Of the total geological resources of 186 million tonnes in India, Odisha accounts for 183 million tonnes i .e. 98% and bulk of it confined to Sukinda ultramafic belt . Although these deposits account for only 2.5% of world resources , the chrome ores from these deposits have a distnict edge over other major deposits of the world in terms of quality, large widths of ore bands and amenability to simple beneficiation process.
Some important lease holders are TISCO, OMC, FACOR, Mishralal Mines, B.C. Mohanty and Sons, IDC of Odisha Ltd., IMFA and ICCL.
Chromite produced in Odisha practically meets the requirements of the industries located in different parts of the country. Bulk of the consumption within the State is shared by the following units;

• Three 100% EOU charge chrome plants each of 50,000 tpa capacity located at Bamnipal (TISCO) Randia near Bhadrakh (FACOR) and Choudwar(ICCL)

• Ferrochrome plants of IDCOL at Jajpur Road,IMFA at Theruvali, Ispat Alloys near Balasore and Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys Ltd. near Meramundli.

• Refractory plants at Rajgangpur (OCL), Belpahar (TRL) and Latikata (OIL)

For benefication of sub-grade/low grade ore, four fully mechanised plants have been set up. These are:

Misrilal Miner Pvt. Ltd. have also established facilities for benefication in their mines. Besides these, there are above 10 small benefication plants which obtain medium grade ore (35-45% Cr203) from TISCO, OMC and IMFA Group and sell the concentrates to the chemical manufacturers and for export .
An important features of this sector is incidence of Nickel and Cobalt in the FW and HW of friable Chromite lodes, particularly in the Bhimtanagar and Kaliapani mines. The estimated quantum of such over burden materials containing + 0.5% Ni extracted and stacked is of the order of 25 million tonnes.