Ore Geology Reviews 36 (2009) 363–364

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Ore Geology Reviews

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Book review

Economic Mineralization by K.L. Srivastava (Editor) ScientificPublishers, Jodhpur, India, 2009, ISBN: 978-81-7233-572-4, 545 pp

To begin with the title of the volume, ‘Economic Mineralization’, isnot justified, as the bulk of the papers is India-centric. The prefaceoutlines various developments in the science of Economic Geology.However, it only comes up to Stanton's treatise (Ore Petrology)published in 1972. Unfortunately, leaving alone the different editionsof Jensen and Bateman, there is no mention of the many excellent textbooks published in recent years, such as those by A.M. Evans (AnIntroduction to Ore Geology, 1987), A. Mookherjee (Ore Genesis: AHolistic Approach, 1999), K.C. Misra (UnderstandingMineral Deposits,2000), L. Robb (Introduction to Ore-forming Processes, 2005) andMoon, C.J. et al. (Introduction to Mineral Exploration. 2005).

Out of the eight papers in Section I, five deal with tectonothermalmodels for crustal evolution in specific portions of the Indian Shield,with passive remarks on mineralization. Three exceptions in thissection are ‘Granulite facies terrains in India and their potential formineral deposits’, ‘Mineral Exploration of the Moon’ and ‘Possible roleof sulfur on the early diversifications of life on Earth: astrobiologicalimplications’. While the paper on lunar exploration makes interestingreading, but is admittedly more on the chemical evolution of themoon, the one on sulfur isotopes is more of educated speculationwithrespect to Europa, Jupiter's satellite.

Section II is devoted to ore deposits of igneous affiliation andcontains twelve papers on diverse topics. These include a geneticmodel for the Gogi uranium deposits, tungsten mineralization inHimachal Higher Himalayas and in the Sirohi Group of rocks,Rajasthan; significance of MnO/FeO ratio in wolframites in decipher-ing depositional conditions; potentials for chromite and PGE miner-alization in ophiolites of Manipur–Nagaland; staniferous pegmatite onthe western margin of Bastar–Malkangiri tin belt; and notes onsignificance of high Rb in lepidolite from the Govindpal rare metalpegmatites. The paper on ophiolite comprises a worldwide review ofsome of the ophiolite-hosted chromite and PGE mineralizations. Thenon-metallic part in this portion constitutes genesis of fluorite atJalera–Khurd in the Malani Igneous Suits and formation of talc in andaround the Sarada Inlier, Rajasthan. Again it is disappointing to seethat the paper on the structural setting of the Khariar nephelinesyenite complex, although well written, lacks any mention ofmineralization. The same is true for the paper on Zinc-rich A-typegranites, which is essentially a geochemical note that proposes Na-metasomatism to account for an increase in Zn and HFS elements,without analyses. Further, the paper on the Sarnu–Dandali carbona-tites is primarily a worldwide review, with a short description on thestudy area, with least emphasis on the economic aspects as the paperis essentially igneous petrology centric. Again, the word ‘experimental’is not justified in the title, as new experimental studies do notconstitute the paper. Rather published phase diagrams have beenused, exclusively for carbonatite petrogenesis.

Section III, entitled economic mineralizations of sedimentaryaffiliations, incorporates twelve papers that are skewed towardsnon-metallic mineralizations. The metallic part constitutes three

doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2009.07.001

papers (i) sulfide–sulfosalt myrmekites from the Rajpura–Daribasulfide deposit, (ii) the polymetallic polynodules from the IndianOcean, and (iii) Banded Fe mineralization in the Gwalior rocks. Manyinteresting photomicrographs, documenting myrmekitic textures areprovided. Although the authors (T.K. Pandya and others) modestlyused terms such as ‘metamorphism-devitrification’, they could havepossibly committed on partial melting of sulfides — presently a hottopic of in ore deposit research. The paper on polymetallic nodulescontains a fine documentation of petrography and their volcanogenicgenesis surrounding the sea mounds. However, the 57Fe Mössbauerspectra are essentially ornamentations, since the spectral resultsindicate the presence of hydrated Fe minerals both in the host andguest components of the nodules — a truism, for which opticalmicroscopy is enough. The paper on banded Fe mineralization is abrief note incorporating the stratigraphy and some field/hand speci-men photographs. Apart from these two, the themes of other papersare far away from the broad branch of Economic Geology. Theseinclude Indian beach sand resources (mineral economics); record ofNeo-Pleistocene glaciation, desertification and formation of economicsalt lake playas (geomorphology); geological constraints on thebentonite facies of the Barmer basin (sedimentology); the claydeposits of Bikaner, Rajasthan (review and general description ofthe clay deposits); basin terminology and classification (review/sedimentology); depositional environment and industrial importanceof Bilara limestone (sedimentology and limestone analyses); a note onthe occurrence of clitellate cocoons from Lignite (paleontology); andsedimentology and geochemistry of the over bank sediments. Inaddition, two papers on, i.e., mineral resources of Rajasthan andindustrial mineral resource potentials of Orissa are essentially meredescriptions, which may be of some use to undergraduate students,for the sake of information only.

Section IV deals with prospecting and exploration, and compriseseight papers. It is gratifying to see that most of the contents are moreor less general in nature, i.e., not on specific ore deposits. However,two papers deal with hydrocarbon exploration, which again raises thefundamental question of inclusion of fuels in economic geology.Further, the paper on rock mass classification is primarily orientedtowards engineering geology and may have some bearing on mining-related excavations. The paper on Information theory is an excellentarticle, incorporating applications of statistical and stochastic modelsto mining industries. The short note on geochemistry of termitemounds for prospecting of base metals is unconventional andnoteworthy. Other papers in this section include a review article onbiological prospecting methods; integrated remote sensing and GISapproaches to kimberlite exploration; and history of base metalexploration in India and proposing a flow chart for mineralexploration.

Section V, with nine papers, is devoted to mining, economics andenvironment. Again like the previous section, most of the papers arenot region/deposit specific. This section starts with a short butinteresting paper on economic viability and eco-friendliness ofartisanal gold mining. Other general papers include a reasonablyexhaustive review on bioleaching of sulfide minerals; a short note on

364 Book review

mining impacts on Indian biodiversity; chemical treatment for acidmine drainage; and a short note on demand-supply of geoscientists inIndia, currently witnessing colossal growth in the mineral and energysectors. The area specific papers are on mining-induced landdegradation and preventive measures; environmental impacts dueto mining of coal, and clay; and environmental impact assessment byremote sensing.

In summary, the edited volume deals with diverse topics and, inthe process, possibly lost focus. Although the printing of the text isreasonably good, the diagrams are badly reproduced. Most of thegeological maps and other figures are poorly drawn. These include themaps on pages 43, 83, 168, 195, 231, 265, and 323 (cross section).Diagrams such as Fig.10 (p.199) and Fig.11 (p. 200) lack abscissa titles,(δ18O) and Gpa, respectively. The unprofessional nature of editing/publishing is evident from the expression on p.53, where, instead ofwriting δ34S, what appears is delta34S. Again, in line #10, left column,first paragraph on p. 201, the symbol ‘δ’ is missing, although the valuesare given in ‰. Now the fundamental question remains about theidentity of potential readers. The volume can never be used as a textbook. Nevertheless, some papers can definitely serve as reference

materials for professionals in mineral (and hydrocarbon) industries.However, the price (3600 INR~74 USD), is certainly on the higher side.

References

Evans, A.M., 1987. An Introduction to Ore Geology. Blackwell, Oxford. 358 pp.Misra, K.C., 2000. Understanding Mineral Deposits. Kluwer, Dordrecht. 845 pp.Moon, C.J., Whateley, M.K.G., Evans, A.M., 2005. Introduction to Mineral Exploration.

Blackwell, Oxford. 482 pp.Mookherjee, A., 1999. Ore Genesis: A Holistic Approach. Allied Publishers, New Delhi.

657 pp.Robb, L., 2005. Introduction to Ore-Forming Processes. Blackwell, Oxford. 373 pp.

Biswajit MishraDepartment of Geology & Geophysics,

IIT Kharagpur 721302, IndiaE-mail address: bmgg@iitkgp.ac.in.

7 July 2009