MINERAL AND INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES Odisha: Orissa, situated on the eastern seaboard of India is one of the gifted parts of the world, where a gamut of mineral resources exist in bounty. The state is endowed with large reserves of bauxite, chinaclay, chromite, coal, dolomite, fireclay, graphite, gemstones, iron ore, limestone, manganese ore, mineral sand, nickel ore, pyrophylite and quartz. Orissa has about 72.5% of the area occupied by Precambrian metamorphic rocks which host the majority of the minerals. The Archaean rocks in northern Orissa include the Supracrustal belts of metasedimentary rocks including Iron Ore Super Group having deposits of iron, manganese, gold and basemetals. Orissa has a lion’s share of the Country’s mineral reserves. The chromite, nickel, bauxite, iron ore and coal resources of the state respectively stand at a staggering 83, 92, 55, 38 and 26 % of India’s total reserves. Maharashtra : Maharashtra is the second largest producer of kyanite and the second largest producer of manganese ore. The principal mineral-bearing belts in Maharashtra are Vidarbha area in the east and Konkan area in the west. Important mineral occurrences are: bauxite in Kolhapur,Raigad, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sindhudurg & Thane districts; china clay in Amravati, Bhandara,Chandrapur, Nagpur, Sindhudurg & Thane districts; chromite in Bhandara, Chandrapur,Nagpur & Sindhudurg districts; coal in Nagpur, Chandrapur & Yavatmal districts; dolomite in Chandrapur, Nagpur & Yavatmal districts; fireclay in Amravati, Chandrapur, Nagpur & Ratnagiri districts; fluorite & Shale in Chandrapur district; iron ore in Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Sindhudurg districts; iron ore in Gondia district; kyanite in Bhandara & Nagpur districts; laterite in Kolhapur district; limestone in Ahmednagar, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Nagpur, Pune, Sangli & Yavatmal districts; manganese ore in Bhandara, Nagpur & Ratnagiri districts. ‹#›