Economic importance of gondwana system

• Economically the Gondwana rocks are the most important in India containing about 98 percent of the coal reserves.

• They have rich deposits of iron ore, uranium, copper, and antimony and sandstone, slates, and conglomerates, are used as building materials.

Gondwana coal: All of the Gondwana coal is of bituminous variety.

Gondwana coal have fueled the growth of industries such as steel, cement, and power generation.

The lower Gondwana rocks are considered as the "storehouse of coal in India".
 
Gondwana clay: The clays of various types are found in abundance in the gondwana rocks.

These clays are used for making refractory bricks, pottery and china ware.

In the upper gondwana pure china clay or kaolin occurs in the deposits of workable size which is used for making different types of earthenware, tiles, pipes, bricks  etc.

Underclay which is a type of fireclay occurs in the gondwana coal measures.

While fireclay occurs in the Rajmhahal hills(western side) is used to make firebricks of high refractory quality and are suitable for the manufacture of furnace bricks.

Building stones: Gondwana sandstone especially of the upper gondwana has contributed a great store of building store to Orissa and Chanda.

The famous temples of Puri and other richly ornamented districts are constructed of upper gondwana sandstones.

Some of the fine grained sandstones, e.g. those of the Cuttack are much used for building purposes and the clays obtained from some localities are utilized for a variety of ceramic purposes.

A few limestone beds of the upper gondwana are of value for lime burning and the richly haematitic and limonitic shales of some places are quarried for smelting purposes.