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Natural & Energy resources

Geography Minerals

NATURAL RESOURCES

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

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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

Important Minerals

Iron-One

Main classes of Iron ore are as follows:

Magnetite: Iron content is upto 72.4%. Derived from igneous and metamorphic rocks. It is a black mineral: some of the best magnetite ores are mined at Kiruna and Gallivare in Arctic Sweden and in Liberia.

Hematite: In term of quantity it is the most important. Iron content is around 70%. These are red ores. Found in the Lake Superior Region in USA, Labrador, Quebec, Brazil and Indian peninsula.

Limonite: It is a brown ore occurring in thick beds in sedimentary rock sequences over large areas of the world. Iron content-60%

Siderite: Ash-grey in color and is found interbedded with other sedimentary rocks. Iron content is upto 48%.

Leading Producers

USA is the largest producer. Canada, CIS, Sweden, France, Britain and Germany are the others. The most important deposits are Lorraine in France and in Luxembourg.

Copper

Most copper mines are operated by the open-cast method and are highly mechanized. U.S.A. (17%) ranks first in the production of copper. Canada and Russia (14% each) comes next. Chile, Zambia, Canada and Zaire are other countries producing copper.

WORLD FAMOUS MINES
Mines	Minerals	Country
Kimberley	Diamond	S. Africa
Lubumbashi	Copper	Zaire
Wankie	Coal	Zimbabwe
Witwatersrand	Gold	St. Africa
Katanga	Cu & Cobalt	Zaire-Zambia
Kasai	Diamond	Zaire

Tin

The principal ore of tin is cassiterite or tinstone which contains 75% of the tin. It occurs in igneous and metamorphic rocks. 80% of the world’s supplies come from alluvial deposits. Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of tin. It is also available in Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.

Aluminium

It is extracted from bauxite. The largest quantities of bauxite are found in the tropical and subtropical latitudes. Bauxite is chiefly mined in U.S.A. and Canada comes next followed by Norway, Switzerland and France.

Lead

The ore galena or lead sulphide, with a lead content of 85% is commercially the most important source of lead. The leading producers are the U.S.A., Russia, Australia and Canada.

Zinc

Zinc blende and calamine are the main 2 sources. The leading producers are Canada, Russia, Australia and the U.S.A.

Uranium

Radioactive mineral. Its main ores are uranite and pitchblende. It is chiefly mined in the U.S.A., South Africa, Zaire, Australia and central Asia.

Nickel

The main ore of Nickel is pentlandite (Mixture iron , nickel and sulphur). It is one of the most malleable and least fusible metals known. Meteorites are also found to contain much nickel. Canada produces the largest amount of the world’s nickel. Cuba, Philippines and Russia come next.

Manganese

Ores are Pyrolusite and psilomelane. It is obtained from the ores by electrolytic methods. Russia is the largest producer. Output comes mainly from the Black Sea region. South Africa. Gabon, Australia and India are the next largest producers.

Chromium

It is a hard and silvery metal with a bluish tinge and a metallic lustre. It increases the hardness of the steel if mixed with nickel.

Leading Producers

The leading producers are Erstwhile USSR, Balkan countries, Finland, Philippines, South Africa.

MINERALS : WORLD RESERVES, USES AND MAJOR PRODUCERS
Mineral Resources	Uses	World Reserves (Metric Tons)	Major Producing Countries
Bauxite	Ore of aluminum	21,559,000	Australia, Guinea, Jamaica, Brazil
Chromium	Alloys, electroplating	418,900	South Africa, CIS, India, Turkey, Zimbabwe
Copper	Alloys, electric wires	3,21,000	Chile, USA, Canada, CIS
Gold	Jewellry, circuitry in Computers, Communications equipment, dentistry	42	South Africa, USA, CIS, Australia, Canada
Iron Ore	Storage batteries, solder, pipes	70,440	CIS, USA, Mexico, Canada, Peru
Manganese	Iron and steel production	812,800	CIS, South Africa, Gabon, Australia, Brazil France
Nickel	Stainless steel	48,600	CIS, Canada, New Caledonia, Norway, Dominican Republic
Silver	Jewellry, photography, dentistry	780	Mexico, USA, Peru, CIS, Canada
Tin	Coating on metal, tin cans, alloys solder	5,920	China, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia
Titanium	Alloys; white pigment in paint, paper and plastics	288,600	Australia, Norway, CIS
Zinc	Iron and steel, alloys, rubber products, medicines	143,910	Canada, Australian, CIs, China, Peru, Mexico, Spain

Tungsten

The main ore is Wolfram. It is a heavy metal with a high melting point (Second Highest). Tungsten Carbide is almost as hard as diamond.

USA, CIS, China and South Africa are the leading producers.

Cobalt

Hard, blue metal and has many properties similar to those of iron. 51% of production comes from Zaire. Zambia and Morocco are other important producers.

Vanadium

It is ores are carnotite, patronite, desclosite and rescoelite. USA, Finland, the CIS and Norway are the major producers.

Molybdenum

Ores are molybdenite and Wulfenite which occur in quartz veins in granite rocks. The leading producer is the U.S.A. Canada is the second largest producer.

Gold

It occurs in alluvial or placer deposits as in California and Alaska. South Africa is the greatest producer. Canada, Japan, U.S.A. Philippines and Ghana are the other major producers.

Silver

Most is derived from the complex ores of lead (Galena), copper, Zinc and Gold. Mexico is the leading producer of silver. CIS and U.S.A. are other producers.

Platinum

Rarest of metals, heavy with a white lustrous appearance and has a very high melting point. It is always found with other rare metals allied to the platinum group such as osmium (the heaviest metal) palladium (of great medical value), iridium (used in fountain pen nibs.), and rhodium (for plating silver to avoid tarnishing), Canada, South Africa and CIS are the major producing countries.

Diamond

It is a precious stone and not a metal. The World’s greatest diamond cutting centres are Antwerp, Amsterdam. The Hague Zaire is the leading (by quantity). The CIS produces both gems and industrial diamonds. South Africa is the leading gemstone producer.

Asbestos

Main ore is chrysotile. It was a silky, fibrous mineral found in veins of igneous rocks. CIS leads the World Canada, South Africa. Italy and Brazil are other producers.

Mica

It is black, brown or white and transparent. Main commercial types are muscovite (white) and phlogopite (brown) which occur in igneous rocks. U.S.A. is the largest producer. The CIS and India follow next.

Sulphur

Bright yellow mineral. Sulphur is deposited in volcanic regions. It is obtained from Pyrites. Sulphur comes mainly from the U.S.A. and Mexico.

Rock Salt

Halite or sodium chloride is common salt. It occurs as a sedimentary rock. Salt is mined in the U.S.A., China, CIS, Germany, U.K., Canada, France and India are other producing countries.

WORLD-RESOURCES
Resource	Major Producers
Coal	USA, Russia
Lignite	Germany, Russia
Petroleum	Saudi Arabia, Russia
Natural Gas	USA
Electricity	USA, Russia
Nuclear power	USA, UK, Germany
Iron ore	Russia, Australia
Copper	USA, Russia
Tin	Malaysia, Bolivia
Bauxite	Australia, Jamaica
Lead	USA, Russia
Zinc	Canada, Russia
Nickel	Canada, Cuba , Russia
Manganese	Russia, South Africa
Chromium	Russia, Balkans, Finland
Tungsten	USA, CIS, China, S.Africa
Cobalt	Zaire, Zambia
Vanadium	USA, Finland,CIS
Molybdenum	USA, Canada
Gold	South Africa, Canada
Silver	Mexico, Russia
Platinum	Canada, South Africa
Diamond	Zaire, Russia
Asbestos	Russia, Canada
Mica	India, USA
Sulphur	USA, Mexico
Rock Salt	USA, China
Potash	Russia, Canada
Phosphate	USA, Russia
Uranium	South Africa, USA

Potash

It is a salt occurring in beds or domes. CIS, Canada and U.S.A. are major producing countries.

Phosphate

It occurs as a rock in sedimentary sequences. USA, CIS, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Peru are major producing countries.

