Natural Resources of Bangladesh (Mineral Water)

Natural resources as those commodities that are considered valuable in their natural form, that
exist without actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic,
gravitational, electrical properties and forces etc. On earth it includes: sunlight, atmosphere,
water, land (includes all minerals) along with all vegetation, crops and animal life that naturally
subsists upon or within the heretofore identified characteristics and substances.
On the basis of origin, natural resources may be divided into two types:
1. Biotic: Biotic resources are obtained from the biosphere (living and organic material),
such as forests and animals, and the materials that can be obtained from them. Fossil
fuels such as coal and petroleum are also included in this category because they are
formed from decayed organic matter.
2. Abiotic: Abiotic resources are those that come from non-living, non-organic material.
Examples of abiotic resources include land, fresh water, air, rare earth metals and heavy
metals including ores such as gold, iron, copper, silver, etc.
A 'Mineral Resource' is a concentration or occurrence of material of intrinsic economic interest
in or on the earth's crust in such form, quality and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for
eventual economic extraction.
Mineral deposits can be classified as:
1. Mineral resources that are potentially valuable, and for which reasonable prospects exist
for eventual economic extraction.
2. Mineral reserves or Ore reserves that are valuable and legally and economically and
technically feasible to extract.
Energy is the key element for socio-economic development for a country. To develop
economically depends on sufficient energy supply. To enlarge efficiency of the Ministry of
Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, it had divided into two departments namely Energy and
Mineral Resources Department and Power Department. Energy and Mineral Resources
Department is entrusted to make all policies connected to natural gas, liquid petroleum and
mineral resources. EMRD is also entrusted to create policies and administrative control over
Geological Survey of Bangladesh, Petro Bangla, Bureau of Mineral Development and
Department of Explosives. EMRD also controls and watch over Hydrocarbon Unit and
Bangladesh Petroleum Institute.
To reach Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to alleviate poverty in line with vision
2030, Bangladesh has to meet rising energy demand. In order to ensure energy safety, the most
important energy source of the country especially gas, coal and other mineral resources have
been considered.
In Bangladesh, natural gas is most significant innovative source of energy that accounts for 80%
of the commercial energy of the country. So far in Bangladesh 20 gas fields have been
discovered with the rate of success ratio are 3.1:1 of which two of which are located in offshore
area.

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To meet total requirement of commercial energy, Bangladesh imports yearly about 1.3 million
metric Tons of crude oil. In addition to this, another 2.7 million metric Tons of refined petroleum
products per annum is imported.
As well natural gas, Bangladesh has important coal reserve. Coal reserves of 3.3 billion tons
comprising 5 deposits at depths 118-1158 meters have been discovered in the north-western part
of Bangladesh. The name of these mine are-Barapukuria, Phulbari and Dighipara coal field in
Dinajpur, Khalashpir in Rangpur and Jamalganj in Joypurhat. Besides energy resources,
Bangladesh has further mineral resources. Various institutions under Energy and Mineral
Resources Division have engaged to discover for mineral resources. For commercial discovery,
foreign organization can apply for production license. Renewable Energy Sources also be helpful
in the achievement of the MDGs which are: Biogas, Solar, Energy, Bio-diesel, and Gasohol.
Subsectors of Mineral Resources in Bangladesh:
Geologically, Bangladesh occupies a greater part of the bengal basin and the country is covered
by Tertiary folded sedimentary rocks (12%) in the north, north eastern and eastern parts; uplifted
Pleistocene residuum (8%) in the north western, mid northern and eastern parts; and Holocene
deposits (80%) consisting of unconsolidated sand, silt and clay. The oldest exposed rock is the
Tura Sandstone of Palaeocene age but older rocks like Mesozoic, Palaeozoic amid Precambrian
basement have been encountered in the drill holes in the north western part of the country.
Because of a different geological environment, important mineral deposits of Bangladesh are
natural gas, coal, limestone, hardrock, gravel, boulder, glass sand, construction sand, white clay,
brick clay, peat, and beach sand heavy minerals. Tertiary Barail shales occurring within the oil
and gas windows have generated natural gas and oil found in Bangladesh. After generation, gas
and oil have migrated upward through multi-kilometre rock layers above, to reach and
accumulate in suitable sandstone reservoirs in the Neogene Bhuban and Bokabil rock units.
Gravel, glass sand, construction sand, peat, and beach sand are found in the Holocene sediments,
and white clay (kaolin) is found in the late Pleistocene sediments in the small hills mainly in the
northern part of the country. White clay and glass sand deposits have also been discovered in the
north-western part below the surface. Exploitation of the deposits of limestone, construction
sand, gravel, glass sand, white clay and beach sand are done through small scale quarrying. The
subsurface white clay and glass sand deposits have not been mined yet. Developments of
subsurface coal and hardrock mines are going on.
Oil and Gas: Oil and gas There are 23 discovered gas fields in Bangladesh of various sizes. The
estimated recoverable proved and probable (P1+ P2) reserve of the 23 gas fields is 21.05 TCF.
Out of which, as of June 2009, a total of 8.37 TCF gas has already been produced and as such the
left over proved and probable (P1 + P2) recoverable reserve is 12.68 TCF. Gas in most of the
fields is dry, in a few fields it is wet, with considerable amounts of condensate, eg at Beanibazar
(16 bbl/mmcfg), Jalalabad (15 bbl/mmcfg), and Kailashtila (13 bbl/mmcfg). Currently, natural
gas accounts for more than 75% of the total commercial energy consumption and the major part
of the future energy demand would be met from it.Power sector ranks the highest (52%);
fertiliser sector ranks the second (28%); and industry, domestic, commercial and other sectors
together rank third (20%) in gas consumption. Currently 17 gas fields under public and private
sectors are in production with gas supply between 2000 mmcfg per day.The only oilfield of the
country has been discovered at Haripur in 1986. It has an estimated in-place oil reserve of about

