Mining sector of Rajasthan :

Rajasthan is located in the north western part of India. It is the largest State in the country with an area of 342,239 sq. km., encompassing about 11% of the total geographical area of the country. The State is bounded between Latitude 23°03'-30°12' N and Longitude 69°29'- 78°17'E. There are 33 districts in the State. Rajasthan's geographical area is marked with diversity of land type and is characterized by sand dunes, fertile plains, rocky undulating land and some forested regions.

The Aravalli range is considered as the oldest in the world and runs diagonally across the State. Almost two-third State is enveloped by the Thar Desert with arid and semi arid climatic conditions. The population of Rajasthan is about 7.23 crore. The State covers an area of 342,239 sq km., out of which forest area covers 32,744.4 sq. km. (i.e. 9.57% of total land), markedly the area under mining leases/licences is approximately 1,846 sq km which is only 0.54 % of total land cover of the State.
The Department of Mines and Geology (DMG), Rajasthan, and the Department of Petroleum are the principal agencies for mineral exploration and mineral administration in the State. Every facet of Rajasthan is unique and fascinating. So is its geology. In terms of age, its rocks range from one of the oldest (more than 3,500 million years) to recent, displaying a wide diversity of mineral deposits.

Mining and smelting of base metal deposits are also amongst the oldest in world dating back to more than 2,500 years (about 500 BC). The Zinc-Lead-Silver mines in Rajasthan date back to ancient time, exploiting both, shallow oxidised ores and sulphides. Trench, shallow mining, opencast and deep mining extending to over 250 m depth, had been identified, and use of metal tools and extensive fire setting, were prevalent in those days. Metallic Zinc was extracted at an industrial scale from the early 13th to the late 18th century. Metallurgical waste found included Lead slags, litharge from Silver refining and Copper slags.
Today Rajasthan is considered as a museum of minerals, both metallic and non-metallic including renowned building stones. It has a vantage position in having significant resources of Radioactive minerals, Lignite, Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Current Status of Mining :

Mining Sector Rajasthan is blessed with 79 varieties of minerals, of which 57 are being commercially exploited. Its share is 9% in the country's total mineral production. The State has virtual monopoly in the production of minerals like Lead, Zinc, Gypsum, Soapstone, Ball Clay, Calcite, Rock Phosphate, Feldspar, Kaolin, Copper, Jasper, Garnet, Wollastonite, Silver, etc. The State is proud to possess huge reserves of Lignite, Crude Oil and high quality Gas. It is also renowned for its deposits of Marble, Sand Stone and some unique decorative stones. Mining is not only a major source of employment in the rural and tribal areas of the State, but also a major source of revenue to the Government, playing an important role in the development of the State.

 Prospecting and Exploration :

The Department of Mines & Geology initiated systematic Mineral Survey and Prospecting activities in the year 1967. They are being continued and cover about 57% (2,00,000 sq.km.) area of Rajasthan under Regional Mineral Survey (RMS); 22,000 sq.km. under Regional Geological Mapping (RGM); 4,500 sq.km. under Detailed Geological Mapping (DGM) and about 5,30,000 meterage of drilling.
The planned efforts by the Department resulted in discovering world class mineral deposits like Jhamar Kotra Rock Phosphate, Rampura-Agucha multimetal deposit, Deri-Basantgarh base-metal, etc. Widespread deposits of SMS and Cement grade Limestone, Lignite, Gypsum, etc. have been located by the Department. A number of mineral deposits like Fluorite, Barytes, Magnesite, Wollastonite, Calcite, Granite, Marble, Slate, etc. have also been discovered by the Department. As a result, 3 Smelters, 23 Cement plants, a number of thermal power plants, a float glass manufacturing unit and thousands of mineral processing units and other mineral based industries have been set up in the State. Some notable global companies have also commenced their mining and industrial operations in the State. There is a huge potential for setting up new Cement plants, Lignite based thermal power units, glass-ceramic industries, and fertilizer industries in the State.

Mineral Concession, Production and Revenue:

The number of mineral concessions in the State in the year 1960-61 was 5,713 (500 major mineral leases, 806 minor mineral leases and 4,407 quarry licences), which has increased to 33,375 (138 major mineral being supplied to Ramgarh Power Plant (110MW+160 MW) and GNFC.
Petroleum drilling operations are going on in all 4 petroliferous basins i.e. Barmer-Sanchor basin, Jaisalmer basin, BikanerNagaur & Vindhyan Basin. The mining sector provides direct employment to about 7-8 lakh persons and indirect employment to about 22-25 lakh persons in the State.
Hydrocarbon Sector : Total 21 blocks have been awarded in Rajasthan through nominations, joint ventures and various rounds of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) and Coal Bed Methane (CBM) bidding, out of which 9 blocks have been relinquished. A number of multinational, national and private companies like Cairn Energy, Focus Energy, Birkbeck, REL/RNRL, ONGC, OIL, GSPCL, GAIL, etc. are working for Hydrocarbons in Rajasthan.

The total resource potential of crude oil estimated so far in Barmer-Sanchore Basin alone is 7.2 billion barrels. (i.e., 1000 million tonnes). Out of 935 wells drilled so far, 41 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Barmer-Sanchore Basin and Jaisalmer Basin. About 30 billion cubic meter of rich and lean gas reserves have been discovered in Jaisalmer Basin in the gas fields viz. Manhera Tibba (1994), TanotDandewala (1996) and SGL (Shahgarh) (2009-10), Raageshwari (2012-13) etc. Commercial production of Crude Oil from Rajasthan began from August, 2009, and establishment of an Oil Refinery in the State is under consideration. c. Natural gas is being produced to the tune of 15 lakh cubic meter per day from Jaisalmer Basin and 3 lakh cubic meter per day from Barmer-Sanchor Basin.

Contribution of Mining Sector :

While contributing 4.4% to the State's GDP, the mining sector has affected every segment of life, like improvement in infrastructure, health and medical, education, skill development, providing sustainable livelihood to a large number of people belonging to weaker sections of the society. The mining activity has benefitted in the local area development which is visible in the form of social infrastructure like school buildings, health centres, children playgrounds, availability of drinking water etc. Greenery is an added benefit to society through mining sector. Most of the mine operators plant trees in and around their sites and also at the over-burden areas.