Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Science
Political and commercial geology and the world's mineral resources
Geology, Economic; Mines and mineral resources
Manganese also occurs in the Balaghat, Bhandara, Chindwara, and Nagpur
districts in the central provinces; Narukot and Panch Mahals districts,
Bombay; Jhabua district, central India; and the Gangpur district in
Bihar and Orissa. These districts form a belt that extends from Baroda,
on the west coast, across northern India nearly to Calcutta on the
east, a distance of 700 miles. In these districts, beds of manganese
oxides with manganese garnet and rhodonite form a rock type known as
gondite, which is interlayered with quartzite and mica schist. These
rocks are considered to be sediments of the Dharwar group (Archean).
The manganese oxides may have been laid down as sediments, or may
represent the weathering of the silicates. The ore bodies are lenses
and layers. The largest single deposit, Balaghat, has the form of a
shallow trough, is 1³⁄₄ miles long and 45 to 50 feet thick, and yielded
from 1901 to 1913, 725,248 tons of ore. In 1913, thirteen distinct
deposits had yielded more than 100,000 tons each, the range being from
101,721 to 725,248 tons.
From 1901, when the deposits of this type were first exploited, the
rate of production rose steadily to the maximum of 697,035 tons in
1913. During 1907, fifty-two separate deposits contributed 598,437 tons.
Where rocks of Dharwar age (Archean), such as mica schists, that do
not seem to contain the manganese-bearing Gondite series, are deeply
weathered, manganese and manganiferous iron oxides form irregular but
locally extensive deposits on the crests of hills. These deposits are
underlain by barren clays that represent the residue of the underlying
rocks. The largest deposit yielded 160,000 tons of ore in three years,
1906 to 1908, but is probably almost exhausted. The principal deposits
of this class are in the Sandur Hills district, Madras; the Shimoga
district, Mysore; and the Belgaum district, in Bombay; which lie within
an area less than 100 miles in diameter in southwest India. From
1905, when deposits of this group were first explored, the production
increased to a maximum of 11,353 tons in 1909,then declined to 62,770
tons in 1913. The total yield of this group to the end of 1913 was only
765,401 tons.
As regards the commercial control of the manganese deposits, a law
recently passed forbids aliens to own more than a minor interest in
mineral deposits in India. Previous to this, during 1907, the latest
year for which complete data are available and in which 899,055 tons
was produced, the entire output was from mines owned by resident
English or natives, except for 21,500 tons produced by the Carnegie
Steel Co., of Pittsburgh, U. S. A.
The annual production of manganese ore in India rose steadily from
1892, when the first shipments were made, to 1907, when 899,055 tons
was shipped; and since then has ranged from 450,000 to 815,000 tons.
The total production, up to and including 1916, was 8,748,000 tons.
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