RANCHI, India: The National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) has offered to do free mapping of mineral reserves of Jharkhand through exploration.  NMDC CMD Rana Som, said there is a huge area which needs to be explored to find out the exact amount of the mineral reserves, especially iron ores. Mr Som said Jharkhand has estimated iron ore reserve of 4 billion tonne. “Out of this, Chiria mines contribute to about 2 billion tonne. Half billion tonne area has been explored. But, the remaining 1.5 billion tonne area is unexplored. The NMDC does not want any benefit from the state government in return. “We want to build a solid data base of the mineral reserves which can be used by mining companies. Exploration will help us establish the grade of ore, its span and the depth, which will be for the benefit of companies and the state government as well,” Mr Som added.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com