The estimated reserve of graphite in the State is 2 million tones at 5% FC cut-off, the average grade being 13.7% FC. The depth of estimation is reported to be 30 m. No serious attempt has been made to undertake depth-wise proving and consequently mining activities in the State have been mostly opencast. Due to erratic nature of occurrences, mining is mostly manual. Thumdibandh in Phulbani district is the only deposit in the State amendable to mechanized mining due to consistent width over a long strike (more than 100 m.).
Natural graphite consumption in India is largely dependent on demand of the refractory industry, i.e. Mg-Carbon bricks and Slide-Gate refractories. The other applications include foundry fluxes, steel mills, crucibles, pencils, midget-electrodes, carbon brushes, paints, explosives and oil drilling.