Before independence, the total annual production of iron ore in India was only 2 million tons which has now increased to more than 85 million tons.
Today India is the largest producer of iron ore in Asia and seventh largest producer in the world. Most of the iron ore mined in India are of Haematite and Magnetite varieties. These ores have high percentage of iron contents and low sulphur contents. The main producing areas are as under:
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i. Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgath:
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This belt is the largest producer of iron ore in India. Bulk of the supplies comes from Dharwad rocks of Durg, Bastar and Jabalpur districts. The Bailadila range in Bastar and Dhalli-Rajhara range in Durg are the main producing regions. The haematite ore is rich in iron contents (65 to 70 per cent). The Bailadila mines are the largest mechanized iron ore mines in Asia. The other iron mining centres are in Raigarh, Bilaspur, Mandia, Balagat and Surguja districts.
ii. Jharkhand:
The iron ore belts are an extension of the Orissa belt and occupy the southern part of the state. The main producing centres are in the Purvi Singhbhum, Paschimi Singhbhum and Palamau districts. Recently, a vast deposit of haematite ore has been discovered at Charia in Singhbhum district. A major part of the iron ore production goes to Raurkela, Bokaro, and IISCO steel plants. The exports are mainly through Haldia port.
iii. Karnataka:
The bulk of the production (more than 90 per cent) comes from Bellary district, followed by Chitradurga, Chikmagalur, Bijapur, Tumkur, etc. The iron ore deposits in Kudremukh in Chikmagalur district were developed under an export agreement with Iran. The
ore is mainly supplied to Bhadrawati and Vijayanagar steel plants. The state is the second largest producer of iron ore in India.
iv. Goa:
It is the third largest producer of iron ore and most of the production comes from the mines in North Goa. The ore is of inferior quality, and most of the mines are open cast and mechanized. Cheap water transport and the facilities at Mormugao port are favourable factors. Almost the entire production from Goa is exported to Japan.
v. Orissa:
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The high grade haematite variety of iron ore is found in the Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts. The other producing districts or areas are Sambalpur, Cuttack and Korapur. The iron ore is supplied to the steel plants at Jamshedpur (TSL), Bokaro, Durgapur and Raurkela. A large quantity of iron ore is also exported.
vi. Andhra Pradesh:
The main iron ore producing centres are in the districts of Anantapur, Khammam, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Krishna and Nellore. The average iron contents are between 50 to 60 per cent. Some low grade iron ore is also mined in Adilabad, Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts.
vii. Tamil Nadu:
Most of iron ore with 35 to 50 per cent of iron contents are found in Salem, North Arcot, Tiruchirrappalli, Coimbatore and Madurai districts. The production is limited, but it is likely to increase to meet the demands of Salem steel plant.
viii. Others:
Some production of iron ore is from Ratnagiri, Chandrapur, Satara and Bandara districts in Maharashtra; Bhilwara and Udaipur districts in Rajasthan; Junagarh and Bhavnagar districts in Gujarat; Mahendragarh district in Haryana; Rajauri, Jammu and Udhampur districts in Jammu and Kashmir; and in some parts of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh.