Environmental Management

Topic:

Coal Mining in Forest

Area
Under the guidance of:
Prof. Kaul

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 Coal Mining, A Preface
•The goal of coal mining is to remove coal from
the ground.
•Coal is valued for its energy content, and since
the 1880s is widely used to generate electricity.
•Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel
for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement
production.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Coal Mining, A History
•The Industrial Revolution, which began in
the18th century, was based on the availability of
coal to power steam engines.

•Coal was mined in America in the early 18th

century, and commercial mining started around
1730 in Virginia.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 Coal Mining, A History

•Coal-cutting machines were invented in the

1880s. Before the invention, coal was mined from
underground with a pick and shovel. By 1912
surface mining was conducted with steam
shovels designed for coal mining.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 Methods of Mining
•The choice of mining method depends primarily on
depth of burial, density of the overburden and thickness
of the coal seam.
•Coal mining processes are differentiated by whether
they operate on the surface or underground.
•Many coals extracted from both surface and
underground mines require washing in a coal
preparation plant
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Methods of Mining
Surface Mining:
•Seams relatively close to the surface, at depths
less than approximately 180 ft (50 m), are usually
surface mined.
•In this mining method, explosives are first used
in order to break through the surface, or
overburden, of the mining area.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Methods of Mining
Surface Mining:
•The overburden is then removed by draglines or by
shovel and truck.
•Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled, fractured
and thoroughly mined in strips.
•The coal is then loaded on to large trucks or conveyors
for transport to either the coal preparation plant or
directly to where it will be used.
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 Methods of Mining
Contour Mining :
•The contour mining method consists of removing overburden
from the seam in a pattern following the contours along a ridge or
around a hillside.
•This method is most commonly used in areas with rolling to steep
terrain.
•It was once common to deposit the spoil on the downslope side of
the bench thus created, but this method of spoil disposal
consumed much additional land and created severe landslide and
erosion problems.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Methods of Mining
Contour Mining :
•The limitations on contour strip mining are both
economic and technical.
•When the operation reaches a predetermined stripping
ratio, it is not profitable to continue.
•Depending on the equipment available, it may not be
technically feasible to exceed a certain height.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

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 Methods of Mining
Mountaintop Removal Mining :
•Mountaintop coal mining is a surface mining practice
involving removal of mountaintops to expose coal
seams, and disposing of associated mining overburden
in adjacent "valley fills."
•Valley fills occur in steep terrain where there are limited
disposal alternative.
•Mountaintop removal combines area and
contour strip mining methods.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Methods of Mining
Mountaintop Removal Mining :
•In areas with rolling or steep terrain with a coal
seam occurring near the top of a ridge or hill, the
entire top is removed in a series of parallel cuts.
•Overburden is deposited in nearby valleys and
hollows.
•This method usually leaves ridge and hill tops as
flattened plateaus
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 Methods of Mining
Underground Mining :
•Most coal seams are too deep underground for opencast
mining and require underground mining, which method
currently accounts for about 60% of world coal production.
•In this method a face of 1,000 feet (300 m) or more. It is a
sophisticated machine with a rotating drum that moves
mechanically back and forth across a wide coal seam.
•The loosened coal falls on to a pan line that takes the coal
to the conveyor belt for removal from the work area.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Methods of Mining
Underground Mining :
•As the mining equipment moves forward,
overlying rock that is no longer supported by coal
is allowed to fall behind the operation in a
controlled manner.
•This system allow a 60-to-100% coal recovery
rate when surrounding geology allows their use.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

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 Coal Mining in India

•Coal mining in India has a long history of

commercial exploitation covering nearly 220 years.

•It starting from 1774 by M/s Sumner and Heatly of

East India Company in the Raniganj Coalfield along
the Western bank of river Damodar.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 Coal Mining in India
•Within a short span, production rose to an annual
average of 1 million tone (mt) and India could
produce 6.12 mts. per year by 1900 and 18 mts per
year by 1920.
•Right now the production is 69 mts per year!!!
•In India Coal is mined in the states of Jharkhand,
West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil
Nadu, Assam and Meghalaya.
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 Acts Governing Coal Mining
in India
•The Coking Coal Mines (Emergency Provisions)
Act, 1971

•The Coking Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1972

•The Coal Mines (Taking Over Of Management)

Act, 1973.

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 Adverse Effects of Coal Mining
in Forest Area

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 Adverse Effects

•Coal mining produces methane, a potent

greenhouse gas.

•According to the Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change, methane has a global warming
potential 21 times greater than that of carbon
dioxide on a 100 year time line.

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 Adverse Effects
•Generally, soil disturbance and associated
compaction result in conditions conducive to
erosion.
•Soil removal from the area to be surface mined
alters or destroys many natural soil characteristics,
and may reduce its productivity for agriculture or
biodiversity.
•Soil structure may be disturbed by pulverization or
aggregate breakdown.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

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 Adverse Effects

•Removal of vegetative cover and activities

associated with construction of Mining areas
increase the quantity of dust around mining
operations.

•Dust degrades air quality in the immediate area,

can have adverse impacts on vegetative life, and
may constitute a health and safety hazard for mine
workers and nearby residents.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

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 Adverse Effects
•Coal Mining in forest area causes a number of harmful
effects.
•When coal surfaces are exposed, pyrite (iron sulfide),
also known as "fool's gold", comes in contact with water
and air and forms sulfuric acid.
•As water drains from the mine, the acid moves into the
waterways, and as long as rain falls on the mine tailings
the sulfuric acid production continues, whether the mine is
still operating or not.
•This process is known as acid rock drainage (ARD) or
acid mine drainage (AMD).

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 Adverse Effects

•If the coal is strip mined, the entire exposed seam

leaches sulfuric acid, leaving the subsoil infertile
on the surface and begins to pollute streams by
acidifying and killing fish, plants, and aquatic
animals which are sensitive to drastic pH shifts.

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 'No Go'
•The classification of forests as 'No Go' zones for
coal mining may have divided the government but it
has united activist groups often opposed to each
other.
•In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , 27
environmental groups, wildlife researchers and
social activists have urged him to back the ministry
of environment and forest's classification of areas
in nine forests as 'No Go' zones for coal mining.

February 26, 2011 Environment Management

 'No Go'
•Last year, on the coal ministry's suggestion, the
MoEF had undertaken an exercise of overlapping
nine major coalfields over existing forest cover.
•It classified unfragmented forests with dense tree
cover, 'average crown density more than 0.50', as
'No Go' zones, where mining clearances would not
be given.
•Of 605 coal blocks, 222 blocks with more than 3
lakh hectares fell in this category.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 'No Go'
•The coal ministry objected to the classification,
claiming it would adversely affect production and
growth, since the barred blocks held more than 660
million tonnes of coal.
•In 2009-2010, India imported 73.25 million tonnes
of coal.
•In January, intervening in the dispute over 'No Go'
zones, the Prime Minister reportedly said that
ecological concerns are as serious as the need to
drive economic growth. He has instituted a group of
ministers (GoM) to resolve the deadlock.
February 26, 2011 Environment Management
 Thank You!!!

February 26, 2011 Environment Management