India's mineral production declined in September

The index of mineral production in the country was down 3.09 per cent in September 2010 even as production in the country's mining and quarrying sector showed a positive growth of 5.24 per cent year-on-year during September 2010.

The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic and minor minerals) in the country during September 2010 was Rs12,947 crore, official data showed.

Crude petroleum had the highest share of Rs5,208 crore (40 per cent) in the country's mineral production, followed by coal Rs3,295 crore, iron ore Rs2,067 crore, natural gas Rs1,295 crore, lignite Rs282 crore and limestone Rs244 crore.

These six minerals together contributed about 96 per cent of the total value of mineral production in the country in September 2010.

In September 2010, India produced 363 lakh tonnes of coal, 24 lakh tonnes of lignite, 4,151 million cu m of natural gas (utilised), 31 lakh tonnes of crude petroleum, 805,000 tonnes of bauxite, 219,000 tonnes of chromite, 7,000 tonnes of copper concentrate, 191 kg of gold, 13 million tonnes of iron ore, 10,000 tonnes of lead concentrate, 211,000 tonnes of manganese ore, 115,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate, 161,000 tonnes  of apatite and phosphorite, 387,000 tonnes of dolomite, 17,700,000 tonnes of limestone, 15,000 tonnes of magnesite and 7,071 carats of diamond.

Diamond production increased by 5023.91 per cent in September 2010, while production of manganese ore increased 12.17 per cent and production of apatite and phosphorite rose 7.84 per cent. However the production of chromite decreased by 0.72 per cent, bauxite production by 1.1 per cent, limestone production by 1.16 per cent, iron ore production by 1.7 per cent, lead concentrate production by 1.74 per cent, natural gas (utilisation) by 2.33 per cent, crude petroleum production by 2.41 per cent, dolomite production by 3.88 per cent, gold production by 4.5 per cent, lignite production by 5.37 per cent, coal production by 5.45 per cent, zinc concentrate production by 9.29 per cent, magnesite production by 18.9 per cent and copper concentrate production by 30.92 per cent.