China Clay

It is fine clay formed by the alternation of granite by metamorphism. Used in all kinds of pottery and porcelain for domestic and industrial uses.

Energy Resources

Energy is the key input to drive and improve the life cycle. Primarily, it is the gift of the nature to the mankind in various forms. The consumption of the energy is directly proportional to the progress of the mankind. With ever growing population, improvement in the living standard of the humanity, industrialization of the developing countries, the global demand for energy is expected to increase rather significantly in the near future. The primary source of energy is fossil fuel, however the finiteness of fossil fuel reserves and large scale environmental degradation caused by their widespread use, particularly global warming, urban air pollution and acid rain, strongly suggests that harnessing of non-conventional, renewable and environment friendly energy resources is vital for steering the global energy supplies towards a sustainable path. The demand for power increases with the economic development in the world. The major fuel in use today are coal and oil or petroleum and natural gas but in some cases other fuels including wood, peat and nuclear fuels are used to produce power. Water, solar energy, biogas, wind, tidal and geothermal energy are non-conventional energy resources.

Coal

It has been the basis of industrial revolution.

Most of the coal has been formed during the carboniferous period of geological history owing to the submergence of natural vegetation.

It is found in seams in sedimentary rocks.

Its major quality is its combustibility and stability. The coal is divided into 3 kinds on the basis of carbon content.

Anthracite: It is the hardest and free or impurities. It contains above 90% of carbon and gives off little smoke. There are very limited reserves of this type of coal.

Bituminous Coal: It contains 70 to 90 percent of carbon. It is black and shiny. It gives smoky flame. They yield tar when heated.

Lignite or brown coal: It’s carbon content is 45 to 70 per cent. It burns with high smoky flames. It contains higher proportion of vegetal matter.

Peat: It represents the first stage in the formation of coal from vegetation. It is light brown in color with high humidity content. It does not have any industrial importance because it is most inferior coal.

The USA, CIS and China are the leading Coal Producers. Germany, CIS and West Germany are the main Lignite Producers.

Petroleum

Sr NO	Country	Oil Reserves
1	Venezuela	297,570
2	Saudi Arabia	267,910
3	Canada	175,200
4	Iran	157,300
5	Iraq	140,300
6	Kuwait	104,000
7	United Arab Emirates	97,800
8	Russia	80,000
9	Libya	48,014
10	Nigeria	37,200

Petroleum Production (million barrels per day)

1. USA- 13.9 million barrels per day

2. Saudi Arabia – 11.6 million barrels per day

3. Russia – 10.8 million barrels per day

4. China – 4.57 billion barrels per day

5. Canada – 4.38 million barrels per day

6. UAE – 3.47 million barrels per day

It supplies half the world’s energy requirements. It is easily obtained, can be cheaply distributed and occurs in great abundance. It is referred to black gold.

It is derived from the rocks where, it flows freely in either liquid or gaseous state.

The modern petroleum Industry recognizes three principal grades of crude oil.

1. Paraffin-Base oil: It contains a higher percentage of methane and produces petrol and high grade lubricating oils.

2. Asphalt-Base oil: It consists mainly of the heavier hydrocarbons. It yields little motor-oil during distillation so it is of less commercial significance.

3. Mixed-base oil: It consists of mixed properties of the lighter and heavier oils. It carries a high percentage of naphthalene. It is used both for lubricants and fuel oils.

For further details about petroleum consult Science Preliminary Part - I (Physics) notes

OPEC

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an international organization made up of Iraq, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Libya, Angola, Algeria, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. The Vienna-based organization has maintained its headquarters there since 1965, hosting regular meetings between the oil ministers of its member states. The Organization now has twelve member states. They are listed below with their affiliation dates. Note that although the official language of a 7-nation majority of OPEC member-states is Arabic, OPEC's official language is English. Only one member nation (Nigeria) has English as an official language. OPEC headquarters in Vienna.

