THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF INDIA 457 
 
Table 3.—India: Imports of mineral commodities —Continued

(Metric tons unless otherwise specified) 
Commodity 
1976 
1977 
MINERAL FUELS AND RELATED MATERIALS —Continued 
 
 
Carbon black and gas carbon —Continued 
 
 
 Gascarbon                                                          Coal,anthracite_
                                                       
Petroleum: 
 Crude thousand 42-gallon barrels 
 
 Refinery products:4 
 Kerosineandjetfuel do Distillatefuel oil do Residual fuel oil do._ 
 Lubricants do_ Other do__~ 
     * Total do~Mineral tar and other coal-, petroleum-, or gas-derived crude
chemicals                 
5 
35 
 
98,753 
124 
 2,805 
 
109,739 
 
5,324 
4,304 
5,495 
350 
1,340 
8,068 
5,095 
4,649 
161 
2,205 
 
16,813 
3,294 
20,178 
 834 
 rRevised NA Not available. 
 ' Less than 1/2 unit. 
 ' Includes zinc dust. 
 ' Value only reported at $30,275. 
 4Data are from the International Petroleum Annual, 1976 and 1977. Official
trade statistics do not report petroleum refinery products under the categories
listed. Instead, all products are listed in three categories as follows,
with quantities given in metric tons (not barrels): 1976—light
distillates,
185,122; medium distillates, 1,041,081; and other, 580,441; and 1977—light
distillates, 524,061; medium distillates, 1,492,548; and other, 351,298.

 
COMMODITY REVIEW 
 
METALS 
 
Bauxite, Alumina, Aluminum.—Indian 
bauxite production rose for the fourth consecutive year in 1978 but probably
showed a small decrease for 1979. Over 60% of this production came from the
States of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh with most of the remainder coming from'
States bordering Madhya Pradesh. A marked change in this production pattern
is expected if three new export-oriented alumina plants proposed for Andhra
Pradesh, Orissa, and Gujarat come into production in the 1980's. 
 Bauxite was produced at 67 active mines, 15 were captive mines of the aluminum
companies with 3 in the public sector and 12 in the private sector. Of the
52 noncaptive mines, only 2 were in the public sector. Nearly 75% of the
bauxite production was consumed by the aluminum industry. The balance was
used by the chemical, refractory, abrasives, cement, and steel industries.
A small amount of bauxite was exported. 
 Present estimates place India's bauxite reserves, fifth in the world, at
2,300 million tons or about 10% of world reserves. Nearly 75%, or about 1,700
million tons are located along the east coast in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
Most of the remainder are found in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

 According to GSI, the east coast deposits alone could be as high as 3.0
billion tons. They are rich in gibbsite and low in silica. Steps were underway
to classify known deposits by grade and to explore additional areas. 
 Alumina production made a modest gain in 1978 then lost most of the gain
in 1979 because of the power shortages at the smelters. However, a large
increase in production is anticipated over the next decade should the three
proposed export-oriented alumina plants become a reality. The public-sector
Bharat Aluminum Co. (BALCO) is considering setting up two east coast aluminum
plants, one in Koraput District in Orissa and one in Visakhapatnam District
in Andhra Pradesh. Detailed feasibility reports on each project were submitted
by experts from France' and the Soviet Union. Although these recommended
establishment of plants, no major investment decision was likely before the
beginning of the new year. The French report recommended establishment initially
of an 800,000-ton-per-year alumina plant, a 
220,000-ton-per-year aluminum smelter, a 
600-to-800-megawatt captive powerplant, and an 80,000-ton-per-year caustic
soda plant. Cost of the project was estimated between $1.0 and $1.5 billion.
Inclusion of the