The Panchpatmali deposits, among India's best known bauxite reserves, lie in which state?

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, 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.