In September 1960, the governments of Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela met in Baghdad to discuss the reduction in price of crude oil produced by their respective countries. As a result, OPEC was founded to unify and coordinate members' petroleum policies. Original OPEC members include Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Between 1960 and 1975, the organization expanded to include Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Libya (1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), and Nigeria (1971). Ecuador and Gabon were members of OPEC, but Ecuador withdrew on December 31st, 1992 because they were unwilling or unable to pay a $2 million dollar membership fee and felt that they needed to produce more oil than they were allowed to under the OPEC quota. Similar concerns prompted Gabon to follow suit in January 1995. Angola joined on the first day of 2007.

Indonesia is reconsidering its membership having become a net importer and being unable to meet its production quota. Although Iraq remains a member of OPEC, Iraqi production has not been a part of any OPEC quota agreements since March 1998. It is estimated that the current twelve OPEC members (account for about 40% of world oil production, and about 2/3 of the world's proven oil reserves.

Natural Gas

The principal constituents of natural gas are a mixture of gaseous hydro carbons of which methane alone may make up 80 to 90 per cent. The larger fields of gas often have no oil. The other gases include ethane, propane and butane. Traces of non-hydro carbon gases may also occur, including helium, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide.

NATURAL GAS – RESERVES AND PRODUCTION
Country	Reserves in	Country	Production
	billion cubic		petajoules
Russia	48,160	U.S.A.	24,037
Iran	20,659	Russia	22,699
U.A.E.	5,794	Canada	6,137
Saudi Arabia	5,620	U.K.	2,866
U.S.A.	4,599	Netherlands	2,812
Venezuela	4,020	Indonesia	2,444
Nigeria	3,451	Algeria	2.431
World	1,41,335

The U.S.A. accounts for about 42% of the world’s production of natural gas. Russia, China and the European Union are other major producers.

Though there are 50 countries that produce crude oil, over 75 per cent of the world’s supply comes from North America, the Middle East states and Russia.

Electricity

Hydro-Electricity

It is generated by running water which drives hydro turbines to generate hydroelectric power (H.E.P.)

POTENTIAL OF HYDRO POWER CAPACITY
Continent	%
Asia	30
Africa	24
Europe	15
N. America	10
S. America	17

The U.S.A. is the world’s leading producer of H.E.P. Russia has large plants in both European and Asiatic sectors of the country.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC PRODUCTION TOP TEN
Continents		Countries
Continent	Production (million K.W. hour)	Country	Production (million K.W. hour)
1. Africa	57,345	1. Canada	330,834
2. Europe	719,627	2. U.S.A.	308,281
3. N. America	639,115	3. Brazil	253,862
4. C. America	44,987	4. China	190,577
5. S. America	462,874	5. Russia	177,256
6. Asia	563,596	6. Norway	122,436
7. Oceania	44,953	7. Japan	91,301
8. World	2,532,516	8. France	75,922
		9. India	71,665
		10. Sweden	67,029

Thermal Electricity

When power is produced by burning other fuels such as coal, petroleum, or natural gas in thermal generators of specially designed furnaces, it is called thermal electricity.

Since thermal plants are dependent on a supply of solid or liquid fuels they are advantageously sited on coal fields, oil or natural gas fields, or at importing ports where oil is refined.

The greatest concentration is the densely populated and heavily industrialized parts of Western Europe and North-Eastern, North America. The U.S.A., whose annual output of thermal electricity is 2,211,000 million KWh, almost twice as much as any other country, is the leading producer and consumer. Second is Russia, followed by Japan.

Nuclear energy

The first commercial nuclear power stations started operation in the 1950s.

There are over 430 commercial nuclear power reactors operable in 31 countries, with over 370,000 MWe of total capacity. About 70 more reactors are under construction.

They provide over 13% of the world's electricity as continuous, reliable base-load power, without carbon dioxide emissions.

56 countries operate a total of about 240 research reactors and a further 180 nuclear reactors power some 150 ships and submarines.

Sixteen countries depend on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity. France gets around three quarters of its power from nuclear energy, while Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get one third or more. South Korea, Bulgaria and Finland normally get more than 30% of their power from nuclear energy, while in the USA, UK, Spain and Russia almost one fifth is from nuclear. Japan is used to relying on nuclear power for more than one quarter of its electricity and is expected to return to that level. Among countries which do not host nuclear power plants, Italy and Denmark get almost 10% of their power from nuclear.

