Mines and minerals constitute a fundamental component of nation’s resources and economic base. The rich reserves of minerals in Orissa have led to establishment of several mineral based industries in Orissa, which include Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), aluminium plants by INDAL and National Aluminium Company (NALCO), three charge chrome plants at Brahmanipal, Bhadrak and Choudwar by Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) and Indian Charge Chrome Ltd. (ICCL). At Theruvalli in Rayagada district, Indian Metals and Ferro-Alloys (IMFA) has set up a plant for production of charge chrome / ferro chrome. The other important mineral based industries established include two sponge iron plants in Keonjhar district, a refractory in Dhenkanal district and mineral sands separation and synthetic rutile plants of Indian Rare Earth Ltd. at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district. Several cement plants have been set up in the State and four coal based thermal power plants have been set up at Talcher, Kaniha, Ib Valley and Banharpalli.In addition NALCO, RSP, ICCL, INDAL etc. have set up their own coal based captive power plants.

BAUXITE
The total reserves of Bauxite in the State are estimated at 1,530 million tonnes at +40% Al2 03 and 5% SI02 cut -off.
Excepting 20million tonnes distributed in Keonjhar, sundergarh and Phulbani districts, the balance reserve occur as thick blankets below a thin capping of soil and laterite in the districts of Bolangir -Bargad, Kalahandi, Rayagada and Koraput, quite amenable to mechanised opencast mining.
There are altogether six leases, 4 in Keonjhar and sundergarh producing annually 17,000 tonnes and used in iron and steel making.
The other 2 leases owned by NALCO comprising the Panchpatmali deposit in Koraput district produce 2.4 million tonnes.
The State Government have decided in principle, to lease the bauxite mines to the prospective entrepreneurs through Orissa Mining Corporation with the condition that they will set up Alumina / Aluminium industries in the State. The OMC has entered into an agreement with M/s Utkal Alumina Ltd. to set up an Alumina Project in Rayagada district.
 

MINERAL SANDS
An integrated industrial complex known as Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) has been set up by IREL to mine and process the beach sands for export of ilmenite and to convert ilmenite to synthetic rutile .
The project envisaged production of 2,20,000 tonnes of ilmentie, 10,000 tonnes of rutile, 30,000 tonnes of sillimanite, 2000 tonnes of zircon and 4,000 tonnes of monazite. The components of the complex include.
     (1) Dredge and Wet Concentration Plant (DWC)
     (2) Mineral Separation Plant (MSP)
     (3) Synthetic Rutile plant
     (4) Acid Regeneration Plant and
     (5) Thorium Plant.

Iron Ore :
The total reserves of iron ore in the state are estimated at 4177 million tones. All iron ore mining operations in the State are opencast and the methods range from manual to mechanised. Most of the mechanised mines have crushing and screening facilities as well. At present, the state produces 46.06milion tonnes of iron ore (2004-05).
With opening up of the economy and liberalization policies the mineral resources have now drawn world wide attention for large scale mining and setting up of mineral based industries in the State specially in the iron and steel sector. In view of growing world wide demand for steel, there has been a major surge of interest in this sector. As Orissa possesses a total reserve of 4177 million tonne of high-grade iron ore which is 33.91% of the country’s deposit, the steel makers of national and international repute have shown interest to establish steel plants in the State. Government of Orissa have already signed 43 Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) / agreement with private parties desirous of setting up steel plants with an investment of Rs.1,37,156.00. crore to produce about 58 MTPA steel.
A reputed and well established foreign company viz M/S Pohang Steel Company (POSCO), South Korea, which is one of the largest producers of steel in the world, has evinced keen interest for setting up a mega steel project having a capacity of 12 MTPA with an investment of US $ 12 billion approximately.
In addition to above, M/S. TATA Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. and M/S. Sterlite Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. have also signed MoUs with the State Govt. to set up mega steel projects of 6 MTPA and 5 MTPA respectively with a proposed investment of about Rs.27,902 crore.
 
Besides Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL), which has been promoted as a joint sector project of IPICOL, Government of Orissa, MMTC and MECON has started commercial production of pig iron from 1.1 MTPA blast furnace since 2002. The Sinter Plant of NINL has been commissioned during March 2004, which will make production of Pig iron more profitable. The associated project of Konark Met Coke Ltd. (KMCL) set up at Duburi Industrial Complex made steady progress for production of coke, which will make it one of the unique project of its kind in the country at a time when country is facing acute shortage of coke.
 

