Minerals and Energy Resources: Mines, Belts and Power

The correct answer is D, anthracite. It is the hardest and most lustrous coal, holds the highest percentage of carbon, gives the greatest heat and burns almost without smoke. In India it is found only in small quantities in Jammu and Kashmir, which is why the country imports coking coal for some uses.

Option A is wrong because peat is the first stage in the making of coal, with a very high moisture content and a low heat value, closer to wood than to coal. Option B is wrong because lignite is soft brown coal of middling quality, mined at Neyveli in Tamil Nadu. Option C is wrong because bituminous, though the most widely used variety and the one valued in metallurgy, stands below anthracite in carbon content. Learn the order as peat, lignite, bituminous and anthracite, rising in carbon at each step.

The correct answer is A, lignite. The Neyveli field in the Cuddalore region of Tamil Nadu is the country's best known lignite mine, worked by open cast methods, and the thermal stations built beside it burn the lignite where it is dug because this soft brown coal is not worth carrying far.

Option B is wrong because manganese comes mainly from Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and the Bhandara and Nagpur belt of Maharashtra. Option C is wrong because bauxite is associated with Panchpatmali in the Koraput region of Odisha and the Amarkantak plateau. Option D is wrong because mica belongs to the Koderma and Gaya belt of Jharkhand and Bihar and to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. Since lignite is found in the far south while most coal lies in the east, Neyveli is asked in nearly every state level paper.

The correct answer is B, Chhattisgarh. The Bailadila range in the Dantewada region of southern Chhattisgarh holds high grade haematite, and its ore has long been carried by a dedicated line to the port of Visakhapatnam for export as well as to the steel plants of the region.

Option A is wrong because Odisha's iron ore comes from the Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar belt with mines such as Gurumahisani and Badampahar. Option C is wrong because Karnataka's iron ore is associated with Kudremukh in the Western Ghats and the Bellary Hospet region. Option D is wrong because Jharkhand's mines are Noamundi and Gua in the Singhbhum region. Four state and mine pairs settle most iron ore questions: Bailadila with Chhattisgarh, Noamundi with Jharkhand, Kudremukh with Karnataka and Badampahar with Odisha.

The correct answer is B, magnetite. Magnetite is the finest quality of iron ore, black in colour, with excellent magnetic properties, which is why it is valued in the electrical industry as well as in steel making. Kudremukh in Karnataka is the deposit most often named with it.

Option A is wrong because haematite, red in colour, has a lower iron content than magnetite even though it is the ore most used by industry and makes up the bulk of Indian production. Option C is wrong because limonite is a poor ore with iron in a hydrated form. Option D is wrong because siderite is an iron carbonate ore of low grade, worked only where better ore is absent. The trap here is haematite, because candidates remember that it is the most used and mark it as the richest; the richest is magnetite.

The correct answer is A, Odisha. The Panchpatmali plateau in the Koraput region of Odisha carries thick beds of bauxite, the ore from which aluminium is obtained, and the refinery and smelter complexes of the region were built to use it.

Option B is wrong because Gujarat's bauxite occurs in patches along the Saurashtra coast but not at this deposit. Option C is wrong because Maharashtra has bauxite in the Kolhapur and Ratnagiri districts of the Konkan side, again not here. Option D is wrong because Jharkhand's bauxite lies on the Lohardaga and Ranchi plateau, and although the state is a bauxite producer, Panchpatmali is not in it. The names to hold together are Panchpatmali and Koraput in Odisha, and the Amarkantak plateau on the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh border.

The correct answer is A, copper. The Khetri belt in the Jhunjhunu region of Rajasthan is one of India's main copper mining areas, the other being Malanjkhand in Madhya Pradesh, with Singhbhum in Jharkhand as the third. Copper is valued for its ductility and its ability to conduct electricity, so it goes into wires, cables and alloys.

Option B is wrong because India's gold mines are Kolar and Hutti in Karnataka, with Ramagiri in Andhra Pradesh. Option C is wrong because Rajasthan is not an iron ore state of any importance; iron ore belongs to the eastern and southern plateaus. Option D is wrong because Rajasthan has lignite in small quantity but no coalfield of the Gondwana kind. Rajasthan's mineral wealth is non ferrous and non metallic, so pair it with copper, zinc, lead, gypsum and marble.

