A survey, originally taken up to explore oil resources in Rajasthan, has yielded unbelievable results. With the discovery of precious minerals worth upto six thousand billion rupees… the State is just discovering itself!
The best things come by when you are expecting them least! The belief proved true when recently, a survey, being carried out for an oil refinery in Rajasthan, unveiled vast deposits of copper and lead in various parts of the state. The success story is accredited to the teams of scientists of the Geological Survey of India. The teams were carrying out the survey for the past four years.
The survey has revealed that the State is likely to have hundreds of millions of tons of copper reserves, along with those of many other precious minerals. These minerals have been found in their purest naturally available forms. Never before have these precious minerals been discovered in such pure forms. The International Survey has evaluated the worth of minerals in these reserves to be upto Rs.6000 billion!
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| The Treasure Hunt |
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The geo-scientists first carried out a geological survey of the region. When the mineral blocks were searched out, the team marked the sections using a microscope. After evaluating the amount of copper deposits in these sections, the mineral reserves were drilled out.
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Until now, Khetri Copper mines in Jhunjhunu were the biggest sources of copper in Rajasthan. But, the treasure in the newly discovered reserves is more than ten reserves as big as Khetri! Although, there is some time before the industrial mining of these minerals begins, Dr. R. S. Goyal, Deputy Director General, Geological Survey of India has said that the end result would surprise the world! He remarked that it was unbelievable, that copper reserves in Khetri would seem so meagre in front of the newly discovered deposits.
A Rich Mineral Bank
Rajasthan is the second largest mineral producing state in India and houses about 90 per cent of the total mineral reserves of the country. The huge sandy expanse of Rajasthan abounds in silver, phosphate fluoride, phosphorite, rock phosphate, copper ore, zinc, gypsum, clay, granite, marble, sandstone, dolomite, calcite, emeralds and garnets. It has rich deposits of about 42 major and 28 minor minerals.
The State shares 24 per cent of the aggregate national production of non-metallic minerals.
In India, Rajasthan is the greatest producer of non-ferrous metals such as copper and zinc and accounts for 40 per cent of the country's copper production and 100 percent of zinc production. |
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The State also accounts for 85 percent of lead production, 94 per cent of gypsum, 76 per cent of silver ore, 68 per cent of feldspar, 84 per cent of asbestos and 12 per cent of India's mica.
The dry terrain of Rajasthan is also repository of colossal slabs of stone and accounts for 65 per cent of India's stone production. The State accounts for 90 per cent of the marble, slate and sandstone production. |
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