If you are wondering what are the career prospects of studying Geology, then keep reading. JR University Ranchi recently held an expert talk to explain students the relevance of geology in the economic progress of India.
Senior Manager Bhim Ray from Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd delivered the motivational talk organised by Department of Civil Engineering of JRU, Ranchi, at the University campus. HOD Dr Shraddha Prasad welcomed Mr Rai and presented a plant as a gesture appreciation.
Mr Rai, during his talk informed students and walked them through the history of Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL). He told them that MECL was established as an autonomous Public Sector Company in October 1972, under the administrative control of Ministry of Mines, Government of India for systematic exploration of minerals, to bridge the gap between the initial discovery of a prospect and its eventual exploitation. MECL has the Mission “to provide high quality, cost effective and time bound geo-scientific services for exploration and exploitation of minerals”.
MECL has completed over 1475 projects/reports and established 171452 Million Tonnes of ores/ mineral reserves of minerals like Coal, Lignite, Bauxite, Copper, Gold, Lead-Zinc, Iron Ore, Limestone, Manganese, Magnesite, Chromite, Fluorspar and several other Industrial Minerals since inception (As on 30th June, 2019). It has recently diversified into mining and beneficiation of minerals and sampling & analysis of coal stocks.
He said that the career prospects for Geology study is immense and identified three key areas where they are employed –
1. Geologists and engineers are employed in the search for and production of mineral resources.
2. Mineral Exploration, mining and industrial minerals companies employ geologists, geophysicists and engineers.
3. Mining and exploration consultancy companies also employ a similar set of geologists and engineers.
Mining and minerals exploration usually refer to operations that search for and extract minerals. These extracted minerals can then be processed to produce metals such as iron, copper, gold and zinc in addition to other essential elements such as phosphorus.
Industrial minerals companies also explore for and extract minerals. These extracts are used in their largely unprocessed form. This includes resources extracted by quarrying including aggregates (sand and gravel), slate and limestone and those extracted by more complex mining methods such as clays and gypsum.