Karnataka is endowed with fairly rich mineral wealth distributed more or less evenly over its territory. It has one of the oldest Geological Survey Department in the country, started as far back as 1880.

The State contains deposits of asbestos, bauxite, chromite, dolomite, gold, iron ore, kaolin, limestone, magnesite, manganese, ochre, quartz and silica sand. Karnataka is the sole producer of felsite and leading producer of gold (84%), moulding sand (63%) and fuchsite quartzite (57%).