The history of geological formation, varied topography, spatial rainfall distribution have resulted in emergence of well-defined mineral belts in India, which can be divided as:
The North-Eastern Peninsular Belt
This belt comprises of Chhota Nagpur Plateau and Odisha plateau in the states of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha
This is the richest mineral belt of India, which contains large quantities of coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, copper, kyanite, chromite, etc.
The Chhota Nagpur Plateau is known as the mineral heart land of India
Central Belt
This belt encompasses parts of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra; and is the second largest mineral belt of India
Large deposits of manganese, bauxite, limestone, marble, coal, gems, mica, iron ore, graphite are found here
The southern Belt
It covers mostly the Karnataka plateau, but extends over the contiguous Tamilnadu upland
It has deposits of ferrous minerals; but lacks coal deposits except lignite at Neyveli
The South-Western Belt
Western Karnataka and Goa are included in this belt
It has deposits of iron ore, garnet and clay
The North-Western Belt
This belt extends along the Aravalli in Rajasthan and in adjoining parts of Gujarat
This belt holds promise for mining of non-ferrous metals such as copper, lead, zinc, along with uranium, mica, beryllium and precious stones
Other belts
Outside of the main belts described above, minerals in some other parts of the country are scattered as well
Assam has reserved of petroleum and lignite
The Himalayan region has some deposits of coal, bauxite, copper, etc.
Mumbai High and Godavari Basin have reserves of oil and natural gas
With advancement of technology, there is potential to exploit the sea bed on the continental shelf of India as well
