The State of Meghalaya is endowed with large deposits of a number of valuable minerals such as coal, limestone, kaolin, clay, granite, glass-sand and uranium. The table below gives information about various mineral resources of the State.
| MINERALS | RESERVE (in million tonnes) |
GRADES | MAJOR PLACES OF OCCURENCES | |||
| Proved | Indicated | Inferred | Total | |||
| Limestone | 9515 | 41599 | 3986 | 15100 | Cement, Metallurgical, and Chemical | Cherrapunjee, Mawlong, Ishamati,Shella, Komorrah, Borsora, Bagli in Khasi Hills District, Lakadong, Lumshonong, Nongkhlieh in Jaintia Hills District, Darrang Era-Aning, Siju and Chokpot in Garo Hills District. |
| Coal | 133.13 | – | 443.35 | 576.48 | Sub-bituminous with medium to high sulphur and C.V. | Langrin and East Darrangiri in Khasi Hills District, Bapung in Jaintia Hills District and West Darranggiri in Garo Hills District |
| Clay (Lithomargic) | – | – | 97.0 | 97.0 | White ware, earthen ware, furnace lining, curing soap etc. | Cherrapunjee and Mahadek in Khasi Hills District, Tongseng in Jaintia Hills District, Nangwalbibra and Rongrenggiri in Garo Hills District |
| Granite | 24.0 | – | 26.0 | 50.0 million m3 | Table top, wall cladding etc | Nongpoh in Ri-Bhoi, Mylliem and Mawkyrwat in Khasi Hills District, Rongjeng in East Garo Hills District |
| Kaolin | 3.20 | 1.94 | 0.10 | 5.24 | White ware | Mawphlang, Smit, Laitlyngkot in Khasi Hills District, Thadlaskein, Mulieh Shangpung, Mynsngat in Jaintia Hills District and Darugiri in Garo Hills District |
| Iron ore | 3.60 | – | – | – | Low grade | West Khasi Hills and East Garo Hills District |
| Glass sand | – | – | 3.0 | 3.0 | Ordinary glass ware | Laitryngew, Umstew and Kreit in Khasi hills, Tura in Garo Hills District |
| Quartz | – | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | Ordinary ceramic grade | |
| Feldspar | – | – | 0.127 | 0.127 | Ceramic grade | Bonsamgiri and Rombhagiri in East Garo Hills District |
| Silimanite | – | – | 0.045 | 0.045 | High temp. furnace lining. | Sonapahar in West Khasi Hills District |
| Bauxite | – | – | 1.45 | 1.45 | Low grade(40%Al2O3) | Sung valley in Jaintia Hills District |
| Rock phosphate | – | 0.015 | – | 0.015 | Low grade(15-30%P2O5) | Sung valley in Jaintia Hills District |
| Phosphatic nodule | Nominal | P2O5: 5-15% | Rewak in South Garo Hills District | |||
| Gypsum | Nominal | Crystals of salanite variety | Mahendraganj in West Garo Hills District | |||
| Uranium | AMD, Govt of India, has established a reserve of 9.22 mt., higher grade 0.104% U2O3 at Domiasiat, West Khasi Hills District | |||||
| Base metal /trace metal | 1.14% Cu:0.80mt, 1.61%Zn:0.85mt, 1.88%Pb:0.88mt. with traces of Cd, Bi, Ag, Tenor of gold encountered in 3 bore Holes of Tyrsad | |||||
COAL – The estimated reserve of coal in Meghalaya is 576.48 million tones. The coal is suitable for use as fuel for heat and power generation, in producing iron, steel and gas and to make coke for metallurgical purposes. Total annual production of coal in the state is about 5.0 million tones.
LIMESTONE – Huge deposits of good quality limestone , cement to chemical grade are found in the southern part of Meghalaya from Jaintia Hills in the East to Garo Hills in the west. The total estimated reserve is 15,100 million tones.
CLAY – Large deposits of good quality lithomargic clay is found in Garo Hills and are high temperature resistant (about 17500c ) and can be used for furnance lining and boiler oil stills.
KAOLIN/CHINA CLAY – Small patches of kaolin or china clay occur in Khasi Garo and Jaintia Hills and can be utilized in white ware, porcelain and paper making industry.
GRANITE – Deposits of multi-coloured granite around Nongpoh, Mylliem and Mawkyrwat and black granite around Jenjalgre in west Garo hills are available which may be processed into table tops and wall/floor cladding.
Minor deposits of glass sand, quartz, feldspar, bauxite, rock phosphate, phosphatic nodule, gypsum, sillimanite and base metals/trace metals are recorded from different parts of the State. Mineralisation of uranium is recorded in different parts of the State which is under the domain of Atomic Mineral Division (AMD), Government of India.
References:
http://megdmg.gov.in/minerals.html
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/meghalaya/meghalayaminerals.htm
