Which of the following is NOT a major iron-ore belt or region in India?

Concept

A mineral belt is a geographically connected zone known for economically important deposits of a mineral. Standard belt names identify the regions through which the deposits extend, so every place-name combination is not automatically a recognised belt.

Application

Compare each choice with the established distribution of iron ore in India. The eastern deposits include Singhbhum; Karnataka has the Ballari-Chitradurga group; and the central belt runs through Durg, Bastar and Chandrapur. On the western coast, the recognised zone is the Maharashtra-Goa belt, which includes Ratnagiri district, not a belt named Ratnagiri-Mumbai.

Contrast

• Singhbhum is the Jharkhand part of the major eastern iron-ore region extending into Odisha.

• Ratnagiri belongs to the Maharashtra-Goa iron-ore zone; Mumbai is not used with Ratnagiri as the standard belt name.

• Ballari and Chitradurga are part of Karnataka’s major iron-ore region.

• Durg, Bastar and Chandrapur form a recognised central Indian iron-ore belt across Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

Cross-check

The NCERT classification names the Odisha-Jharkhand, Durg-Bastar-Chandrapur, Ballari-Chitradurga-Chikkamagaluru-Tumakuru and Maharashtra-Goa belts. Ministry of Mines material likewise places Ratnagiri with Goa and south coastal Maharashtra rather than with Mumbai.

Therefore, Ratnagiri-Mumbai is the combination that is not a recognised major iron-ore belt.