There are two major groups of ferro alloys.

1. Bulk alloys consisting of ferro alloys of Manganese, Chromium, Nickel and Silicon which are added in larger proportion to steels and are made by carbo thermal reduction in submerged arc electric furnaces(SAF).
   
   
2. Noble ferro alloys which are used in much smaller proportion in special and alloy steels for addition of vanadium, molybdenum, Tungsten, Zirconium, Titanium, Boron, Tantalium, Magnesium Silicon and extra Low Carbon Ferro Chrome etc.

The country has reasonable resources of Manganese Ore and Chrome Ore to meet the requirement of Bulk Ferro Alloys Industry.India ranks 1st in the world for the export of Sillico Manganese & ranks 4th in the world for export of Ferro Manganese.

As per Indian Ferroalloys Producers’ Association (IFAPA), the total installed capacity of bulk Ferroalloys Industry in India is estimated at 5.10 million tonnes per annum and for noble ferroalloys it is 50,000 tonnes per annum. The products covered are Manganese alloys (HC, MC & LC ferro chrome, silicochrome and charge chrome) and Nobel ferroalloys (ferromolybdenum, ferrovanadium, ferrotungsten, ferrosilicon magnesium, ferroboron, ferrotitanium etc.).

India is endowed with huge resources of 496 mt of manganese ore and 344 mt of chrome ore. Unfortunately, India is importing these minerals despite having 2.7 mt of manganese ore and 3.5 mt of chrome ore production capacity. The domestic demand of the key raw material is being increasingly met through imports and huge stockpiles of presumably low-grade have built up at the mine-heads as there has not been any commercially viable method to beneficiate them.

As per NMI database based on UNFC system, the total reserves/resources of chromite in the country as on 1.4.2015 has been estimated at 344 million tonnes with 102 million tonnes as “Reserves” (30%) and 242 million tonnes as “Remaining Resources” (70%). More than 96% resources of chromite are located in Odisha, mostly in Jajpur, Kendujhar and Dhenkanal districts. Minor deposits are scattered over Manipur, Nagaland, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Gradewise, Charge chrome grade accounts for 31% resources followed by Beneficiable grade (25%), Ferrochrome grade (18%) and Refractory grade (14%). (Source: IBM)


The total reserves/resources of manganese ore in the country as on 1.04.2015 have been placed at 495.87 million tonnes as per NMI database, based on UNFC system. Out of these, 93.47 million tonnes are categorised as reserves and the balance 402.40 million tonnes are in the remaining resources category. Gradewise, Ferro-manganese grade accounts for 7%, Medium grade 11%, BF grade 28% and the remaining 54% are of Mixed, Low, Others, Unclassified, and Notknown grades including 0.17 million tonnes of battery/chemical grade. Statewise, Odisha tops the total reserves/resources with 44% share followed by Karnataka 22%, Madhya Pradesh 12%, Maharashtra & Goa 7% each, Andhra Pradesh 4% and Jharkhand 2%. (Source: IBM)