Geological Survey of India to partner and train other nations
Many countries have shown interest in collaborating with Geological Survey of India (GSI) in prospecting natural resources and are seeking GSI’s support in training their manpower. GSI undertakes its activity particularly in the context of the need to augment mineral resources of India. Special Thematic Mapping (STM) followed by Geochemical (GCM) and Geophysical Mapping (GPM) have constitute the core activity in recent years. While integration of these maps will help to shortlist more target areas for minerals, such data can also be utilized for various other downstream applications. GSI extends support to mineral investigation through acquisition of airborne data. Study of Coal and Lignite is another field where GSI is omnipresent. The fields of activity under Engineering, Earthquake and Environmental Geology has undergone sea changes in recent years with renewed emphasis on hydel power and river linking projects. In formulating guidelines for mitigation of earthquake and landslide hazards GSI is giving its inputs to National Disaster Management Authority.
Highlights of the GSI achievements during 2006-07 include assessment of an additional resource of 2290.14 million tonnes of coal during 2006-07 (upto June 2007). It explored additional gold ore resource of 0.48 million tonnes in Tumkur district of Karnataka, 7.32 million tonnes in Banswara district of Rajasthan. GSI located two kimberlite (host rock of diamond) pipes each in Mahbood Nagar and Timmasamumdran districts of A.P. GSI also assessed iron ore resources in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Apart from this, GSI successfully explored various mineral resources like basemetal (copper ore) in Rajasthan and Maharashtra, Manganese and Bauxite in Orissa, Graphite in Tamil Nadu and Limestone in Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya.