Previous Year Question
With reference to the mineral resources of India, consider the following pairs.
Mineral | 90% Natural Sources in | |
1. | Copper | Jharkhand |
2. | Nickel | Odisha |
3. | Tungsten | Kerala |
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
1 and 2
Only 2
1 and 3
1, 2 and 3
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
The question does not merely ask whether a mineral occurs in the corresponding State. It claims that approximately 90% of the natural resources of that mineral are located in that State. This distinction forms the principal factual trap in the question.
Pair 1: Copper—Jharkhand — Incorrect
Copper does occur in the Singhbhum region of Jharkhand, but Jharkhand does not contain 90% of India’s copper resources.
According to IBM’s resource assessment as on 1 April 2015:
Rajasthan—53.81%
Jharkhand—19.54%
Madhya Pradesh—18.75%
Other States—approximately 7.9%
Thus, Jharkhand is an important copper-resource State, but its share is not 90%. A distinction must be made between the occurrence of a mineral and the location of 90% of the country’s resources.
Pair 2: Nickel—Odisha — Correct
According to IBM’s assessment as on 1 April 2010, India possessed approximately 189 million tonnes of nickel-ore resources. Of these:
Odisha—175 million tonnes, or approximately 92%
Jharkhand—approximately 9 million tonnes
Nagaland—approximately 5 million tonnes
Karnataka—nominal resources
The principal nickel occurrence in Odisha is situated in the Sukinda Valley of Jajpur district. Nickeliferous limonite occurs there in oxide form within the overburden of chromite deposits.
Therefore, under the 90% criterion, pair 2 is correct.
Pair 3: Tungsten—Kerala — Incorrect
Kerala was not listed among the States possessing tungsten resources in IBM’s National Mineral Inventory as on 1 April 2010.
At that time, India’s assessed tungsten resources contained approximately 142,094 tonnes of WO₃. Of these:
Rajasthan—approximately 93,708 tonnes of contained WO₃, or about 66%
Andhra Pradesh—approximately 20,263 tonnes
Maharashtra—approximately 16,035 tonnes
Karnataka—approximately 6,235 tonnes
The remaining resources occurred in Haryana, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu.
The Degana region of Rajasthan is India’s principal historical tungsten area. Wolframite occurs there in vein, stockwork and alluvial deposits.
An important distinction is that Karnataka had a larger total tonnage of tungsten-bearing ore than Rajasthan, but its contained WO₃ was much lower. This demonstrates that ore tonnage alone is insufficient; the quantity and grade of the actual useful mineral are also important.