Question

The most extensive, commercially useful source of thorium as monazite sand occurs in India at the:

• A. Orissa coast
• B. Travancore coast
• C. West Bengal coast
• D. Gujarat coast

Hint:

Recall India's classic monazite sand belt that supplies thorium for the nuclear programme.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Go through the four coastal options one at a time. West Bengal coast and Gujarat coast are not known for large scale monazite mining, they are not major thorium mineral belts. The Orissa (Odisha) coast does carry some heavy mineral sand, but it is not the historically dominant, most extensive deposit referred to in Indian chemistry and geography texts. The Travancore coast of Kerala, however, has been the classic textbook example of India's richest monazite sand deposit since the early twentieth century, and it has long supplied thorium for India's nuclear power programme. By process of elimination and by the standard reference used in Indian science texts, the answer is the Travancore coast, option B.