Rajasthan Minerals and Energy: Mines, Oil and Power
Rajasthan minerals notes for exams: Zawar, Rampura Agucha, Khetri, Jhamarkotra, Makrana and Degana, with the lignite, oil, atomic and solar energy of the state.
By GK24 Editorial Team· Published · 4 min read
Rajasthan is called the mineral museum of India, and the name is earned. The state produces a longer list of minerals than any other, it is practically the only source of some of them, and almost every mineral it produces is tied to one well known mine in one district. That is why the chapter is answered by pairs: a mineral, a mine and a district. The reason lies in the geology. The Aravalli range and the ancient rocks on either side of it hold the metallic ores of the Mewar and Shekhawati belts, the sedimentary basins of the west hold gypsum, limestone, lignite and oil, and the desert sky over them is the finest solar resource in the country.
The metallic minerals
Lead and zinc are the pride of the state, and practically the whole production of their ores in India comes from Rajasthan. The Zawar mines in Udaipur district are the oldest of them, and the site of the world's oldest known zinc smelting, where ancient clay retorts for distilling zinc have been found. Rampura Agucha in Bhilwara district is the largest lead and zinc mine in the country, worked as a huge open pit before going underground, and Rajpura Dariba and Sindesar Khurd in Rajsamand district work the same belt. Silver comes out of these ores as a by product, which makes Rajasthan the leading silver producing state. The copper belt runs through the Shekhawati region, where the Khetri Copper Complex in Jhunjhunu district, with the Madan Kudan and Kolihan mines, is the centre of the industry. Tungsten comes from the Rewat hill at Degana in Nagaur district, manganese from the Banswara belt, and iron ore from Morija Banol in Jaipur district and Nathara ki Pal in Udaipur. Emerald and garnet come from the Ajmer, Tonk and Bhilwara tracts.
The non metallic minerals
| Mineral | Mine or area | District |
|---|---|---|
| White marble | Makrana | Nagaur |
| Rock phosphate | Jhamarkotra, the largest deposit in India | Udaipur |
| Gypsum | Jamsar and the desert belt | Bikaner, Nagaur, Barmer |
| Limestone, blast furnace grade | Sanu | Jaisalmer |
| Fluorite | Mando ki Pal | Dungarpur |
| Wollastonite | Khera and Belkapahar, the only source in India | Sirohi |
| Fuller's earth | Kapurdi and the western belt | Barmer, Bikaner |
| Soapstone and asbestos | Southern Aravalli belt | Udaipur, Dungarpur, Ajmer |
| Red sandstone | Dholpur and Karauli quarries | Dholpur, Karauli, Jodhpur |
| Granite | Jalore, the granite city | Jalore, Jhalawar |
| Potash | Nagaur Ganganagar basin | Nagaur, Hanumangarh |
Makrana marble is the stone of the Taj Mahal and of the Victoria Memorial, and green marble comes from Rishabhdeo in Udaipur district. Jaisalmer yellow stone and Jodhpur red sandstone built the forts and havelis of the desert, and the same quarries supply building stone across north India today.
Fuel minerals: lignite, oil and gas
Rajasthan has no coal of the Gondwana kind, but it has large lignite reserves in the Tertiary rocks of the west: Gurha and Barsingsar in Bikaner district, Kapurdi, Jalipa and Giral in Barmer, and Matasukh in Nagaur. Four petroliferous basins have been identified, the Barmer Sanchor, the Jaisalmer, the Bikaner Nagaur and the Vindhyan basin near Kota. The Barmer basin holds the oil: the Mangala field, found in 2004 and the largest onshore oil discovery made in India, along with the Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields, with the crude carried out by a heated pipeline to the Gujarat coast. A refinery is being built at Pachpadra in Barmer district as a joint venture of the state government and a public sector oil company. Natural gas comes from Tanot, Dandewala and Bakhri Tibba in Jaisalmer district, and it fires the gas based power station at Ramgarh. Uranium has been found at Rohil in Sikar district.
Energy: thermal, atomic, solar and wind
The first big thermal station of the state was the Kota Super Thermal Power Station on the Chambal, and the largest is the Suratgarh Super Thermal Power Station in Sri Ganganagar district, which is called the thermal power house of Rajasthan. Chhabra in Baran district and Kalisindh in Jhalawar district followed, while lignite fires the Giral station in Barmer and the Barsingsar station in Bikaner. Atomic power comes from the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station at Rawatbhata in Chittorgarh district, the station whose first unit, built with Canadian cooperation, was the first pressurised heavy water reactor of India. Hydel power comes from the Chambal projects, Rana Pratap Sagar at Rawatbhata and Jawahar Sagar near Kota, and from Mahi Bajaj Sagar in Banswara. The state has the strongest solar resource in the country, and the Bhadla Solar Park in Jodhpur district is among the largest solar parks in the world; wind farms stand in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Barmer, where the desert wind is steady. Taken together, mining and energy are the two industries that the geography of Rajasthan dictates.