The correct answer is A, mica. The Koderma and Gaya belt, spread over Jharkhand and Bihar, is the richest mica producing area of India, and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and the Ajmer region of Rajasthan follow it. Mica splits into thin sheets, resists heat and does not conduct electricity, so it is used in electrical and electronic goods.

Option B is wrong because chromite in India is associated overwhelmingly with the Sukinda valley of Odisha. Option C is wrong because gypsum comes from Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu and is used in cement and plaster. Option D is wrong because asbestos is mined in small quantities in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Since mica has a property based question as well as a place based one, remember both the Koderma belt and the reason it is used in electrical goods.

The correct answer is A, Digboi in Assam. Oil was struck at Digboi in the upper Assam valley in the nineteenth century, the first successful well in India, and the refinery built beside it is the oldest working refinery in the country. Naharkatiya and Moran are the other Assam fields.

Option B is wrong because Ankleshwar in Gujarat, with Kalol and the Cambay basin, was developed in the nineteen sixties, long after Digboi. Option C is wrong because Mumbai High, the largest offshore field, was discovered in 1974 and is far younger, though it accounts for a large share of production. Option D is wrong because Barauni in Bihar has a refinery but no oilfield; refineries and fields are different things, and this is the trap in the question. Remember Digboi for the oldest and Mumbai High for the offshore field of 1974.

The correct answer is A, uranium. Jaduguda in the Singhbhum region of Jharkhand is the oldest uranium mine in India, and the ore from it feeds the plants that make fuel for the country's pressurised heavy water reactors. Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh is the other name to remember for uranium.

Option B is wrong because manganese comes from Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and the Bhandara and Nagpur belt in Maharashtra. Option C is wrong because bauxite is mined on the Lohardaga plateau in Jharkhand and at Panchpatmali in Odisha, not at Jaduguda. Option D is wrong because lead, with zinc, is mined at Zawar and Rampura Agucha in Rajasthan. Uranium and thorium questions go together: uranium with Jaduguda and Tummalapalle, and thorium with the monazite sands of the Kerala coast.

The correct answer is A, Tarapur in Maharashtra. The Tarapur station on the Konkan coast north of Mumbai was the first nuclear power station to generate electricity in India, and it remains a working station. Its early reactors were of the boiling water type, unlike the pressurised heavy water reactors built later.

Option B is wrong because Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu came afterwards and is known for the fast breeder programme. Option C is wrong because Rawatbhata in Rajasthan, on the Chambal near Kota, was the second station and the first with heavy water reactors. Option D is wrong because Narora in Uttar Pradesh, on the Ganga, belongs to the nineteen nineties. The stations and their states are a standard match the following: Tarapur with Maharashtra, Kakrapar with Gujarat, Kaiga with Karnataka and Kudankulam with Tamil Nadu.

The correct answer is A, Kerala. The beach sands of the Kerala coast, and the neighbouring coast of Tamil Nadu, are rich in monazite, from which thorium is obtained, along with ilmenite and other heavy minerals. Because India has large thorium reserves but limited uranium, thorium is central to the third stage of the country's nuclear programme.

Option B is wrong because Gujarat's coastal wealth is salt, bauxite and offshore oil rather than monazite. Option C is wrong because West Bengal is a mineral state for coal and clay, not for beach sand minerals. Option D is wrong because Goa is known for its iron and manganese ore and its ports, not for monazite. The pair to fix is monazite and thorium with the Kerala coast, and remember that the mineral sands of that coast are also the source of ilmenite for titanium.

The correct answer is A, Ladakh. The Puga valley in Ladakh, with its hot springs and steam vents, is one of the two geothermal fields named in Indian geography, the other being Manikaran in the Parvati valley of Himachal Pradesh. Geothermal energy uses the heat of the earth's interior to turn water into steam that drives turbines.

Option B is wrong because Uttarakhand has hot springs at places such as Tapovan, but Puga is not among them. Option C and Option D are wrong because Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh are associated with hydroelectric potential rather than with a named geothermal field. Keep the non conventional sites together for revision: geothermal at Puga and Manikaran, tidal in the Gulf of Khambhat and the Gulf of Kachchh, and wind at Muppandal in Tamil Nadu and in the Jaisalmer belt of Rajasthan.