A Brief Account of Cement Industry in India and the Norms for Suitability of Limestone Deposits for Cement Manufacture

India's long history, dating back to 3200 BC has been influenced considerably by the deposition, development and use of stones and other construction materials.The metallurgical and mineral industries constitute the bedrock of industrial development as they provide the basic raw materials for most of the industries. India produces as many as 84 minerals comprising 4 fuels, 11 metallic and 49 nonmetallic industrial and 20 minor minerals. Their aggregate production in is about 550 million tonnes, contributed by over 3,100 mines (reporting mines) producing coal, lignite, limestone, iron ore, bauxite, copper, lead, zinc. More than 80 per cent of the mineral production comes from open cast mines and therefore, one must add the quantity of overburden to that of the mineral production in order to assess the total amount of annual excavation in India’s mining sector. The mining leases numbering 9,244 are spread over 21 States on about 13,000 mineral deposits occupying about 0.7 million hectares which is 0.21 per cent of the total land mass of the country. The aggregate value of the mineral production being more than Rs.450 billion (approximately $10 billion). The distribution of the value of mineral production shows that fuel minerals accounted for about 82% (of which solid fuels 44% and liquid /gaseous fuels is 38%), metallic minerals about 8%, non-metallic minerals 4% and the balance 6% is contributed by minor minerals.