Exam Point of View
Every second question here is a mineral to district match, so the pairs must be memorised in both directions: Zawar with Udaipur, Rampura Agucha with Bhilwara, Khetri with Jhunjhunu, Jhamarkotra with Udaipur, Makrana with Nagaur, Degana with Nagaur, Mando ki Pal with Dungarpur, Sanu with Jaisalmer, Jamsar with Bikaner, Rohil with Sikar and Bhadla with Jodhpur. The second group asks for the first or the only: the only state producing wollastonite, the largest rock phosphate deposit, the largest lead and zinc mine, the oldest zinc smelting site, the largest onshore oil discovery. The third group is energy, where Suratgarh, Kota, Chhabra, Kalisindh, Giral, Rawatbhata and Ramgarh must be fixed to their districts and their fuel, with the standing trap of calling Rawatbhata a thermal station or placing Suratgarh in Jodhpur. State papers also ask which minerals Rajasthan does not have, and the answer is Gondwana coal, which is why the state burns lignite instead.
Important Facts
| Nickname | The mineral museum of India |
|---|---|
| Zawar, Udaipur | Oldest zinc mines; oldest known zinc smelting in the world |
| Rampura Agucha, Bhilwara | Largest lead and zinc mine of India |
| Rajsamand | Rajpura Dariba and Sindesar Khurd lead, zinc and silver mines |
| Khetri, Jhunjhunu | Copper, with the Madan Kudan and Kolihan mines |
| Jhamarkotra, Udaipur | Largest rock phosphate deposit of India |
| Makrana, Nagaur | White marble, used in the Taj Mahal |
| Degana, Nagaur | Tungsten from the Rewat hill |
| Mando ki Pal, Dungarpur | Fluorite or fluorspar |
| Sirohi | Wollastonite, the only source in India |
| Sanu, Jaisalmer | Blast furnace grade limestone |
| Jamsar, Bikaner | Gypsum |
| Mangala, Barmer | Oil field found in 2004, the largest onshore discovery in India |
| Tanot and Dandewala, Jaisalmer | Natural gas, feeding the Ramgarh power station |
| Rohil, Sikar | Uranium deposit |
| Suratgarh, Sri Ganganagar | Super thermal station, the thermal power house of Rajasthan |
| Rawatbhata, Chittorgarh | Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, the first pressurised heavy water reactor of India |
| Bhadla, Jodhpur | One of the largest solar parks in the world |
Practice MCQs on this topic
The Rampura Agucha mine, the largest lead and zinc mine of India, is in which district of Rajasthan?
- A.Udaipur
- B.Bhilwara
- C.Rajsamand
- D.Sirohi
Show answer
Rampura Agucha lies in Bhilwara district and is the largest lead and zinc mine of the country, worked for many years as a very large open pit and now mined underground; silver comes out of the same ore as a by product.
Read the full explanation →The Zawar mines, famous for the oldest known zinc smelting in the world, are in which district?
- A.Udaipur
- B.Chittorgarh
- C.Jhunjhunu
- D.Nagaur
Show answer
The Zawar mines lie south of Udaipur city and have been worked since ancient times; archaeologists have found clay retorts there that were used to distil zinc, which makes Zawar the earliest known zinc smelting site anywhere in the world.
Read the full explanation →The Khetri copper belt of Rajasthan lies in which district?
- A.Sikar
- B.Alwar
- C.Jhunjhunu
- D.Dausa
Show answer
The Khetri Copper Complex in Jhunjhunu district, with the Madan Kudan and Kolihan mines, is the centre of copper mining in Rajasthan and is run by a central public sector company.
Read the full explanation →Jhamarkotra, the largest rock phosphate deposit of India, is located in which district?
- A.Jaisalmer
- B.Udaipur
- C.Banswara
- D.Pali
Show answer
Jhamarkotra, a short distance from Udaipur city, is the largest rock phosphate deposit in the country and the main domestic source of raw material for phosphatic fertiliser, which India otherwise imports in large quantity.
