The Chiria Iron Ore deposit falls within the well-known
Horse-shoe-shaped Singhbhum-Bonai-Keonjhar belt in India,
where most of the deposits supplying ore to various steel works
of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Tata Iron and
Steel Company (TISCO) are located. With an estimated reserve
of about 2000 million tonnes of ore (at 55 per cent Fe cut-off)
spread over four contiguous blocks, it is the largest iron ore
deposit in India and one of the largest in world. The present study
is confined to only one of the four blocks of Chiria viz North
Block, comprising an area of 2.11 km2. `Corporate Plan 2005' of
SAIL envisages development of a large open cast mine at Chiria
to meet its enhanced requirement of iron ore by 2001-02 AD.