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NATURAL RESOURCES

Geography and Environment (PCS) Resources

NATURAL RESOURCES

A resources has been defined as means of attaining given ends.

i. Biotic and Abiotic Resources: Biotic natural resources are those consisting of living things. They can continue to reproduce and regenerate their population as long as environmental conditions remain favourable and an adequate seed source is maintained. All biotic resources are renewable.

Abiotic resources consist of nonliving things. In general they may be considered mostly nonrenewable. All minerals are abiotic resources and nonrenewable. Some abiotic resources, however, are renewable. Manganese ore, for example, is relatively scarce on the land surface but it is continuously being formed in nodules on the ocean floor, just as cobalt, nickel, and copper ore.

ii. Exhaustible and Inexhaustible Resources: The metals and minerals obtained from earth are exhaustible. The natural replacement of minerals through geological events is so slow, that it can have no relevance to mineral extraction. Resources which can be renewed by reproduction or by physical, mechanical, or chemical processes are known as inexhaustible resources. Solar energy, air, water, wildlife, forests and human beings are examples of inexhaustible resources.

iii. Potential and Developed Resources: The power that could be generated if all the power resources in the country are used is known as its potential resource while the actual power generated is known as a developed resource.

iv. Agricultural Resources and Pastoral Resources: The chief agricultural resources, comprising crops cultivated by man, may be classified into five groups: (a) cereals-rice, wheat, maize, pulses, rye ,oats millets, and barley: (b) beverages and tobacco; (c) sugarcane, sugar beets, spices, vegetables, and fruits; (d) fibres-cotton, jute, hemp and (e) rubber and oilseeds-groundnuts, soybean, and castor. Pastoral activity means the rearing of animals whether for meat, milk, wool or hides.

v. Raw Materials and Energy Resources: The presence of raw materials is the fundamental condition of all industry. Man gets primary products from agriculture, forestry, fishing animals, and mining. The raw materials-agricultural land, forests, fishes, animals and minerals-are unevenly distributed on the surface of the Earth. The resources used as power to run machines, industries, and automobiles are known as energy resources. The major fuels in use today are coal, oil, and electricity, but in some cases other fuels are used to produce power. Water is harnessed to produce hydroelectricity. Nuclear energy obtained from uranium and thorium is a modern source of energy. Another source is geothermal energy, i.e, energy derived from volcanic phenomena such as hot springs.

vi. Mineral Resources: Our present Material civilization has developed to a large extent by the knowledge and application of metals and minerals.

Minerals and Metal Resources

The wide variety of minerals exploited by man is grouped into a number of classes.

1. Rocks: Rocks are aggregations of minerals. It includes granules of minerals. It include granite and other crystalline igneous and metamorphic rocks which are used as road metal; granite, limestone, marble; sandstone, slate and other building stones; clay for brick-making; limestone for cement-making and gravel and sand used in mixing concrete.

2. Minerals: These include salt, Potash, nitrates and other mineral fertilizers; sulphur, used in the chemical industry. Diamonds are also nonmetallic minerals.

3. Mineral Fuels: These are nonmetallic minerals derived from organic remains and are important because they burn, such as, coal, oil and natural gas.

4. Metals: (a) Iron (b) Base metals-These are tin, copper, aluminium lead and zinc.

5. Ferro-alloys: These include manganese, chromium, nickel, cobalt, tungsten.

6. Precious Metals: Gold, Silver and Platinum.

7. Others: Uranium

Iron Ore:

Iron is one of the most common elements in the world and forms 5% of the crust of the Earth.
Much of the iron ore are in the sedimentary rocks called Banded Iron Formations (BIFs).
The bulk of these rocks are either Hematite or Magnetite, and it makes almost 98% of the iron ore produced worldwide that goes into making steel.
Much of the iron ore mined are oxide compounds of Magnetite (Fe3O4), Hematite (Fe2O3) Goethite (Fe2O3SH2O), and Limonite. Magnetite is composed of 72% iron, Hematite is 70% iron, Goethite is 63% iron, and Limonite is 60% iron.
Deposits that contain at least 60% Fe are often commercially viable for mining, but in some case deposits of 56% Fe have been commercially mined successfully in different countries.
Distribution of Iron Ore:

China, followed by Australia and Brazil are the three top ranking iron ore producing countries in the world.

Leading Iron Ore Producing Countries

China

China is by far the largest producer, consumer, and importer of Iron ore.
Important regions: Hebei and Liaoning provinces of mainland China. Other regions include Shanxi, Beijing, and parts of Inner Mongolia.

Australia

The mineral is mainly in the Western Australia in the regions of Pilbara, which represents 95% of Australia’s iron ore.
The region forms three of the eleven biggest mining operations in the world. In 2015, Australia produced 824 million tons of iron ore and in 2014 was 774 million tons which represent more than 20% of the global output.

Brazil

The mineral is mined mainly in Minas Gerais and Para states. Carajas is the world’s biggest iron ore mine owned by Vale the Brazil’s industry giant.

India

95% of the country's iron ore come from Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, and Karnataka.

Russia

Russia is the fifth largest producer, and in 2015 it produced 112 million tons of crude iron ore up from 102 million tons in 2014. Most of the county’s iron ore is in Central Russia, and the rest come from Siberia and the Urals.

Copper

In the Earth’s crust, the copper content is about 0.01%. The primary user of most of the produced copper is companies that manufacture electrical components followed by tubing, piping, plumbing fixtures, machine tool products, and hardware.

Because it is so easily combined with other metals, it has been used in well over 1000 varying alloys. Alloys are produced using zinc, tin, or nickel.

