By Our Business Affairs Bureau
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR/JODA: With mining auction completed smoothly, the index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for the month of January 2020 (Base: 2011-12=100) at 124.3, was 4.4% higher as compared to the level in the month of January, 2019.
The cumulative growth for the period April- January, 2019-20 over the corresponding period of previous year has been (+) 1.0 percent. Mining & Mineral Statistics Division of Indian Bureau of Mines functions as the nodal agency for statistics on mineral sector and releases this information.
Production levels of important minerals in January, 2020 were: Coal 750 lakh tonnes, Lignite 45 lakh tonnes, Natural gas (utilized) 2528 million cu. m., Petroleum (crude) 27 lakh tonnes, Bauxite 2146 thousand tonnes, Chromite 445 thousand tonnes, Copper conc. 12 thousand tonnes, Gold 160 kg, Iron ore 229 lakh tonnes, Lead conc. 36 thousand tonnes, Manganese ore 265 thousand tonnes, Zinc conc. 137 thousand tonnes, Apatite & Phosphorite 154 thousand tonnes, Limestone 336 lakh tonnes, Magnesite 7 thousand tonnes and Diamond 2437 carat. The production of important minerals showing positive growth during January, 2020 over January, 2019 include: ‘Phosphorite’ (26.9%), ‘Zinc conc.’ (16.1%), ‘Iron ore’ (15.3%), ‘Coal’ (8.7%), ‘Manganese ore’ (7.5%), ‘Gold’ (7.4%) and ‘Lead conc.’ (5.3%).
The production of other important minerals showing negative growth is: ‘Chromite’ [(-) 19.1%], ‘Natural gas (utilized)’ [(-) 8.8%], ‘Bauxite’ [(-) 6.4%], ‘Petroleum (crude)’ [(-) 5.3%], ‘Lignite’ [(-) 3.8%], ‘Copper conc.’ [(-) 2.7%] and ‘Limestone’ [(-) 1.6%].
