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 Peninsular plateau region, especially the Damodar Valley Region of Jharkhand and West Bengal, the Son, Mahanadi, Godavari and Wardha Valleys of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have rich deposits of Gondwana coal. In the north-eastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, tertiary coal is found. In Tamil Nadu, lignite deposits are found. The three major forms of coal are Anthracite, Bituminous and Lignite. Anthracite is the highest quality of coal with more than 80 per cent carbon content and very low moisture content. It is hard, compact and deep-black in colour. It is found in the Jharia coalfields of Jharkhand in a small quantity. Bituminous is the most widely used coal. High grade bituminous coal is used in metallurgical industries, especially for melting iron in blast furnaces. So it is also known as metallurgical coal. Bituminous coal contains 60 to 80 per cent carbon, low moisture, and has high heating capacity. It is formed when coal has been buried deep and subjected to increased temperatures. It is found in large quantities in the Jharia coalfield, of Jharkhand and Raniganj coalfield of West Bengal. Lignite contains about 60 per cent carbon and has high moisture content. It is a low grade brown coal which is soft and has low heating capacity. It is used in thermal power stations. Principal reserves are found in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu.

(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.

(i) Energy is the basic requirement for economic development.
(ii) Every sector of national economy agriculture, industry, transport and commerce needs greater inputs of energy.
(iii) In the domestic sector also energy demands in the form of electricity are growing because of increasing use of electric gadgets and appliances.
(iv) The economic development plans implemented since independence necessarily required increasing amount of energy.
(v) Because of all these, per capita consumption of energy is continuously increasing.

(a) Conservation of minerals resources is essential because:
   (i) The formation of minerals takes a long geological period of millions of years.
   (ii) They are finite, i.e. limited in nature.
   (iii) Many of them are non-renewable and exhaustible.
   (iv) The rate of replenishment of minerals is infinitely small in comparison to rate of consumption.
   (v) They have to be preserved for our future generations because they are very important for industrial development of the nation.
(b) Methods of conserving mineral resources.
   (i) We should use minerals in a planned and sustainable manner.
   (ii) Improved technologies need to be evolved to allow use of low grade ores at low cost.
   (iii) Recycling of metals.
   (iv) Using scrap metals and other substitutes.
   (v) Wastages in mining, processing and distribution should be minimized.
   (vi) Controlled export of minerals.

(a) Conservation of minerals resources is essential because:
   (i) The formation of minerals takes a long geological period of millions of years.
   (ii) They are finite, i.e. limited in nature.
   (iii) Many of them are non-renewable and exhaustible.
   (iv) The rate of replenishment of minerals is infinitely small in comparison to rate of consumption.
   (v) They have to be preserved for our future generations because they are very important for industrial development of the nation.
(b) Methods of conserving mineral resources.
   (i) We should use minerals in a planned and sustainable manner.
   (ii) Improved technologies need to be evolved to allow use of low grade ores at low cost.
   (iii) Recycling of metals.
   (iv) Using scrap metals and other substitutes.
   (v) Wastages in mining, processing and distribution should be minimized.
   (vi) Controlled export of minerals.

Importance of petroleum:
(i) It is the second most important energy source of India after coal.It can be easily transported by pipelines and does not leave any residue. This property of petroleum gives it an added advantage in its use over other fuels.
(ii) It provides fuel for heat and light.
(iii) It provides lubricants for machinery.
(iv) It provides raw material for a number of manufacturing industries.
(v) It is an important fuel used in transportation sector.
(vi) Petroleum refineries act as a 'nodal industry' for synthetic textiles, fertilizers and many chemical industries.

Occurrence of petroleum:
(i) Most of the petroleum occurrences in India are associated with anticlines and fault traps in the rock formations of the tertiary age.
(ii) In regions of folding anticlines it occurs where oil is trapped in the create of the up fold. The oil bearing layer is porous limestone or sandstone through which oil may flow.
(iii) Petroleum is also found in fault traps between porous and non porous rocks.