iron ore mineral resource

IRON ORE MINERAL RESOURCE

Iron ore is the most important mineral that is used to extract metallic Iron by Iron and Steel Industry. Extracted metal is widely used by secondary industries for manufacturing of machines, machine tools, construction of buildings etc. It is the most widely used metal because of its certain qualities like hardness, strength and durability. Further, iron is malleable and possess magnetic properties. Hence, Iron, because of its significance in manufacturing and development of infrastructure has wide economic importance.

The iron ore is found in following four types:

1. Magnetite: It is the most important and best kind of iron ore. It contains about 72 percent metallic iron in it. It is black in colour.
2. Hematite: It is also an important source. It contains about 60-70 percent metallic iron in it. It is red and brown in colour.
3. Limonite: It contains about 30 to 40 percent metallic iron in it. It is mostly yellow in colour. It is a low-grade iron ore.
4. Siderite: It has more impurities. It contains about 48 percent metallic iron content in it. It is brown in colour. It contains a mixture of iron and carbon. It is a low-grade iron ore

Hematite and magnetite are the two most important iron ores in India :

Iron Ore in Orissa : 

 The ores are rich in haematites. India's richest haematite deposits are located in:

1) Barabil-Koira valley.

2) Others: Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Keonjhar and Koraput districts.

Iron Ore in Chhattisgarh

 Bailadila mine is the largest mechanised mine in Asia [Ore benefication only done here]

 A 270 km long slurry (a semi-liquid mixture) pipeline from the Bailadila to Vizag plant

transports the ore slurry.  Smelting is done in Vizag [Vishakhapatnam] iron and steel factory.

 Bailadila’s high grade ore is exported through Vishakhapatnam to Japan [No iron ore in Japan. But market is huge due to automobile industry] and other countries.

 The Dalli-Rajhara range is 32 km long [ferrous content 68-69 per cent] range with significant reserves.

Iron Ore in Jharkhand

 25 per cent of reserves.

 First mine in Singhbhum district in 1904.  Iron ore of here is of highest quality and will last for hundreds of years.

 Noamandi mines in Singhbhum are the richest.

Magnetite ores occur near Daltenganj in Palamu district.

Iron ore in karnataka

Iron ores are widely distributed. High grade ore deposits are those of Kemmangundi in Bababudan hills of Chikmagalur district and Sandur and Hospet in Bellary district. [Lot of Mining Mafia].

 Most of the ores are high grade haematite and magnetite.

Iron ore in other states

 Andhra Pradesh (1.02%): Kurnool, Guntur, Cuddapah, Ananthapur, Nellore.

 Maharashtra (0.88%): Chandrapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg.

 Madhya Pradesh (0.66%).

 Tamilnadu: Salem, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore, Madurai etc.

 Rajasthan: Jaipur, Alwar, Sikar, Bundi, Bhilwara.

 Uttar Pradesh: Mirzapur.

 Uttaranchal: Garhwal, Almora, Nainital.

 Himachal Pradesh: Kangra and Mandi.

 Haryana: Mahendragarh.

 West Bengal: Burdwan, Birbhum, Darjeeling.

 Jammu and Kashmir: Udhampur and Jammu.

 Gujarat: Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Vadodara.

 Kerala: Kozhikode.

Iron Ore reserves (in descending order)

1. Karnataka
2. Odisha
3. Jharkhand
4. Chhattisgarh

Iron Ore production (in descending order)

1. Odisha
2. Goa
3. Karnataka
4. Chhattisgarh

The iron ore is widely distributed in the country:

Jharkhand

The iron ores here exist as hill masses which are close to coal fields. The iron ore generally occurs at the top of the hills, iron ore mining companies use aerial ropeways for bringing down the ore and pumping it into the railway wagons standing near the foot of the hills. The major iron ore mining areas in Jharkhand are Noamudi, Gua, Jamda and Kiriburu.

