Rajasthan is located in the north-western part of India between Latitude 23°03'-30°12' N and Longitude 69°29'- 78°17'E. It is the largest State in the country with an area of 342, 239 sq. km., encompassing about 11% of the total geographical area of the country.

Rajasthan's geographical area is marked with diversity of land type and is characterized by sand dunes, fertile plains, rocky undulating land and some forested regions. The Aravalli range is considered as the oldest in the world and runs diagonally across the State. Almost two-third State is enveloped by the Thar Desert with arid and semi arid climatic conditions. There are 33 districts in the State. The population of Rajasthan is about 7.23 crore. Out of the total State area of 342,239 sq km., forest area covers 32,744.4 sq. km. (i.e. 9.57% of total land), markedly the area under mining leases/licenses is approximately 1,846 sq km which is only 0.54 % of total land cover of the State.

Every facet of Rajasthan is unique and fascinating. So is its geology. In terms of age, its rocks range from one of the oldest (more than 3,500 million years) to recent, displaying a wide diversity of mineral deposits. Mining and smelting of base metal deposits are also amongst the oldest in world dating back to more than 2,500 years (about 500 BC). The Zinc-Lead-Silver mines in Rajasthan date back to ancient time, exploiting both shallow oxidised ores and sulphides. Trench, shallow mining, opencast and deep mining extending to over 250 m depth had been identified and use of metal tools and extensive fire setting were prevalent in those days. Metallic Zinc was extracted at an industrial scale from the early 13th to the late 18th century. Metallurgical waste found included Lead slag, litharge from Silver refining and Copper slag.

Today Rajasthan is considered as a museum of minerals, both metallic and non-metallic including renowned building stones. It has a vantage position in having significant resources of Radioactive minerals, Lignite, Petroleum and Natural Gas. Rajasthan is the richest state in terms of availability and variety of minerals in the country and produces about 57 different minerals. Rajasthan is the sole producer of lead & zinc ores, selenite and wollastonite. Rajasthan was the sole producer of garnet (gem) till 2004-05. Almost entire production of calcite, natural gypsum and silver in the country comes from Rajasthan. The State is a major producer of ball clay, calcite, clay, copper ore/conc., feldspar, fireclay, limestone, ochre, phosphorite/rock phosphate and steatite. The State is also an important producer of marble, granite, sandstone & Kota stone of various shades. Makrana area is the world famous centre for marble mining. The State possesses substantial share of the total resources of potash (94%), lead & zinc ore (89%), wollastonite (88%), silver ore (88%), gypsum (82%), ochre (81%), bentonite (75%), fuller's earth (74%), diatomite (72%), feldspar (66%), marble (63%), asbestos (61%), copper ore (54%), calcite (50%), talc/steatite/soapstone (49%), ball clay (38%), rock phosphate (31%), fluorite (29%), and tungsten (27%). The State contributed about 12% to the total value of mineral production in the country and occupied second position among the States in 2014-15. It was the sole producer of lead and zinc ores and concentrate, selenite and wollastonite. Almost entire production of silver in the country was also reported from the State during 2014-15. Rajasthan was the leading producer of gypsum accounting for 99%, calcite 96%, phosphorite 95%, ball clay 92%, ochre 89%, talc/soapstone/steatite 82%, fireclay 36% and limestone 21% of the total production of respective minerals in the country. Besides, it was the second leading producer of copper concentrates contributing 41%, petroleum (crude) 24% and kaolin 16% of the nation’s output for the year 2014-15 (IBM Year Book, 2015).

For more information contact on admhq.mg@rajasthan.gov.in