Mineral Resources of Garo Hills Districts and their Exploitation

Most of the economic mineral resources of Garo Hills are associated with the Eocene Tertiary, Sedimentary formation. These minerals are Coal, Limestone, Lithomargic clay, Fireclay, Phosphorite, Gypsum and Glass sand.

Coal: The total estimated reserves of coal in Garo Hills Districts is of the order of 359.00 million tones spread over three coalfields viz., West Daranggre, Siju and Pendengru-Balpakram coalfields. Of these, only the West Daranggre coalfield has been opened and worked to a small extent. A block of this coalfield of about 244 hectares was operated by the MIDC Ltd. Annual production from the Nongalbibra colliery of MIDC Ltd. was of the order of 10,000 tonnes. Plans are afoot for exploiting this coalfield for thermal power generation and for use in the proposed cement plant.

Limestone: The total estimated reserves of limestone in Garo Hills is of the order of 510 million tones. Of this, more than 460 million tones is in a single deposit at Siju Arteka in South Garo Hills. So far, the limestone deposits of Garo Hills have not been worked for commercial purpose except a small quantity in the Siju area along the Nongalbibra-Baghmara road, which has been quarried for road metals.

Lithomargic Clay and Fireclay: These clays are associated with the coal deposits of the West Daranggre coalfields. The estimated reserve of the lithomargic clay and fireclay is of the order of 80 million tones, out of which fireclay reserve is 70 million tones. Tests conducted on these clays show that they can be utilized for production of high-class refractory bricks and insulators.

Phosphorite, Gypsum and Glass-sand deposits found so far are not of economic importance.

There are also other minerals, which are associated with the Aechaean-gneissic complex of the Shillong group of rocks. These are Kaolin or China clay, Quartzite, Feldspar, Banded haematite-quartzite, Sillimanite, Granites and Dolerites. A deposit of good quantity Kaolin or Chaina Clay of economic importance has been located in the Darugre area in the district. A block of this deposit, which has been investigated, has an estimated reserve of 1.20 million tones of good clay. The adjoining areas which are yet to be explored also contain sizeable quantity of this clay. A clay washery is proposed to be set up at Darugre in the area to utilize this deposit for use in various industries.

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