The index of mineral production of the mining and quarrying sector for January 2024 at 144.1 is 5.9 per cent higher as compared to the level in the same month last year, the Ministry of Mines highlighted on Wednesday.
As per the provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), the cumulative growth for the period April to January 2023-24 over the corresponding period of previous year is 8.3 per cent.
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Production levels of important minerals in January were: Coal at 998 lakh tonne, Lignite at 41 lakh tonne, Natural gas (utilised) at 3073 million cu. m., Petroleum (crude) at 25 lakh tonne, Bauxite at 2426 thousand tonne, Chromite at 251 thousand tonne, Copper conc. at 12.6 thousand tonne , Gold at 134 kg, Iron ore at 252 lakh tonne, Lead conc. at 34 thousand tonne, Manganese ore at 304 thousand tonne, Zinc conc. at 152 thousand tonne, Limestone at 394 lakh tonne, Phosphorite at 109 thousand tonne, and Magnesite at 13 thousand tonne.
The data further showcased the important minerals with positive growth during January, 2024 over last year which include: Magnesite (90.1 per cent ), Copper Conc.(34.2 per cent ), Coal (10.3 per cent), Limestone(10 per cent ), Bauxite (9.8 per cent ), Manganese Ore (7.8 per cent ), Natural gas (U) (5.5 per cent ), Lead Conc.(5.2 per cent ), Iron Ore (4.3 per cent ), Lignite(3.6 per cent ), Zinc Conc.(1.3 per cent ), and Petroleum(crude) (0.7 per cent ). Other important minerals showing negative growth include Gold (-23.4 per cent ), Chromite (-35.2 per cent ) and Phosphorite (-44.4 per cent ).
According to data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, last week, the growth in industrial output decelerated to 3.8 per cent in January.
The manufacturing sector’s growth slowed to 3.2 per cent from 4.5 per cent a month ago, even as the uptick in mining and electricity generation accelerated to 5.9 per cent and 5.6 per cent , respectively.