Udaipur – Land of Minerals

Udaipur is a well known name famous for its Lakes, Palaces, Architecture, Temples, Natural beauty, Eco trails, Romantic evenings and its Golden History. But it’s a place lot more famous around the world not just for it’s beauty but also as place endowed with natural minerals.
Udaipur being Major Tourist Hub of the Country is also a Commercial Hub of the world with handicrafts and marble mining and processing as important occupation of people. Nature has endowed Udaipur with natural minerals. Our city tops in mining of natural minerals listed below:

1. White marble
2. Zinc
3. Rock phosphate
4. Talc (soapstone)
5. Calcite
6. Quartz
7. Wollastonite
8. Pyrophyllite & Sillimanite

Marble Industry:

Udaipur stands 1st in the world for mining and processing of white marble. It is the Asia’s largest market for white, green, pink and other marble. All these marble’s are exclusively mined, processed and exported around the World. Udaipur and Rajasthan comes first in marble mining and tops the list in this segment in the country. The marble industry is well set and established over hear with proper infrastructure and technological support for mining and processing. It is the largest sector giving employment to many people of the city and those immigrants from small villages. The business is very vast; the mines and processing units are extended in the adjoining areas namely Sukher, Rajsamand, Rajnagar, Kesrayaji, Chittor , Kishangarh etc. In total there are approximately 5,000 small and big units working in field of mining, processing, exporting and trading of marble.
The marble being produced is sold in all the states and across borders with R.K marble as largest producer of marble in the world with 60,000 square meter per day has earned the company a place in Guinness Book of World Records.
Though mining was once banned in the Aravalli region but the association of so many people with this industry as an employment agent cannot be denied and government had to cancel their order because of this.

Zinc:

The only company producing zinc is Hindustan Zinc. Formerly it was managed and run by Government of India and is now a part of big public company called Vedanta Group. Their Head offices are located amidst the city and the plants or projects run in outskirts of the city. It is one of the Largest producer of Zinc in the Country which accounts to 7,54,000 Tonnes P.A. It’s a Big organization and provides employment to hundreds of people. Their mines operate in Dariba near Udaipur where the Products Zinc Concentrate and Lead Concentrate which has a Ore product capacity 0.30 milion tonnes per annum.

Rock Phosphate:

Rock phosphate is another such mineral been mined and processed by RSMML. The major activity of RSMML is the mining of Rock phosphate ore. It operates one of the largest and fully mechanised mines in the country at Jhamarkotra, 26 Kms. from Udaipur.
In India the economy being predominantly based on agriculture, the fertilizer production plays a pivotal role. Only about 35% to 40% of the requirement of raw material for phosphatic fertilizer production are being met through indigenous sources and the rest is met through import in the form of rock phosphate, phosphoric acid & direct fertilizers. In such a situation Jhamarkotra plays an important role by contributing 98% of rock phosphate production of India.

White Industrial Minerals:

The minerals Talc , Dolomite, Calcite, China Clay are of same category, composition and use and mainly used as fillers, strengthening agents , whiteners for manufacturing in paints , plastics , paper , detergents , cosmetics etc. These minerals come under the category of white industrial minerals. These minerals are mined in neighboring villages and been processed into fine powder to be used for industrial purposes all around the world. The demand for these minerals is very high all around the world with high consumptions from Europe and Middle East nations. Udaipur is the lead producer of these minerals Wolkem India is a leading name in the mining and processing of Calcite and Wallastonite across the World and Golcha Group is the top name when someone thinks about Soapstone (Talc). Whereas Shri Kailash Khanij Udhyog is the only miner and producer of mineral Pyrophyllite and Sillimanite in this region. Both these minerals are widely used in refractories and other industrial applications around the World.

Mewar Industrial Area in Udaipur is full of Grinding Units these Minerals and New Industrial Areas are developed to accommodate the growth of these Industries. Around 500 units are involved into Mining, Grinding and Processing of these Minerals in and around Udaipur city.

Impact on Nature and Societal Perspective:

Mining and Mineral Industries are also a cause to natural hazard, degrading land resources and natural surroundings. Although mining in Aravalli range has been banned but illegal mining is still going on in these regions and causing problems to natural surroundings. But these industries are so prominent as they give employment to a lot of people, the benefits arising out of them cannot be ignored too. So many people from all economic strata are associated with these industries and if the industry is banned and shut down then surely too much of unemployment, which the state cannot afford. As long as it keeps on giving employment to people the industry will survive and so do the people.

UdaipurBlog team is Thankful to Mr. Ashok Chohan of  Shri Kailash Khanij Udhyog for his Valuable insights About the Mineral Industry.