Arunachal harbours a Vanadium source

News: Geological Survey of India(GSI) has found concentrations of vanadium in the palaeo-proterozoic carbonaceous phyllite rocks in the Depo and Tamang areas of Papum Pare district in Arunachal Pradesh. This was the first report of a primary deposit of vanadium in India.

Facts:

• Vanadium: It 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 and is electrically conductive and thermally insulating.
• Found in: Vanadium occurs naturally in about 65 minerals and in fossil fuel deposits. It is recovered as a by-product from the slag collected from the processing of vanadiferous magnetite ores (iron ore).
• Uses of Vanadium:
  • Vanadium is mainly used to produce specialty steel alloys such as high-speed tool steels, and some aluminum alloys.
  • Vanadium alloys are used in nuclear reactors because of vanadium’s low neutron-absorbing properties
  • Vanadium pentoxide is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid.
  • The vanadium redox battery for energy storage may be an important application in the future.
  • Large amounts of vanadium ions are found in a few organisms, possibly as a toxin. Particularly in the ocean, vanadium is used by some life forms as an active center of enzymes, such as the vanadium Bromo peroxidase of some ocean algae.
• Largest Deposits: The largest deposits of vanadium of the world are in China, followed by Russia and South Africa. China, which produces 57% of the world’s vanadium consumed 44% of the metal in 2017.
• India: India is a significant consumer of vanadium, but is not a primary producer of the strategic metal. India consumed 4% of about 84,000 tonnes of vanadium produced across the globe in 2017.
• Vanadium in Arunachal Pradesh: Vanadium found in Arunachal Pradesh is geologically similar to the stone coal vanadium deposits of China hosted in carbonaceous shale. This high vanadium content is associated with graphite, with a fixed carbon content of up to 16%.

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