Mineral production in India grows 5.9% in January

New Delhi: Mineral production in India surged by 5.9% year-on-year in January. The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for the month January was at 144.1. The  cumulative growth for the period April-January, 2023-24 over the corresponding period of previous year is 8.3 percent. The provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) revealed this.

The country produced over 99.8 million tonnes of coal in the period. India is  the world’s second-largest coal user. Other minerals such as iron ore, a key raw material for steel, reported a nearly 41% year-on-year growth in sales value. India produced 25.2 million tonnes of iron ore in the month.

The production of minerals such as Magnesite – used to make synthetic rubber – grew over 90%, and copper concentrate – used to make refined copper – grew over 34%. India’s refined copper production is estimated at around 555,000 million tonnes per year in the coming fiscal year while domestic consumption is expected to come in at more than 750,000 metric tons.

Also Read; Indian equity markets to remain closed on these two days next week: Details 

Production level of important minerals in January were: Coal 998 lakh tonne, Lignite 41 lakh tonne, Natural gas (utilized) 3073 million cu. m., Petroleum (crude) 25 lakh tonne, Bauxite 2426 thousand tonne, Chromite 251 thousand tonne, Copper conc. 12.6 thousand tonne , Gold 134 kg, Iron ore 252 lakh tonne, Lead conc. 34 thousand tonne, Manganese ore 304 thousand tonne, Zinc conc. 152 thousand tonne, Limestone 394 lakh tonne, Phosphorite 109 thousand tonne, and Magnesite 13 thousand tonne.

Important minerals showing positive growth during January, 2024 over January, 2023 include: Magnesite (90.1%), Copper Conc.(34.2%), Coal (10.3%), Limestone(10%), Bauxite (9.8%), Manganese Ore (7.8%), Natural gas (U) (5.5%), Lead Conc.(5.2%), Iron Ore (4.3%), Lignite(3.6%), Zinc Conc.(1.3%), and Petroleum(crude) (0.7%).

Other important minerals showing negative growth include Gold (-23.4%), Chromite (-35.2%) and Phosphorite (-44.4%).