Vanadium Reserve (Vanadium Ore in the Tamang and Depot Areas)
- Recently, the Geological Survey of India has discovered reserves of vanadium in the Tamang and Depot areas of Arunachal Pradesh.
- Vanadium Ore is a by-product derived from the processing of viniferous magnetite ores. Vanadium in its pure form is soft and brown.
Vanadium:
- Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol “V” and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer (passivation) somewhat stabilizes the free metal against further oxidation.
- The production of very pure vanadium is difficult because the metal is quite reactive toward oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon at high temperatures.
Vanadium Ore:
Patronite, Vanadinite, Roscoelite, Carnotite.
Vanadium reserves in India:
- According to the Indian Bureau of Mines, the total estimated reserve of vanadium Ore in India is around 24.63 million tons. Of this, the estimated vanadium pentoxide is 64,594 tons.
- India consumes 3,360 metric tons of vanadium every year. It accounts for 4% of the total vanadium consumption by the world. Globally, 84,000 tons of vanadium are consumed annually.
- According to the Geological Survey of India, the vanadium mineral is geologically similar to China’s stone coal vanadium reserve.
- The promising concentration of vanadium Ore was found in the palaeo-proterozoic carbonaceous phyllite rocks in Tamang and Depo areas of the state’s Papum pare district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Production and consumption of vanadium in China:
China consumes 44% of world vanadium production and produces 57% of vanadium in the world.
Uses of Vanadium:
- Vanadium alloys are durable in extreme environments. It is rust resistant. It is used to improve the tensile strength of steel and to reinforce the steel bars used for tunnels, buildings and bridges. Its atomic number is 23.
- Vanadium Pentoxide is used as a catalyst in the production of sulfuric acid.
- 85% of the vanadium produced in the world is used as a steel additive. Vanadium steel is used in gears, bicycle frames, axles and other critical components.
- Vanadium dioxide is used in the production of glass coatings.
Source – The Hindu
