SSC
The Bailadila hill range in Chhattisgarh is famous for which mineral?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option D — Iron ore
Detailed Solution
The Bailadila range, in the Dantewada district of southern Chhattisgarh (in the Bastar region), is famous for its rich deposits of high-grade hematite iron ore. It is one of the largest and best-quality iron ore deposits in India.
Meaning of the name:
"Bailadila" means "hump of an ox" in the local language, because the hills look like the hump on an ox's back.
Key facts:
- The deposits contain hematite with a very high iron content, often above 65 per cent.
- The mines are operated by NMDC Limited (formerly the National Mineral Development Corporation), the largest iron ore producer in India.
Mining began in the 1960s. Much of the early production was exported to Japan under long-term agreements.
The ore is sent by rail and through a slurry pipeline towards Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, where it is used in the Visakhapatnam steel plant or exported from the port.
A railway line (the Kirandul-Kottavalasa line) was built mainly to carry Bailadila ore to the coast.
Kirandul and Bacheli are the main mining towns.
Ore from the region also supplies the NMDC steel plant at Nagarnar near Jagdalpur.
The area is a tribal region, home to communities such as the Gond and Muria. Mining has brought both economic activity and concerns about displacement and environmental damage.
Major iron ore regions of India:
- The Singhbhum-Keonjhar-Sundargarh belt (Jharkhand and Odisha), including Noamundi, Gua and Barbil.
- The Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt (Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra), which includes Dalli-Rajhara and Bailadila.
- The deposits of Goa, mostly of lower grade and exported.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bauxite is the ore of aluminium; Chhattisgarh has some bauxite on the Mainpat plateau and in the Amarkantak area, but Bailadila is not known for it.
- ✗Manganese ore is mined mainly in the Nagpur-Bhandara belt of Maharashtra and in parts of central and eastern India, not at Bailadila.
- ✗Chromite (the ore of chromium) is not mined in the Bailadila hills.
Quick tip
Remember: Bailadila ("hump of an ox", Dantewada, Chhattisgarh) = high-grade hematite iron ore, mined by NMDC.
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Minerals & Energy Resources — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Minerals & Energy Resources, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers India's mineral resources (iron ore, manganese, bauxite, copper, mica and others) and energy resources (coal, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy), with their main producing regions, mines, oil fields and power plants. Questions often ask where a mineral is found, which state is the leading producer, or where an important power plant or oil field is located. For example, Jharia is known for coal, Digboi in Assam is the oldest oil field in India, and Tarapur in Maharashtra is the site of India's first nuclear power plant. Practise the minerals and energy resources questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.