REPORTS / MEMIOGRAPH

Status Report on Mineral Wealth of the State, Arun Kumar Sharma and H.R. Dandi, Directorate of Industries, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, Shimla

Himachal Pradesh, with an area of 55,673 Sq km, has the potential for the occurrence of economic minerals but has not brought to light any worthwhile metallic mineral deposits so far. The report gives an account of mineral wealth of Himachal Pradesh. It highlights that though there are old workings of metallic mineral but there is no major metal mine in the whole State. The situation, however, is different in respect of non-metallic minerals having abundant reserves of cement to chemical grade limestone, dolomite, and also small reserves of barytes and gypsum. Himachal Pradesh is the only State in the Indian Union to have a working rock salt mine. The slate and building materials are also important minerals of the state.  It further highlights that in the foothill areas, despite having natural gas in Palaeogene -Neogene strata, exploration by drilling has not so far brought out encouraging results. In the Tethys Himalayan zone problems are much more severe due to poor logistics, inaccessibility and limited period of working owing to adverse climatic conditions. About 37 minerals are reported in Himachal Pradesh and except for limestone, baryte, shale, rock salt, silica sand, magnesite, gypsum, quartzite, slate, building stone, bajri & sand, other minerals have only academic importance.

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