The discovery of the Sukinda chromite field in Orissa was entirely accidental. "In the early 1950s, a native of Sukinda was working as a labourer in Tata's Jamshedpur steel plant. He picked up a boulder from his backyard, took it to the then superintendent of ores, mines and quarries in Tata Iron and Steel Company (tisco), who immediately recognised the material as chromite ore.' Until this discovery, all tisco managed to mine were small inch-sized chromite chips. That one boulder of chromite led to the discovery of the largest chromite deposit in India, with bands of chromite ore that are several metres thick, and are mined just below the ground.

To add to the bounty, it was discovered that the even the over-burden material, which holds the thick chromite layers, were nickeliferous. Similarly, the Daitary hills skirting and enclosing the v-shaped Sukinda valley, have large quantities of iron ore. However, reports on the exposure of fuchsite quartzite (chromium bearing green quartzite), a rare and greatly valued ornamental building stone, are yet to receive much attention. With such a concentration of wealth underground, how will Sukinda valley hold its own?

Today, there is proof of the harmful effects of chromium pollution