MANGANESE ORE
The first manganese ore mining in the State dates back to 1924 and this was in Thakurani. The deposit is being presently worked by OMDC. There are now 36 leases for manganese ore and another 61 for iron and manganese ore. Of these, 26 and 52 leases are in operation.
The State currently produces around 6,50,000 tonnes of manganese ore with low grade (35% Mn) constituting about 75% of the total production. Major producers are

CHROMITE
Of the total geological resources of 186 million tonnes in India, Orissa accounts for 183 million tonnes i .e. 98% and bulk of it confined to Sukinda ultramafic belt . Although these deposits account for only 2.5% of world resources , the chrome ores from these deposits have a distnict edge over other major deposits of the world in terms of quality, large widths of ore bands and amenability to simple beneficiation process.
Some important lease holders are TISCO, OMC, FACOR, Mishralal Mines, B.C. Mohanty and Sons, IDC of Orissa Ltd., IMFA and ICCL.
 Chromite produced in Orissa practically meets the requirements of the industries located in different parts of the country. Bulk of the consumption within the State is shared by the following units;

• Three 100% EOU charge chrome plants each of 50,000 tpa capacity located at Bamnipal (TISCO) Randia near Bhadrakh (FACOR) and Choudwar(ICCL)

• Ferrochrome plants of IDCOL at Jajpur Road,IMFA at Theruvali, Ispat Alloys near Balasore and Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys Ltd. near Meramundli.

• Refractory plants at Rajgangpur (OCL), Belpahar (TRL) and Latikata (OIL)

For benefication of sub-grade/low grade ore, four fully mechanised plants have been set up. These are:

GRAPHITE
The estimated reserve of graphite in the State is 2 million tones at 5% FC cut-off, the average grade being 13.7% FC. The depth of estimation is reported to be 30 m. No serious attempt has been made to undertake depth-wise proving and consequently mining activities in the State have been mostly opencast. Due to erratic nature of occurrences, mining is mostly manual. Thumdibandh in Phulbani district is the only deposit in the State amendable to mechanized mining due to consistent width over a long strike (more than 100 m.).
Natural graphite consumption in India is largely dependent on demand of the refractory industry, i.e. Mg-Carbon bricks and Slide-Gate refractories. The other applications include foundry fluxes, steel mills, crucibles, pencils, midget-electrodes, carbon brushes, paints, explosives and oil drilling.
 

CHINA CLAY
The State possesses large reserve of crude clay. But most of it is of inferior grade, the recovery being in the range of 30-35%. The average annual production of finished clay is 10,000 tonnes from 5 working mines. There are 9 subsisting leases.
Mining is open cast, in benches of 1.2 - 1.5 m height. There is no working during the rainy season lasting for 4 months every year. China Clay produced in the State are currently used in rubber, paper, textiles, ceramics and paint industries. Silica sand obtained as by product of washing crude clay is used in foundry, glass industries and in welding electrodes for flux making.

GRANITES
Quarrying for dimension stones in the State is yet to cross the take off stage. A total number of 329 quarry leases have been granted in the State. The major district-wise break-up is as follows :

GEMSTONES
Geological investigations were taken up in Bolangir and Subarnpur districts for precious gemstones and garnets. In course of investigation covering 154 square kms., 24 garnet occurrence cases have been detected. The State Government have formulated the “Gemstone policy of 1998” for promoting exploration of gemstone resources in a scientific and systematic manner. The policy, inter alia, envisages steps for prevention of illegal trading and theft of gemstones, opening of the gemstone bearing areas to private sector exploitation and introduction of a scheme of issuing trading licenses to parties dealing with gemstone resources. Out of 28 gemstone bearing tracts identified in the State, 18 tracts have been developed so far and opened for re-grant of mining leases. Besides, few more gem bearing areas have been located in parts of Nuapada, Kalahandi and Bolangir districts by the Directorate of Geology. There exists a good prospect for export of gems and jewellery from Orissa.
 
Consequent upon the finding of Diamond bearing Kimberlitic/Olivine lamproite bodies in Dharambandha block of Nuapada district by the Directorate of Geology, investigation has been extended to the adjacent areas to locate more such bodies. In the process, approximately one sq. km. of area was covered under geological mapping. Trial excavation to the tune of 50 cum has been achieved. Samples weighing 102 tonnes have been collected for lab-testing for diamond incidence.

OTHER MINERALS
Other minerals which are being mine in the State include Quartz, Quartzite and Soapstone. There is prospect of increase in production of Quartz and Quartzite on account of demand by the new iron and steel plants.
 

BASE METALS
The proved prospects in the State include
a) Sargipali in sundergarh district-Lead ore
b) Adash in Sambalpur district- Copper ore
c) Kesarpur in Mayurbhanj district-Copper ore.

LIMESTONE AND DOLOMITE
The status of mining of Limestone and Dolomite in the State is indicated in the following statement.

All the mines being worked are opencast, semi-mechanized /mechanized.

INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION AND INVESTMENT CORPORATION OF ORISSA LTD.
IPICOL HOUSE JANPATH, BHUBANESWAR - 751022
Phone : 0674 - 2542601, Fax : 0674 - 2543766 e-mail : info@ipicolorissa.com