General Information

 Eastern Region was set up during 1959 with its headquarter at Kolkata in a rented building within the first decade of formation of AMD, while in the Singhbhum thrust belt, investigations were being administered independently from Jamshedpur from 1950 till 1979.  Analytical laboratories were located at Sundernagar, Singhbhum dist. and Ranchi, Jharkhand. Subsequently the headquarter of Eastern Region was shifted from Kolkata to Jamshedpur in its own premises during 1994 and all analytical facilities were brought under one roof.                                                            

Broad Geological Features 

Broadly following geological domains occupy major parts of Eastern Region.

(i) Archaean basement gneiss and Proterozoic and other sediments dominate in the states of Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal.  The oldest rock (3800 Ma) found in India (Champua gneiss) occurs in this geological domain. The Archaean basement is overlain by many basins of Iron ore group of rocks of Orissa and Bihar.

(ii)  Proterozoic sediments and granites : Prominent among them are

· Singhbhum Thrust Belt – Lower Proterozoic rocks comprising Singhbhum group of metasediments and Singhbhum granites.

· Eastern Ghat Mobile Belt rocks comprising mostly Khondalites.

· Middle to Upper Proterozoic metasediments of  Gangpur, Kolhan and Kunjar basins.

· Rocks of extra peninsular region in the Sikkim Himalayas.

(iii) Gondwana Sediments in Damodar, Mahanadi rift basins.

(iv)  Inland and beach placers of Quaternary period.

(v)  Rocks of Andaman & Nicobar islands.

Summary of Investigations:Important finds

   Singhbhum province was well known during pre-independence period for its mineral wealth, particularly Cu deposits.  Soon after the formation of AMD, radiometric surveys were concentrated in this province where many Cu deposits were known.  This survey had resulted in identifying uranium mineralisation at many locations some of which have turned out to be economically viable deposits.  The Uranium occurrences are spread over 180 km long arcuate Singhbhum shear zone and important deposits are as follows. 

a) Jaduguda: Located in East Singhbhum district, it is the first place where exploration followed by exploratory mining was undertaken. Soon after, exploitation was undertaken by UCIL in 1967. Mining is still in progress and mineralisation has been found to continue beyond 900 meters vertical depth.  Here the mineralisation is associated with conglomerate and chlorite schist of Singhbhum group of Proterozoic age.

b) Bhatin: It lies 2 km west of Jaduguda along the Singhbhum shear zone.  Mineralisation is associated with brecciated quartzite and biotite chlorite schist, which are highly sheared. Mining is in progress.

c) Narwapahar: It lies 10 km west of Jaduguda along the Singhbhum shear zone.  The host rock for uranium mineralisation is chlorite-quartz schist and the mineralisation is spread over 2000 meters strike length.  Currently this deposit is under exploitation by UCIL.

d) Turamdih: A cluster of deposits (Turamdih-East, Turamdih-South, Turamdia-West, Keruadurgri) occur in proximity to each other at Turamdih located nearly 20 kms west of Jaduguda. Uranium mineralisation is associated with chlorite quartz schist. At Turamdih (East) the mineralisation is spread over 2 km X 1 km area and the entire resource occurs within a vertical depth of 200 meters. Mining of Turamdih east deposit is in progress by UCIL.

e) Mohuldih: It is located 5 km west of Turamdih. The host rock is tourmaline bearing quartz schist, quartzite and chlorite quartz schist.  Mineralisation is established over 1 km strike length and within a vertical depth of 250 m.  

f) Bagjata: It is located nearly 25 km South East of Jaduguda. Uranium mineralisation is hosted by quartz chlorite  biotite schist.   The mineralisation is spread over 450 m strike length with a vertical persistence of 260m.

Other smaller uranium occurrences along this shear zone, in a similar geological set up are (i) Kanyaluka (ii) Garadih (ii) Nimdih (iv) Rajgaon and (v) Nandup.

Uranium was also found in copper tailings of Cu minerals containing about 100 ppm of eU₃O₈.  This resource was also used for extraction of uranium by setting up recovery units for treatment of the tailings.

Quartz Pebble Conglomerate type of  mineralization was also located  at a number of places at the base of the Iron Ore and Dhanjori basins. Important localities are Butgora, Phuljari, Chakri in Jharkhand and Sayamba in Orissa.

Apart from uranium, rich resources of xenotime (mineral containing heavy REE) associated with garnetiferous biotite schist of Singhbhum group of rocks was also located at Kanyaluka.

Present thrust areas of  Investigations

Uranium exploration programme in parts of Eastern region currently gives emphasis for identification of Quartz Pebble Conglomerate type of mineralization at the base of Dhanjori and Iron Ore Basins of Jharkhand and Orissa.

In order to locate Iron oxide type mineralisation investigations are being taken up west of Beldih, Purulia district,W.Bengal where interesting magnetic highs were identified by ground geophysical surveys.

The uranium exploration programme also emphasises in identification of Unconformity related and structurally controlled hydrothermal type of deposits in the environs of late Proterozoic Kunjar basin as well as in selected areas with geologically favourable contact zone between Chhatisgarh sediments and the basement granites/ the Eastern ghat mobile belt in western Orissa.

Other Facilities

The region is equipped with following facilities.

Petrology Laboratory

Spectrograph Laboratory

Chemistry Laboratory

Physics Laboratory

Remote Sensing Laboratory