Read the full explanation →Degana, the tungsten mining centre of Rajasthan, is in which district?
- A.Nagaur
- B.Bikaner
- C.Tonk
- D.Bundi
Show answer
Tungsten, in the form of the ore wolframite, is mined at the Rewat hill near Degana in Nagaur district, which has long been the main tungsten occurrence of the country.
Read the full explanation →The white marble used in the Taj Mahal came from Makrana, which is in:
- A.Jaipur district
- B.Nagaur district
- C.Ajmer district
- D.Jalore district
Show answer
The Makrana quarries have been worked for centuries and their calcitic white marble went into the Taj Mahal at Agra, the Victoria Memorial at Kolkata and many temples and palaces; the stone is prized because it takes a high polish and weathers slowly.
Read the full explanation →Mando ki Pal, the fluorite mining area of Rajasthan, lies in which district?
- A.Dungarpur
- B.Sirohi
- C.Barmer
- D.Karauli
Show answer
Fluorite, also called fluorspar, is mined at Mando ki Pal in Dungarpur district in the far south of the state; the mineral is used as a flux in steel making and in the chemical industry.
Read the full explanation →The Mangala oil field, the largest onshore oil discovery made in India, is in which district?
- A.Jaisalmer
- B.Barmer
- C.Bikaner
- D.Jodhpur
Show answer
Mangala was found in 2004 in the Barmer Sanchor basin and was the largest onshore oil discovery ever made in the country; with the neighbouring Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields it turned Rajasthan into a crude oil producing state.
Read the full explanation →The Rajasthan Atomic Power Station at Rawatbhata is in which district?
- A.Kota
- B.Baran
- C.Chittorgarh
- D.Jhalawar
Show answer
Rawatbhata stands on the Chambal in Chittorgarh district, beside the Rana Pratap Sagar dam whose water cools the reactors.
Read the full explanation →The Bhadla Solar Park, one of the largest solar parks in the world, is in which district of Rajasthan?
- A.Jodhpur
- B.Jaisalmer
- C.Sri Ganganagar
- D.Nagaur
Show answer
Bhadla lies in the dry north of Jodhpur district, where the land is barren, the sky nearly cloudless for most of the year and the solar radiation among the strongest in India, which is why one of the world's largest solar parks was built there.
Read the full explanation →Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Rajasthan called the mineral museum of India?
Because it produces a wider range of minerals than any other state and is the only or the leading source of several of them. Lead, zinc and silver ores come almost entirely from Rajasthan, wollastonite only from Sirohi, and the state leads in gypsum, rock phosphate, marble, soapstone and fuller's earth, besides producing copper, tungsten, fluorite, limestone, sandstone and granite.
Which is the largest lead and zinc mine of India and where is it?
Rampura Agucha in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan. It was worked for years as a very large open pit and has since gone underground. The ore also yields silver as a by product. The other mines of the same belt are Zawar in Udaipur district, the oldest of them, and Rajpura Dariba and Sindesar Khurd in Rajsamand district.
Where is the Mangala oil field and why is it important?
It lies in the Barmer basin of western Rajasthan and was discovered in 2004, the largest onshore oil discovery ever made in India. With the neighbouring Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields it made Rajasthan a crude producing state. Because the crude is waxy, it is carried out through a heated and insulated pipeline to the Gujarat coast.
Does Rajasthan have coal, and what does it burn instead?
It has no coal of the Gondwana kind that Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh hold. What it has is lignite, the softer brown coal of the Tertiary rocks, mined at Gurha and Barsingsar in Bikaner district and at Kapurdi, Jalipa and Giral in Barmer district, and burnt in the lignite stations at Giral and Barsingsar. Its large thermal stations run on coal brought in from outside.
Which are the main sources of electricity in Rajasthan?
Thermal stations at Suratgarh, Kota, Chhabra and Kalisindh, lignite stations at Giral and Barsingsar, a gas station at Ramgarh in Jaisalmer, the atomic station at Rawatbhata in Chittorgarh district, hydel power from the Chambal projects and Mahi Bajaj Sagar, and a very large and growing solar and wind capacity, led by the Bhadla Solar Park in Jodhpur district.
Sources
- Mineral resources and mining districts of Rajasthan — Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Rajasthan
- Indian Minerals Yearbook: state review of Rajasthan — Indian Bureau of Mines, Ministry of Mines
- Petroliferous basins of Rajasthan and the Barmer discoveries — Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
- Power stations of Rajasthan: thermal, lignite, atomic and renewable — Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam
