Country's mineral production rose in December 2021New Delhi: Country's mineral production went up by 2.6 per cent in December 2021 over the corresponding month of last year, as the index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector stood at 120.3 during the period under review.According to the provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), there was a cumulative growth of 16 per cent during April-December period of 2021-22 over the year-ago period.Data released by mines ministry showed that the production level of important minerals in December 2021 includes coal 748 lakh tonnes, lignite 39 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilised) 2,814 million cu m and petroleum (crude) 25 lakh tonnes.The production of important minerals that showed year-on-year growth during December 2021 includes magnesite (73.2 per cent), gold (71.0 per cent), bauxite (27.1 per cent) and lignite (21.4 per cent).The production of other important minerals showing negative growth is: petroleum (Crude) (-1.8 per cent), zinc conc (-4.3 per cent), iron ore (-6.2 per cent) and diamond (-97.6 per cent), the data further showed.