Chhattisgarh

Exploitable rich iron deposits are located in Dalli-Rajhara region of Durg district (close to Bhilai Steel Works), Bailadilla region of Dantewada district, Arindogi region and Raoghat region.

Odisha

The major iron ore mining centre is in Singhbhum district. The districts of Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh also form the richest reserves of quality iron ore. The iron ore available here is Hematite which has about 60-70 percent metallic iron content. The iron ore from these sites is supplied to the iron and steel factories located at Rourkela, Jamshedpur, Asansol and Durgapur. The ore is also exported to different countries through the Paradip port.

Goa

The major iron ore mining centres are Sanguem, Safari, Ponda, Sahqualim, Bicholim and Quepem. The iron ore found in Goa is of high quality. The mining centres are located close to the port of Marmagao. The mines are worked by open-cast methods. They are close to rivers which enter the sea near the port. The iron ore is brought by road to jetties on the navigable rivers from which it is taken away to port for onward journey.

Karnataka

In Karnataka, the major iron ore mining areas are Baba Budan Hills, Kudremukh region, Hospet, Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur district. Iron-ore mined in Bellary and Hospet area is transported to Hospet from where it is sent to the ports of Chennai and Marmagao through railways for export to other countries.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra produces a very small amount of iron ore. Major mining ore areas include Chandrapur, Ratnagiri and Bhandara districts.

Andhra Pradesh

Iron ore is mined in small quantities in districts of Karimnagar, Warangal, Cuddapah, Kurnool, Adilabad and Anantapur.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, the areas where iron ore is mined are Tirthamalai Hills in Salem district and Yadpalli and Killiomalai areas in Nilgiris.

iron ore deposits in world : 

major iron ore producer in world 2018-19

Australia and Brazil are among the world’s largest iron ore producers and hold a large portion of the world’s iron ore reserves. Australia makes up half of the world’s iron ore exports. Brazil exported around 23 percent of the world's total iron exports. As of 2019, Brazil had reserves of 15 billion metric tons of iron content and 29 billion metric tons of crude ore. Brazil produced 480 million metric tons of iron ore in 2019. Some of the world’s largest mines are found in Brazil, such as Vale’s Carajas iron mine in Northern Brazil. Carajas has approximately 7.2 billion metric tons of proven iron ore reserves. 

Russia

It has one of the largest proven reserves of iron ore. Important iron-producing regions of Russia are the Ural region, Kuzkas region in Siberia, Angara and Krasnoyarsk.

Ukraine

Good quality ore with high iron content is found in Kirvoj Rog region of Southern Ukraine, Kursk Magnetic Anomaly(KMA) and Kerch peninsula.

Europe

Sweden is an important region where good quality iron ore is found. Major areas of iron-ore mining in Sweden include Kiruna, Gallivare and Danmora. Another important region is Lorraine in France. Apart from this, Normandy, Pyrenees, Selsia and Phalia region of Germany, and Cleveland, Midland and Scotland region of United Kingdom are major mining ore areas of Europe.

North America

The major iron ore mining areas are the Lake Superior region including Mesabi, Vermillion, Marquette, Cuyana, Manomimi and Gogebic; Alabama state including the Birmingham and Red Mountain region of South Applatians; and in Canada including the Wright, Sept Isles and Schefferville regions.

South America

Brazil is known for its one of the largest reserves of iron ore in the world. Other important regions of iron ore mining are Orinoco Valley of Venezuela and La Sarena area of Chile.

Africa

The major iron ore mining areas of Africa are Liberia, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. The iron and steel industry of Africa is still under-developed. As a result, most of the iron is exported.

Australia

Pilbara region, Mt. Goldsworthy, Mt. Tom Price, Mt. Newman, Tailoring peak, Kalanooka region, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania are important iron ore bearing areas of Australia.

Asia

China has large iron ore reserves in Shenyang region of Manchuria; Muhar and Tahyeh region of Xinjiang valley. The Philippines has also good quality iron ore deposits in Mindanao.