Indian mining industry witnesses strong growth in FY 2024-25

According to IANS, iron ore production, which accounts for 70 per cent of total mineral production by value, increased to 263 million tonnes in the April to February period of FY 2024-25 compared to 252 million tonnes in the same period of FY 2023-24. This represents a growth of 4.4 per cent. The total production for FY 2023-24 was 274 million tonnes.

Manganese ore production increased by 12.8 per cent to 3.4 million tonnes in FY 2024-25 (April-February) as compared to 3.0 million tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year, while bauxite production also increased by 3.6 per cent to 22.7 million tonnes in these 11 months of the current financial year as compared to 21.9 million tonnes in the same period of FY 2023-24.

Similarly, lead concentrate production also increased by 3.5 per cent to 352,000 tonnes for this period in FY 2024-25 as compared to 340,000 tonnes in FY 2023-24.

In the non-ferrous metals sector, primary aluminium production for the first 11 months of FY 2024-25 showed a growth of 0.9 per cent over the corresponding period last year, increasing to 3.836 million tonnes from 3.8 million tonnes in FY 2023-24. In the same comparable period, refined copper production rose 7.1 per cent from 464,000 tonnes to 497,000 tonnes.

India is the world's second largest aluminium producer, is among the top 10 producers of refined copper and is the fourth largest iron ore producer in the world.

Earlier, it was reported that India has reported record rice, wheat and maize harvests in 2024-25 season.