Mineral production 13% higher in March

Mineral production in the country increased by 13.43 per cent in value terms to Rs 10,076 crore in March over that in the previous month.

The production figures did not include atomic and minor minerals, an official statement said today.

Production in March was marginally higher over the output in the same period last year, it added.

The mineral sector recorded 2.34 per cent growth in the 2008-09 over the last fiscal, the statement said.

Contribution of coal was the highest at Rs 4,445 crore, a growth of 36 per cent over that in the previous month. This was followed by iron ore at Rs 2,093 crore, petroleum (crude) Rs 1,591 crore, natural gas (utilised) Rs 853 crore, lignite Rs 417 crore and limestone Rs 201 crore.

These six minerals contributed about 95 per cent of the total value of mineral production in March 2009, it said.

Production level of coal during the month was 565 lakh tonnes, lignite 50 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilised) 2,730 million cubic metres, petroleum (crude) 29 lakh tonnes, bauxite 1,631 thousand tonnes, chromite 374 thousand tonnes, copper conc 11,000 tonnes, it said.

The production of gold was 161 kg, iron ore 217 lakh tonnes, lead conc 10,000 tonnes, manganese ore 2.20 lakh tonnes, zinc conc 1.06 lakh tonnes, apatite and phosphorite 1,32,000 tonnes, dolomite 3,83,000 tonnes, limestone 176 lakh tonnes and magnesite 22,000 tonnes, it said.

During the month, the output of bauxite increased by 54.49 per cent, lignite 46.90 per cent, lead concentrate 24.66 per cent, coal 19.61 per cent, natural gas (utilised) 15.78 per cent, dolomite 13.81 per cent, magnesite 12.35 per cent, petroleum (crude) 11.65 per cent, zinc concentrate 8.99 per cent, limestone 3.64 per cent, and gold 1.90 per cent.

The production of copper concentrate remains at the level of previous month.

However, the production of manganese ore decreased by 2.21 per cent, iron ore 3.43 per cent, chromite by 6.70 per cent and apatite and phosphorite 29.49 per cent.