In electricity demand, the need for low-cost continuous, reliable supply can be distinguished from peak demand occurring over few hours daily and able to command higher prices. Supply needs to match demand instantly and reliably over time. There are number of characteristics of nuclear power which make it particularly valuable apart from its actual generation cost per unit – MWh or kWh.

· Fuel is a low proportion of power cost, giving power price stability

· its fuel is on site (not depending on continuous delivery), it is dispatchable on demand

· it has fairly quick ramp-up

· it contributes to clean air and low-CO₂ objectives

· it gives good voltage support for grid stability.

These attributes are mostly not monetized in merchant markets, but have great value which is increasingly recognised where dependence on intermittent sources has grown.

Uranium

It is a radioactive mineral which have great capacity to generate energy through nuclear fission.

There are two primary sources of uranium (1) Pitchblende (50 to 80% uranium content) (2) Uraninite (60% to 80% uranium content).

Canada and U.S.A. are the leading uranium producers.

Thorium

The major sources of thorium are thorianite, allanite and monazite.

Sri Lanka and Madagascar are the main producers of Thorium. Monazite reserves are found in Brazil, Australia, and Malaysia.

Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy Resources

Energy generated by using wind, tides, solar, geothermal heat, and biomass including farm and animal waste as well as human excreta etc is known as non-conventional energy. All these sources are renewable or inexhaustible and do not cause environmental pollution.

Solar Energy

Since most renewable energy is ultimately "solar energy" that is directly collected from sun light. Energy is released by the Sun as electromagnetic waves. This energy reaching the earth’s atmosphere consists of about 8% UV radiation, 46% visible light and 46% infrared radiations.

It is available in plenty in the tropical region for longer periods in a year. This energy can be directly converted into electricity with the help of photo voltaic cells which are made of Silicon. The U.S.A. is the largest producer of solar cells. Now Japan is coming up in its production.

Wind Energy

It Has Been Harnessed For Centuries To Drive Mills And Pumps. Now it is being used to run turbines to produce electricity. Denmark, Germany and China are the leading wind power producers of the world.

Geothermal Energy

Geo-thermal energy is the heat of the earth's interior. That is energy derived for hot springs, emissions of dry or wet stream and from hot rocks at depth. It is most used in Iceland. India also has some sources of geothermal energy.

Tidal Energy

The rising water levels during tides can be utilized to create water reservoirs which then can be used to generate electricity. The rising water during tides is trapped and used to run turbines.

Ocean thermal energy

The possible use of the seas is to make use of the heat gradient between Surface and deep sea water or between warm currents such as the Gulf Stream and adjacent colder water to produce power. India with its tropical seas is very well placed to utilize this option.

Importance of non-conventional sources of energy:

1. The non-conventional sources of energy are abundant in nature. According to energy experts the non-conventional energy potential of India is estimated at about 95,000 MW.

2. These are renewable resources and hence can be renewed with minimum effort and money.

3. Non-conventional sources of energy are pollution-free and eco-friendly.

INDIAN ENERGY SCENARIO

India ranks sixth in the world in total energy consumption, whereas more than 70% of its primary energy needs are being met through imports, mainly in the form of crude oil and natural gas. Coming to the power generation in the country, India has increased installed power capacity from 1362 MW to over 3000000 MW since independence and electrified more than 500,000 villages. This achievement is impressive but not sufficient. It is a matter of concern that 31% of households do not have access to the electricity (Census 20011). The electricity supply is not even sufficient for those who have been connected. The annual per capita consumption of 1010 Kwh is way lower than the 15000 Kwh in developed world. The Ministry of Power has now launched the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana to ensure 100% electrification. The task is daunting but not unachievable. India has a vast hydro potential of 150,000 MW out of which only 17% has been tapped so far. Then there are coal reserves to last for more than 200 years along with other exploitable energy reserves such as oil and gas etc. Even the potential of renewable energy is 82,000 MW. It is significant that the ministry envisions adding 100000 MW up to 2022 through non-solar energy alone.