India's mineral output increased by 5.1 per cent in December as compared to the year-ago period, the government said on Thursday. The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector for the month of December, 2023 at 139.4 is 5.1 per cent higher as compared to the level witnessed in the corresponding month of 2022, the mines ministry said in a statement. The cumulative growth rate in the mining and quarrying sector for the April-December period of the current fiscal over the corresponding period of previous financial year is 8.5 per cent, as per the provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). In December, the production of coal stood at 929 lakh tonnes while that of lignite at 40 lakh tonnes, iron ore at 255 lakh tonnes and limestone at 372 lakh tonnes. Production of lignite, limestone, coal, bauxite and natural gas showed positive growth. However, a negative growth was registered in the production of petroleum (crude), gold, chromite, phosphorite and ...