Minerals are required in all spheres of our life in agriculture, industries and for domestic purposes. We are rapidly consuming the mineral resources that required millions of years to be formed and concentrated. The geological processes of mineral formation are so slow that the rates of replenishment are infinitely small in comparison to the present rates of consumption. They are finite resources that are non-renewable, yet are getting exhausted due to rapid exploitation. Continued extraction bring down their quality as well as increases costs of extraction. To save these valuable resources from exhaustion and to preserve them for future generations as well, we should conserve our mineral resources. Methods of conserving minerals are as follows.
(a) Causing minimum wastage of minerals during the process of mining and processing of minerals.
(b) Improved technologies to utilize low-grade ores at low cost.
(c) Using minerals in a planned manner by adopting the policy of recycle and reuse. Recycling of metals, using scrap metals and other substitutes to reduce exploitation of the present deposits.
(d) Looking for some other eco-friendly options for its replacement like CNG.

Conservation of mineral resources are essential due to the following reasons
1. Minerals are required in many industries. So it is important to use them carefully as it is needed everywhere.
2. Minerals are already in limited quantities and they are non-renewable resources. Their reserves are fast depleting
3. Lot of economic developmental plans have been possible due to the presence of certain minerals. So to continue those developmental plans and projects, judicious use of minerals is needed.
The three methods to conserve the minerals are
(i) Better and improved technology should be used to reduce wastage of minerals during extraction.
(ii) Minerals and metals made out of those minerals should be recycled wherever possible.
(iii) Scrap metals and substitutes of metals should be used wherever possible.

The two areas where large reserves of natural gas are found are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Mumbai High Region. Natural gas is called the fuel for the present century because it is pollution free and environment friendly. Besides being used as a source of power, natural gas is also used in vehicles as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and for purpose of cooking as Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG).

When the extraction of a mineral from its deposit or reserve becomes economically viable, that deposit is termed as a mine. The concentration of minerals in the ore, the ease of extraction and closeness to the market are important considerations to select a reserve to be a mine for extraction of the mineral. The different types of mining prevalent in India are as under.
(a) Open-pit mining or open-cast mining.
(b) Underground mining or deep-shaft mining.
(c) Rat-hole mining.
(d) Quarrying.
(e) Drilling (for obtaining mineral oil or petroleum).
Rat-hole mining is a local form of coal mining prevalent in tribal areas of the north-east where some minerals like coal, iron ore, limestone and dolomite are owned by individuals and communities. In Jowai and Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, coal mining is done by family members of the tribal community in the form of a long narrow tunnel. This is known as rat-hole mining.

The two varieties of iron ore found in India having high iron content are magnetite and hematite. Magnetite is the finest quality iron ore with very high iron content up to 70 per cent. Hematite has an iron content of 50 to 60 percent but is the most important industrial iron ore in terms of the quantity used. Rich iron-ore deposits are found in the following regions of India.
(a) Odisha-Jharkhand belt with high grade haematite iron ore in Badampahar mines in the Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts of Odisha, and Gua and Noamundi in the Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.
(b) Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur belt in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra with super-high grade hematite iron ore, in the Bailadila range of hills in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.
(c) Ballary-Chitradurga-Chikkamaguluru-Tumakuru belt in Karnataka has large reserves of iron ore. The Kudremukh mines located in the Western Ghats are known to be one of the largest deposits in the world.
(d) Maharashtra-Goa belt includes Ratnagiri in Maharashtra and some areas in Goa

(a) Odisha- Jharkhand Belt:
Badampahar mines in the Mayurbhanj and Kendujhar districts of Orissa have high grade hematite ore. Additionally, hematite iron ore is mined in Gua and Noamundi in Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.
(b) Durg- Bastar-ChandrapurBelt:
This belt lies in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. The Bailadila range of hills in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh has very high grade hematite ore. This hilly range as 14 deposits of super high grade hematite ore. Iron from these mines is exported to Japan and South Korea via Vishakapatnam port.
(c) Bellary-Chitradurga-Chikmaglur- Tumkur Belt:
This belt lies in Karnataka. The Kudremukh mines located in the Western Ghats are a 100 percent export unit. The ore from these mines is transported as slurry through a pipeline to a port near Mangalore.
(d) Maharashtra-Goa Belt:
This belt includes the state of Goa and Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. The ores in these mines are not of very high quality. They' are exported through Marmagao port.

(a) In India, coal is the most abundantly available fossil fuel. Coal is found in a variety of forms depending on the degress of compression and the depth and time of burial. As per these basis, coal deposits are found mainly of two geological ages. These are
(i) Gondwana Coal Deposits These are about 200 million years old. The major coal deposit in India are Gondwana coal which are high quality metallurgical coal.
These coal deposits are located in Damodar Valley (West Bengal-Jharkhand). Jharia, Raniganj and Bokaro are important coal deposit fields. Besides, the Godavari, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha valleys also contain such coal deposits.
(ii) Tertiary Coal Deposits These are around 55 million years old. Tertiary coal deposits are found in the North-Eastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. This coal is of lower quality than the Gondwana coal.