Minerals are valuable natural resources being finit and non-renewable. They constitute the vital is raw materials for many basic industries and are a major resource for development. The history of minerals extraction in India dates back to the days of the Harappan Civilization. The wide availability of the minerals in the form of abundant rich reserves made it very conductive for the growth and development of the mining sector in India.
The country is endowed with huge resources of many metallic and non-metallic Minerals.Mining sector is an important segment of the Indian economy. Since Independence, there has been a pronounced growth in the minerals production both the terms of quantity and value.
India continued to be wholly or largely self sufficient in minerals which constitut primary mineral raw materials to industries, such as thermal power production, iron and steel,ferroalloys, aluminium, cement, various types of refractories, China clay-based ceramics, glass, Chemicals like caustic soda, soda ash, calcium carbide, Titania white pigment,etc. India is, by and large, self- sufficient in coal and lignite among minerals fuels, bauxite, chromite, iron, manganese ore, and rutile among metallic minerals; and almost all the industrial minerals with the exception of chrysotile Abestos, borax,fluorite, kyanite,potash, Rock phosphate and elemental sulphur. Despite high degree of self-sufficiency, some quantities of flaky and amorphous graphite of high fixed carbon, kaolin and ball clay for special applications, very low Silca limestones, dead-burnt magnesite and seawater magnesia battery grade manganese dioxide etc.were imported to meet the demand for either blending with locally available mineralraw materials and/or for manufacturing special qualities of mineral based products.
