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The South Central Region was carved out from Southern Region in 1988, and was started in a rented building in Hyderabad. The office was functioning within the premises of AMD Headquarters, Begumpet, Hyderabad from 1993 and 2016 and in May 2016 shifted to AMD Cherlapally campus, Hyderabad. The activities of the region arefocused on exploration for uranium andcritical minerals in parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (North of 15° Lat.).
The geological domains of the Region comprise a broader spectrum of stratigraphic and tectonic units ranging in age from Archaean to Recent. The basement comprises of Archean Peninsular Granite Gneiss of Dharwar Craton and Mesoproterozoic charnockite-khondalites of Eastern Ghat Mobile Belt. Mesoproterozoic granites occur as discrete plutons within the basement gneisses which is intruded by mafic dyke swarms. The Proterozoic Cuddapah Basin comprise of the sediments of Cuddapah Supergroup and Kurnool Group. The tectono-metamorphic events ranging from palaeo-mesoproterozoic and also represents the major geo-tectonic divisions marked by green schist belts such as Nellore Schist Belt, Veligallu-Gadwal Schist Belt and Ramagiri-Penakacherala Schist Belt along the eastern, northern and northwestern margin of Cuddapah Basin with intrusions of younger granites represent a deep-seated sub thrust/antithetic fracture system. Besides, sediments of Neoproterozoic Bhima Basin also occur in the western part.The Pranhita-Godavari Basin comprising sediments of Pakhal Supergroup equivalent to Cuddapah Proterozoic sediments deposited in rift related environment in equivalent to the Godavari basin, and Gondwanas overlie the Pakhal sediments along Godavari Basin. In the northwestern part of the region, small exposures of Mesozoic Deccan Traps are exposed while the beaches along the coastal stretch of Andhra Pradesh represent the Quaternary Group.
In northwestern part of Cuddapah basin, four (04) major Uranium deposits are established represented by stratiform, fracture-controlled, Proterozoic unconformity type along the contact of Archean basement and overlying sediments of Srisailam Sub basin (Lambapur, Peddagattu and Chitrial, Nalgonda district) and sediments of Palnad Sub basin (Koppunuru, Guntur district). Two (02) other promising prospect for similar unconformity type uranium deposit are under different exploration stages along the contact of basement granite with overlying (i) Gulcheru Formation in the western margin of Cuddapah Basin (Kappatralla, Kurnool district) and (ii) Banganapalle Formation in central part of Palnad Sub basin (Sarangapalle, Guntur district).
Significant leucogranite of younger age are the other hostsfor uranium anomalies have been located in Mastipuram Area, Wanaparti District, Telangana bordering Gadwal schist belt around Mastipuram forms a very potential target. Besides, polymetallic Fe-Oxide-Copper-Gold-Uranium-REE Breccia Complex type (IOCG) uranium occurrences have been located in Manupotulagadda area in Mallampalli Group of Pakhal Supergroup, Telangana.
Several hydro-uranium and radon-in water anomalous zones have been delineated over Kurnool Group of rocks along Rudravaram Line, which marks the contact between undisturbed Kurnool Group and deformed Nallamalai Group of sediments. Several conducting bodies along structural loci have been identified by ZTEM techniques. Unconformity type uranium mineralisation is expected to occur at deeper levels in these prospective areas.
Sub-surface exploration efforts have been intensified to establish fracture-controlled, Proterozoic unconformity type uranium deposit at Sarangapalle and adjoining areas (Daida, Tangeda and Chennayapalem) in Palnad Sub basin and also Western part of Bhima Basin.
Exploration for critical minerals has been intensified in Prakasam Alkaline Complex and younger granites occurring within the Peninsular Gneissic Complex.
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