Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

Though Orissa has 183 million tonnes of chrome ore, constituting 98 per cent of the total chrome deposits in the country, only 3.27 per cent of this, which comes to about 6 million tonne, has been fully explored till date.

To expedite the exploration and exploitation of chrome reserves in the state, the government has granted mining leases to 15 companies including Ferro Alloys Corporation (Facor) and Balasore Alloys.

Of the total chrome reserves in Orissa, Sukinda area in Jajpur district has the lion’s share of 173 million tonne (mt). This includes low grade chrome.

The places in Sukinda where the chrome deposits are found are Kamarda (2 mt), Saruabili (9 mt), Sukrangi (7.5 mt), Kaliapani (25 mt), Bhimatanger (98 mt), Kalarangi (0.5 mt) and Chingudipal and Tailangi (13 mt).

Out of the total deposits found in Sukinda area, 18 million tonne are of inferior quality, says the state steel and mines minister, Raghunath Mohanty said.

The Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal district, which adjoins Sukinda valley, has about 4.42 million tonne reserve of chromite in locations like Sandhasar, Tulasiposhi, Haladigunda and Kathapal. The estimated reserves at Kathapal are 2 million tonne.

Mohanty said, the total chromite reserve of the state is estimated at 183 million tonne, out of which 177.42 million tonne occur in Sukinda and Kamakshyanagar area.