As one of mankind’s oldest metals, copper was mined over 10,000 years ago.

It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; a freshly exposed surface has a reddish-orange color. It is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, a building material, and a constituent of various metal alloys.

Distribution of Copper in world:

Chile:

The important copper-producing areas of Chile are Chuquicamata, El Teniente, El Salvador and La-Africana. Chuquicamata is the largest copper mine in the world.

Peru:

The important copper mines in Peru are located at Cerro de Pasco, Morococha, Casapalca and Toquepala.

USA:

In USA five states are the main copper-producing states; these are Arizona, Utah, Montana, Nevada and New Mexico.

Canada:

Main copper-producing areas are Ontario, Manitoba, Quebec and Saskatchewan. More than 80 per cent of Canada’s copper production comes from Ontario and Quebec.

In Asia:

In Asia, China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Iran, Turkey, Philippines and South Korea produce copper.

China is the fourth largest copper producer in the world and produces 6.37 per cent of the world’s production. Yunnan, Czechoau and Tangshan are the main copper-producing provinces.

Indonesia accounts for 4.14 per cent of the world copper production and ranks 6th in the world.

India produces only 0.4 per cent of the world’s copper. India’s copper ore reserves have been estimated at 40 crore tons, with a metal content of 51 lakh tons. The principal copper belt of India lies in Singhbhum and Hazaribagh of Bihar.

Aluminium

Most abundant metal; 8% of the Earth’s crust.

Ores: Bauxite (in the form of oxide), Cryotite (found only in Greenland), Corundum, Kaolin.

Commercial Bauxite has 50% alumina & 7% silica, so it is the most wan-ted ore, mostly mined in tropical region but aluminium is manufactured in developed countries where cheaper electricity is available. World’s first Bauxite mine was in the village ‘Les-Baux’ in France from which the ore name bauxite is derived.

Distribution:

India: Bihar, MP, Maharashtra, T.N., Karnataka.

Australia: Weipa (east of Gulf of Carpentaria), N.E Arnhem (west of Gulf of Carpentaria), Cape York Peninsula.

USA: Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama

Former USSR: Urals (Karsnya- Shapochka, Kamansk Ural-Skiy), Turgay.

France: Brignoles (N.E of Toulon), LesBaux

Tin

Ores: Cassiterite or Tinstone (75% Tin) generally found in alluvial deposits comprising 80% of world supplies.

Distribution:

Malaysia: Kinta valley, Larut Plain Keylong Valley, Jelepu Valley.
Thailand: Kra Peninsula, Phuket
China: Yunnan (Geiju), Tauchin, Nanling Shan
Indonesia: Bangka, Billiton, Singkep,Mt. of Malacca.
Bolivia: Potosi, Oruro
Nigeria: Bauchi Plateau (Bauchi, Jos,Jaria)
Australia: Cornwall, New England.
Myanmar: Shan Plateau, Kayinni plateauoccurs in lodes & veins in Bolivia.

Lead

The content of lead in the Earth's crust is 0.0016%, and the reserves are abundant.

In nature, lead resources exist largely in the form of associated minerals, with the ore deposit containing mainly lead together with the single lead deposits accounting for only 32.2% of the total reserves.

The main lead ores are galena (PbS), cerussite (PbCO3 ) and lead sulfate (PbSO4). In addition, a small amount of lead also exists in all kinds of uranium and thorium mines. Lead resource distribution in the world is as follows:

Area distribution:

The lead resources in the world are mainly distributed in: Siberia, Russia in Europe; central and western regions of China in Asia; Queensland, Broken Hill , Elura and Woodlawn (New South Wales), Tasmania, and North Bay, MacArthur River in Australia; the southeastern area of Missouri and Mississippi River valley area in the US, and Zacatecas and San Luis Potos in Mexico within North America; and Cerrode Pasco and Morococha in Peru, South America.

The lead reserves are greatest in the following countries: Australia (40%); China (15%); Russia (10%); the United States (5.6%); Peru (8.4%); and Mexico (6%). The lead reserves of these six countries cover 85% of total reserves in the world.

Zinc

Zinc blende and calamine are the two main sources of Zinc.

Distribution of Zinc in World

China:

China is the largest zinc-producing country. Most of the zinc is produced in Yunan Province.

Peru:

In Peru, Cerro de Pasco, Huaras and Ayacacho are the main zinc-producing areas.

Australia:

The main zinc-producing areas of Australia are Broken Hill in western New South Wales, Reed Elsevier, Western Queensland and Captains Flat also in New South Wales.

USA:

Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Jersey, Tennesee, Virginia, Illinois and New York are having zinc mining areas.

Canada:

British Columbia is the largest mining area not only in Canada but also in the world. Kimberley in British Columbia, Flin-Flon in Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the main areas of zinc mining.

Nickel:

Nickel is a hard and silvery metal, used in making stainless steel and for electroplating. It is one of the hardest, most malleable and least fusible metals known.

It is less magnetic than iron and is thus useful for constructing metal parts located near compasses.

The main ore of nickel is pentlaudite, a complex mixture of nickel, iron and sulphur, It is also often found in association with copper.

Distribution:

The important nickel-producing countries and their percentage in world’s production is as follows: Russia – 17.14 per cent, Canada – 15.53 per cent, Indonesia – 13.11 per cent, Australia – 11.18 per cent, New Caledonia – 5.7 5 per cent, Columbia – 4.65 per cent, China – 5.28 per cent, Philippines – 5.49 per cent, Brazil – 4.70 per cent and Cuba – 4.78 per cent.

Some nickel is also produced in South Africa, Dominican Republic, Norway and Germany. In India nickel ore is found in Cuttack and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha.