Largest bauxite reserves in India from "summary" of Jharkhand GK by Team Prabhat Prakashan
India is home to the largest bauxite reserves in the world. The majority of these reserves are situated in Odisha, with the remaining reserves found in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. India is the world's fifth-largest producer of bauxite.- India has one of the largest reserves of bauxite, which is estimated to be around 2,539 million tonnes. The state of Odisha accounts for a lion’s share of the total reserve in the country, estimated at around 1.48 billion tonnes - accounting for almost 50% of the national reserves.
- Bauxite is an important mineral in India in terms of resource uses as it is used in the production of aluminium which holds a great importance to multiple industries like automotive, aerospace, defence, transportation, construction and energy.
- Since most of the bauxite resources found in India are located in hilly or inaccessible regions, challenges related to setting up infrastructure have hindered the efficient extraction of these minerals.
- Jharkhand comes second with deposits of 396 million tonnes, estimated to account for 15.4 % of the national reserves and is folowed by Chhattisgarh (303 MT., Gujarat (204 MT. and Karnataka (118 MT..
- Overall, based on estimates of current reserves, India has plenty of supply avenues through which it can source appropriate bauxite ore for its needs.
- With vast reserves, India boasts of being the third largest producer of aluminium after Russia and China. The government of India is also taking necessary steps to increase its production capacity to keep up with the increasing demands.
- Other states which have significant contribution in terms of production include Andhra Pradesh (93 MT., Maharashtra (88 MT. and Goa (44 MT..
- There have been discussions about potential mining activities in East Singhbhum from where further investigation can be carried out.
- Moreover, despite having vast reserves, quality concerns have been raised due to the presence of high silica and ferruginous content which makes them unsuitable for commercial purpose.
- By making use of newer technologies, more research and development needs to be undertaken so that accessing, adapting to and utilizing the available resources effectively become possible.
