Resources

Expertise

RESOURCES

India is said to contain about 25% of the world’s natural mineral resources. Most abundant are manganese and mica but, more importantly, valuable iron ore reserves are comparable to those of Brazil or Australia.

Aluminium is present in similar levels to Jamaica and Australia; the ilmenite (titanium ore) reserve is on a par with Australia, Canada, the Ukraine and Madagascar.

While uranium is present to the order of 80,000 tonnes, 290,000 tonnes of thorium ore represents about 25% of the world’s reserve.

It is of course imperative that natural resources are conserved and, if possible, recycled. But restrictions on the global movement of natural resources are not good for trade and industry. Regrettably, state governments in India are nevertheless attempting to monopolise their reserves and there is no federal law to prevent them. Sometimes it is thus difficult for states without these reserves to proceed with their plans.

On the other hand, this could be a blessing in disguise. Workers in Indian states such as West Bengal, which has coal but little iron ore, are forced to concentrate on developing shopfloor skills instead of pursuing unrealistic metal production goals, which in turn often leads to industrial action.