An Assessment of the Resource Potential for the Industrial Limestone at Matayan Tehsil Dras District Kargil Ladakh J & K State

The investigation on the Matayan limestone was carried out in the mid June of 2014, by way of detailed surface geological mapping, covering an area of 20 hectares on 1: 1000 scale. The purpose of the investigation was to calculate the limestone reserves and to ascertain its grade for use in cement, fertilizer and/or glass industry. About 144 numbers of channel sample and 100 numbers of random chip sample were collected along the dip direction to ascertain the grade of Matayan limestone. The Matayan limestone deposits lies 0.5 kilometers east of Matayan village in tehsil Dras district Kargil. Matayan, a small village of 32 huts situated at an altitude of 3260 meters above mean sea level in the north central part of Great Himalayas. The Matayan Limestone falls under the geographical coordinate 34022/07// N 75035/38// E at an elevation of 3310 m above mean sea level. The limestone deposits are well exposed along the east of the Matayan Stream. The limestone is fine grained, compact and massive, ranging in colour from dark grey to greenish grey. The age of the Matayan Limestone is Late Triassic. The analytical result of surface samples of Matayan limestone deposits indicates CaO 47.5 % with MgO 5 % and Silica 1.8 %. The broad chemical specifications of Cement Grade limestone for cement manufacture suggested by the Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, is CaO 42 % (min), Al2O3 1 to 2 %, SiO2 12 to 16 % and Mgo less than 3 %, maximum tolerance being 5 %. As per the Bureau of Indian Standards, the Matayan Limestone is suitable for the manufacturing of cement. Based on estimates using geological Cross Section method, the Matayan limestone reserves acquired a tonnage of 10.43 million within 30 meters of depth from the surface. However, drilling is necessary for estimation of actual reserves and confirmation of the quality of the limestone at depth.