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10 million barrels, with a recoverable reserve of about 6 million barrels. The oil field produced
0.56 million barrels of oil in six and a half years, but production remained suspended from 1994.
Coal: First discovered in the country by Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) in 1959 was at
great depth. geological survey of bangladesh (GSB) continued its efforts for exploration that
resulted in the discovery of 4 coalfields. BHP Minerals, a US-Australian company, discovered a
field in 1997 totalling 5 coalfields. All the discovered fields lie in the north-western part of the
country. Details of the coalfields and quality of the coal are shown below.

Commercial coal production at Barapukuria Coal Mine started in April 2003 with the
expectation to produce 1 million short tons of coal/year (Mmst/y). But the mine produces less
than 1 m ton coal/annum and the co-located 250 MW plant consumes 0.65 m ton of coal/year.
Leaving 2.35 m ton for domestic users. Coal has been playing vital role in irrigation as well as
demand of electricity in North-Western part of the country. Some coal is also being used in
brickfields. BHP Minerals have discovered the Phulbari coalfield in January 1997. The right has
later been transferred to an Australian company, Asia Energy Corporation (AEC), to develop the
mine. AEC is now working for a detailed feasibility study for open-pit mine development whose
initial annual production will be 2.9 million ton that will later be 9 million ton.
Limestone: In the early 1960s, a quarry of limestone of Eocene age with a small reserve at
Takerghat in the north eastern part of the country started supplying raw materials to a cement
factory.This was the first mine in the country which was actually a quarry. In the 1960s GSB
discovered another limestone deposit in Joypurhat at a depth of about 515-541m below the
surface with a total reserve of 100 million ton. GSB continued its effort to find out limestone
deposits at shallow depth. In the mid 1990s GSB discovered limestone deposit at a depth of 493-
508 and 531-548m below the surface at Jahanpur and Paranagar of Naogaon respectively.
Thickness of these deposits is 16.76m and 14.32m respectively.

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Hard Rock Bangladesh has dearth of construction materials. A large deposit of granodiorite,
quartz diorite, gneiss of Precambrian age has been discovered by GSB at depths ranging from
132 to 160m below surface at Maddhyapara, Dinajpur. The Rock Quality Designation (RQD) of
fresh rock varies from 60% to 100%. Development of this underground hard rock mine is going
on by Nam Nam Co, a North Korean company. Maddhyapara Granite Mining Company Limited
(MGMCL), finally went into production 25th mat 2007 after missing several deadlines in about a
decade.
Hardrock has been extracted upto April 2007 a sum of total of 459,283.98 metric ton 392030.78
M. Ton of hardrock have already been sold to different organisations. These rocks are used as
construction materials for housing apartments, commercial buildings, roads and highways,
bridges, dams, river dykes, embankments, flood control, railway ballast and sleepers, decoration
pieces, tiles etc.

Peat: In Bangladesh peat deposits occur in the marshy areas of the north-eastern, middle and
south western parts with a total reserve of more than 170 million ton. Calorific value of peat
ranges from 6000 to 7000 BTU/lb. Peat can be used as fuel for domestic purposes, brick
manufacturing, boilers etc. However, their exploitation has not yet been started
Peat deposits and quality:

Metallic minerals: GSB has carried out investigation for mineral deposits and succeeded in
locating a few potential zones. Relatively high content of metallic minerals like chalcopyrite,
bornite, chalcocite, covelline, galena, sphalerite etc have been found in the core samples from the
north-western region of the country. Construction sand It is very much available in the riverbeds
throughout the country. Sand consists mostly of quartz of medium to coarse grains. It is
extensively used as construction material for buildings, bridges, roads etc all over the country.
Gravel: Deposits of gravel are found along the piedmont areas of the himalayas in the northern
boundaries of Bangladesh. These river borne gravels come from the upstream during the rainy
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season. Total reserve of the gravel deposits is about 10 million cu m. Gravel deposits are being
exploited and used in the country.
Glass sand: Important deposits of glass sand of the country are at Balijuri (0.64 million ton),
Shahjibazar (1.41 million ton) and Chauddagram (0.285 million ton) at or near the surface,
Maddhyapara (17.25 million ton) and Barapukuria (90.0 million ton) below the surface. Glass
sands consist of fine to medium, yellow to grey quartz.
White Clay: There are surface to near surface deposits of white clay in Bijoypur and Gopalpur
area of Netrokona district, Nalitabari of Sherpur district, Haidgaon of Chittagong district and
Baitul Izzat of Satkania upazila, Chittagong district. Besides there are subsurface deposits of
white clay' in Maddhyapara, Barapukuria, Dighipara of Dinajpur district and Patnitala of
Naogaon district. The exposed white clay is not good in quality. It is used in the ceramic
factories of Bangladesh after mixing with high quality imported clay.
Beach sand: Deposits of beach sand have been identified in the coastal belt and in the coastal
islands of Bangladesh. Different heavy minerals and their reserves (in ton) are: Zircon (158,117),
Rutile (70,274), Ilmenite (1,025,558), Leucoxene (96,709), Kyanite (90,745), Garnet (222,761),
Magnetite (80,599) and Monazite (17,352). An Australian company has applied for the
permission to carry out the feasibility study for exploitation.
Brick Clay In Bangladesh the mineralogical, chemical and engineering properties of Pleistocene
and Holocene brick clays of Dhaka, Narayanganj and Narsingdi districts are well documented.
The bulk chemistry and engineering properties of the Holocene and Pleistocene samples have
been found satisfactory for manufacturing good quality bricks. These are being exploited.
Mines Mining process of extracting coal, ores, precious stones, hardrock etc from mines. In
1774, mining was first started in undivided Bengal at Raniganj coalfield of West Bengal in India.
Then Jharia, Bokrao and Karanpura coalfields of India also came under mining. From 1857 to
1957 a number of geologists expressed with the hope that coalmines would be found under the
green cropped land in Bangladesh. In spite of this the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was
neglected for the exploration works for mineral resources. But the hopes of the geologists were
vindicated when in course of searching for oil in 1959 STANVAC drilled a hole in Bogra
district, where Gondwana coal was encountered at a depth of 2381m from surface. In 1985
coalfield was discovered at Barapukuria in Dinajpur district. More coalfields were discovered at
Khalaspir (Rangpur district) in 1989, at Dighipara (Dinajpur district) in 1995 and at Phulbari of
the same district in 1997. A large deposit of granodiorite, quartz diorite, gneiss of Precambrian
age has been discovered at depth ranging from 132 to 160m below surface at Maddhyapara,
Uses of Mineral Resources:
Here some uses of our mineral resources for the development of our economy in industrial sector
are given bellow-
 Raw material and industrial development in Bangladesh: We are using Natural Gas,
Silica Sand, white clay as raw material. For these reason Fertilizer, Cement industry are
developing in our country. So we can tell mineral resources helping us to make our
country industrialized.
 Power source: Maximum small and large industries are using heat Electricity and natural
gas is main element or key element to produced heat electricity.
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  Fuel: Natural gas founded in Bangladesh used as fuel for cooking. For this reason most
Bangladeshi people gets most economic facilities. On other hand gas also used for
produce heat in most fertilized factory.
 Future: Futures of natural recourses of Bangladesh are looking bright. We have
opportunity to research and we also have bright prospect. Proper uses of natural resources
can bring our economy in a very higher position.
 Natural Gas: Our natural gas and other resources helping us, it makes our import cost of
gas and other energy very low. All the mineral resources that we have we need not to
import those. By this way they saved a huge amount of foreign currency.
 Making road, Highway, Dam: Hard Rock and small rock that can be found in our
country we use them to make our road highway and Dam.
 Development of Agriculture: Our mineral resources especially natural gases help us to
produce more agricultural product indirectly. Natural gas helps to produce fertilizer and
fertilizer helps us to produce more crops.
 Natural income: A mineral resource of this country helps to make the nation income of
this country.
 Solve Unemployment: Mineral resources also helps to solve unemployment of a
country. Mineral resources helps to spread our economic activities and solve little portion
of unemployment problem, It helps us to solve unemployment thus this way—–
 Many people all over the country works in different places. People work in gas
field Oil field and other places when we find our mineral resource. It creates
opportunity for our people to get works and get new job.
 For mineral resources many industry are building our country, it also creating
many peoples employment opportunity.
 A huge number of people involved in working to distribute and transport the raw
material of industry and industrialized product.
 Mineral resources help to make the agriculture sector more productive. For that
reason our agricultural sector are being able to create more opportunity for those
people who are still unemployment.
 Higher living standard:
Availability of mineral resources makes our natural income high. Helps to create employ
opportunities and spread economic activities. For that per capital income also rises and standard
of living of our people being higher People are getting more facilities. In total we can say it our
mineral resources importance knows no bound. For development of our industrial sector and our
economy it operates a great importance. But we are very unlucky that we have lack of sufficient
amount of mineral resources. Iron, Manganese, Bauxite etc mineral is not available in our
country and our oil resources not rich. If we have these resources then our country could be more
developed.
Importance of Mineral Resources in the economy of Bangdesh:
Modern urbanization, industrialization, transportation and communication systems are the
achievements of worldwide sustainable mineral resource development and their proper
utilization in various sectors. Sustainable mineral resources have played, and are still playing, a
vital role in shaping the modern civilized industrial world. This means that the sustainable socio-
economic infrastructure of any country is an indication of its richness in natural resources, its
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technological knowhow, its ability to explore and exploit mineral resources, and, finally, its
wisdom in utilizing those resources properly in the development activities of the nation. In
development activities, countries of the developing world are generally far behind compared
with countries in the developed world. This is mainly due to a lack of adequate natural resources,
properly educated human resources and good socio-economic conditions. Although Bangladesh
is a small country, it has a number of mineral resources such as natural gas, oil, coal, hard rock,
limestone, white clay, glass sand and mineral sand. At present, natural gas is the only mineral
commodity significantly contributing to the national economy. More than 90% of the country’s
energy needs are met by gas, total reserves of which are 21.35 trillion cubic feet (TCF) and 12.43
TCF, respectively. Huge reserves of hard rock (granodiorite, quartzdiorite, gneiss) and coal in
northwest Bangladesh will help, in the near future, to meet the growing demand for construction
materials and energy for the ever-growing population. Total coal reserves are 1753 million tons
(MT), the market value of which is more than US$110 billion. Hard rock reserves are 115
million tons, valued at over US$3 billion. Fully fledged extraction of these resources would help.
It is expected that coal will soon be extracted on a commercial basis, of which 70 to 80% will be
used in power generation. The mineral resources so far found in Bangladesh are meagre in
comparison to its high population. To meet the growing demand of the population, more mineral
resources need to be discovered and developed, otherwise sustainable development cannot be
achieved. However, it is difficult for developing countries like Bangladesh to carry out the
necessary activities for exploration and exploitation of hidden mineral resources without foreign
assistance. This is a major drawback for Bangladesh. To progress towards an endurable
sustainable society, a nation such as Bangladesh must give priority to the development of its
existing mineral resources, which can play a major role in helping to reshape the country’s socio-
economic infrastructure.

