and the limited Digboi-only output was precisely the reason ONGC was created to widen the search.
Assertion (A): Kerala has been called the future of India’s nuclear-energy fuel cycle.
Reason (R): Beach sands of Palakkad and Kollam in Kerala host the world’s richest monazite deposits, which contain thorium.
Reason (R): Beach sands of Palakkad and Kollam in Kerala host the world’s richest monazite deposits, which contain thorium.
Correct: (A) — India’s three-stage nuclear programme aims at thorium-based reactors. Monazite-rich Kerala sands are the natural feedstock, making the state strategically central.
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