'Minor Minerals' means building stones, gravel, ordinary clay, ordinary sand, soil, murum. Other sand used for prescribed purposes, and any other mineral which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to be a minor mineral.

'Major Minerals' are those specified in the first schedule appended in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act 1957) and the common major minerals are Lignite, Coal, Uranium, iron ore, gold etc. ... Hence, whatever is not declared as a “minor mineral” may be treated as the major mineral.. The 'Major Minerals' which are used and stored in large quantities in the body, are calcium, chloride, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and sulfur. The trace minerals are just as vital to our health as the major minerals, but we don't need large amounts.

• About Minerals
• Minerals Royalty Rates

Sand

Sand is used to give strength, bulk and other properties to construction materials like asphalt and concrete. In landscaping, it is used as a decorative material. A particular type of sand is used for glass manufacturing. Likewise, it is used for metal casting as a moulding material.

Laterite Stone

Commonly used for building purpose, Laterite or lateritic soil is regarded as one of the best natural materials to be used in compressed earth bricks. The reason is that a well-graded soil combines both cohesive (silt and clay) and the cohesionless (sands and gravels) parts of a soil.

Murum

It is a mixture of minerals, organic matters, gravels, rock particles etc. Murum is used in plinth filling, road pavements, backfilling in trenches, footing pits, etc. Given that it doesn’t contain any organic matters and can be compacted easily forming hard surfaces, it is a soil suitable in the field of construction.

Soil

Ordinary earth soil used for filling the embankment, roads, railways and building.

Limestone and Lime Shell

The uses of limestones are many and comprise: as a building material, an essential component of concrete (Portland cement), as aggregate for the base of roads, as white pigment or filler in products such as toothpaste or paints, as a chemical feedstock for the production of lime, as a soil conditioner, or as a popular decorative. Limestone is used in kilns for manufacture of lime that is used as building material.

Mangalore Tile Clay

Used for manufacturing the Mangalore tiles. Structural clay tile describes a category of burned-clay building materials used to construct roofing, walls, and flooring for structural and non-structural purposes, especially in fireproofing applications.

Chalcedony Pebbles

It is believed that this stone calms and stabilizes energy and icreases inner peace, emotional strength and mental abilities. It is used for ball mill purpose only. Chalcedony is also known as a healing stone that protects against various health problems.

Slate and Shale

It is used for building material and is created by the alteration of shale or mudstone by low-grade regional metamorphism. Slate is a fine-grained and foliated metamorphic rock. It is commonly used for flooring, roofing, and flagging due to its durability and attractive appearance.

Brick Clay

Brick clay is rich in alumina, silica, calcium, oxides of iron, magnesium and organic matter. These are low grade clays used most for the manufacturing of building bricks and similar clay products.

Dolomite

Dolomite is used as a source of magnesium metal and of magnesia, which is a constituent of refractory bricks. It is used as an ornamental stone, a concrete aggregate, and a source of magnesium oxide, as well as in the Pidgeon process for the production of magnesium.

Quartz

It is an important mineral and has several uses. While sand, which is composed of tiny Quartz pebbles, is the primary ingredient for the manufacture of glass, transparent Rock Crystal has many electronic uses such as being used as oscillators in radios, watches, and pressure gauges, and in the study of optics. Silica glass (also called fused quartz) is used in optics to transmit ultraviolet light. On the other hand, Crushed quartz is used as an abrasive in sandpaper, silica sand is employed in sandblasting, and sandstone is still used whole to make whetstones, millstones, and grindstones.

Quartzite

A metamorphic rock, quartzite can be used to cover walls, as roofing tiles, as flooring, and stairsteps. As compared to granite, it is harder and more resistant to stains. Its use for countertops in kitchens is increasing at a rapid pace. Sometimes, in road construction crushed quartzite is used.

Bentonite

Bentonite is a clay generated frequently from the change of volcanic ash, consisting predominantly of smectite minerals, usually montmorillonite. The primary uses of bentonite are as drilling mud, binder (e.g. foundry-sand bond, iron ore pelletizer), purifier, absorbent (e.g. pet litter), and as a groundwater barrier. Nearly 50 per cent of the US production of bentonite was used as drilling mud as of 1990s.

Decorative Stones

The main use of these stones is decoration purpose.

Agate

Since ages it has been used to make knife-edge bearings for laboratory balances and precision pendulums. It is found in Aurgangabad, Jalna, Jalgaon and Buldhana. Industrial uses of agate exploit its hardness, ability to retain a highly polished surface finish and resistance to chemical attack. Sometimes, it is also used to make mortars and pestles to crush and mix chemicals.

Corundum

It can scratch almost every other mineral. In addition to being a precious gem, corundum finds some use as an abrasive, owing to the extreme hardness of the material (9 on the Mohs hardness scale). It is commonly used as an abrasive on everything from sandpaper to large tools used in machining metals, plastics, and wood. It is also used for grinding optical glass and for polishing metals and has also been made into sandpapers and grinding wheels.

Feldspar

Feldspars are a group of rock-forming tectosilicate minerals. It is a common raw material used in ceramics, glassmaking, and sometimes also as a filler and extender in paint, plastics, and rubber. In glassmaking, alumina from feldspar enhances product hardness, durability, and resistance to chemical corrosion.

Fireclay

The primary uses of fire clay are in the manufacture of firebrick and of various accessory utensils, such as crucibles, saggers, retorts, and glass pots, used in the metalworking industries. Fire clay is resistant to high temperatures, having fusion points higher than 1,600 °C (2,910 °F).

Laterite

A low-grade bauxite rich in iron and aluminium, Laterite can be considered as polymetallic ore as it is not only the essential repository for aluminium, but also a source of iron, manganese, cobalt, nickel and chromium. In addition, it has various trace elements like gallium and vanadium which can be extracted as by-products.

Mica

The plastic industry used ground mica as an extender and filler and also as a reinforcing agent. The rubber industry uses ground mica as an inert filler and as a mold lubricant in the manufacture of molded rubber products, including tires. Sheet mica is used principally in the electronic and electrical industries.

Pyrophyllite

Pyrophyllite is used for ceramics, in paints, insecticides, and in the production of rubber. It is also used as a minor ornamental stone for carvings and sculptures.

Shale

Shale has many commercial uses. It is a source material in the ceramics industry to make brick, tile, and pottery. Shale used to make pottery and building materials requires little processing besides crushing and mixing with water. Shale is crushed and heated with limestone to make cement for the construction industry.

Silica Sand

Silica sand (often called industrial sand when used for this purpose) is the main structural component in a number of construction products. Flooring, mortars, cement, roofing shingles, asphalt, and other industrial materials all use silica to improve durability and structural integrity.

China Clay

Kaolin, also called china clay, soft white clay that is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of china and porcelain and is widely used in the making of paper, rubber, paint, and many other products. Kaolin is named after the hill in China (Kao-ling) from which it was mined for centuries.

Sr. No.	Mineral Type	Royalty Rate (Rs.)	Unit