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Conclusion:
There are some crucial elements for the development of a country. Mineral resources are one of
those crucial elements. When we talk about the economy of a developing country like
Bangladesh then we has to min it that mineral resource could be a great turning point for this
types of economy. As a developing country our resources might be our turn event point sine we
haven’t sufficient amount of mineral an power resources we have to consider it as our bad
opportunity but we should have to be concern with those resources what we have. In foreign
market our natural gases has a great demand we utilize it properly and earn a hug amount of
foreign currency by exporting this resource. Natural resources are not in our hand it is a win fall
gain so it will not be far that we are only considering that what we haven’t. Our manpower is a
great substitute to natural resources. If we start to make a good combination between our
manpower and natural resources then we can say that it will bring a great positive affect on our
economy.
According to the total paper our resources especially mineral and power has a great impact on
our economy. The most powerful indicator of a country’s economy must be their mineral and
power resources.

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References:
1. Natural resource, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_resource; 7/24/2018
2. Mineral Resources, http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Mineral_Resources;
7/24/2018
3. Energy & Mineral Resources Division, https://mpemr.gov.bd/power/details/80;
7/24/2018
4. Mineral resources and their economic significance in national development:
Bangladesh perspective, http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/250/1/127; 7/24/2018
5. Resource of Bangladesh, http://resourcebangladesh.blogspot.com/2011/01/mineral-
resource.html; 7/24/2018
6. Bangladesh : Mineral Resources,
https://www.discoverybangladesh.com/meetbangladesh/mineral_resources.html;
7/24/2018
7. Subsectors of mineral sources, http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?
title=Mineral_Resources; 7/25/2018
8. Importance of Minerals in the economy of Bangladesh:
http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/250/1/127; 7/25/2018
9. Uses, http://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/management/term-paper-on-
economic-aspects-of-mineral-and-power-resources-in-bangladesh.html; 7/25/2018
10. Conclusion, http://www.assignmentpoint.com/business/management/term-paper-on-
economic-aspects-of-mineral-and-power-resources-in-bangladesh.html; 7/25/2018

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