KOLKATA: Coal India is planning to take up projects that will extract two billion tonnes of premium quality coal locked up in pillars in underground mines. If and when it manages this feat, it will directly add, at least, 10 million tonnes to the production figure every year.

While cutting out coal from underground mines, miners leave out structures that act like pillars. Made up of coal, these hold up the ceiling and prevent it from collapsing on to the miners.

CIL chairman S Narsing Rao said it is easy to extract and transport this coal from existing mines. The infrastructure for lifting and transporting these to power companies already exists.

"We have estimated that some two billion tonnes of coal have been left out in the form of these pillars. CIL is in the process of working out projects to extract this coal. These are expected to come up in the next couple of years," Rao said.

Aware of the danger of ceilings collapsing if the pillars are taken away, Rao said, "We will use modern techniques to replace these pillars using a process called roof-bolting. Alternatively we may dump sand into these mines to prevent them from collapsing."

CIL plans to analyse 3D seismic data and assess the possibility of subsidence and take up first those projects in which possibility of roof subsidence is minimal. But before that happens, the Director General of Mines Safety has to give permission to extract these pillars.

 

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com