New Delhi, Dec 29 (IANS): The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for October 2022, at 112.5, was 2.5 per cent higher than October last year, official figures said on Thursday.

As per the provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines, the cumulative growth for the period April-October of 2022-23 over the corresponding period of previous year was 4 per cent.

Important minerals which showed positive growth during October 2022 over October 2021 included diamond (375 per cent), phosphorite (21 per cent), bauxite (15.1 per cent), iron ore (8.7 per cent), coal (3.5 per cent), and chromite (1.9 per cent).

Production levels of important minerals in October 2022 were coal at 662 lakh tonnes, lignite at 35 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilised) at 2,829 million cubic metres, petroleum (crude) at 25 lakh tonnes, bauxite at 2,069,000 tonnes, chromite 133,000 tonnes, gold 98 kg, and iron ore 207 lakh tonnes.