Kerala Mineral Resources

 

Kerala is rich and well known for its scenic beauty, but the land is relatively poor in natural resources. Though Kerala has a variety of mineral deposits, they are not plenteous. The sandy beaches of Kerala contain ilmenite, the main ore of titanium, and rutile (titanium oxide).

There are extensive deposits of white clay and commercially valuable deposits of graphite, lignite (brown coal), limestone, and mica in Kerala. Iron ore has been found at Calicut. Kerala's monazite, magnetite, sillimanite, and zircon deposits are largely undeveloped. Apart from this the beach sand of Kerala is rich in radioactive elements. Although it has been proved that there are deposits of gold at some places of Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram districts, mining is yet to start. Neendakara, Chavara and Kayamkulam regions have ample deposits of illuminate, magnetite, zircon etc...
Kerala State Mineral Development Corporation and the Mining and Geology Department plays the lead role in mining and researchs.

White Clay : Various places of Thiruvananthapuram district have rich deposits of white clay. Apart from this Kundara and Chattannur of Kollam district are famous for their plenteous deposits of China clay. This china clay is extensively used for the production of ceramic wares and materials such as electric fuses.

Graphite : Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts of the state have abundant deposits of graphite. Being a multipurpose mineral, graphite is used in making a variety of products.

Silica sand : This the main constituent of glass and therefore the major raw material of glass industry. Silica is found in various part of Alappuzha district like Cherthalai, Panavalli, Pallippuram etc...

Iron ore : Deposits of Iron ore has been found at various places surrounding Kozhikode.

Bauxite : Fairly large deposit of bauxite have been found at various places of the Kollam district like Shooranadu, Adichanelloore etc...

A number of industries in Kerala are dependant on the available minerals for their production. Products of these industries include aluminium, cement, ceramics, chemicals, electrical equipment, glass, pencil etc...