Some Important Fa cts about the History of Coal Mining in I ndia

Do You Know? Warren Hastings initiates commercial coal mining at Raniganj (West Bengal) in 1774.

The first proposal for working coal mines and selling coal in Bengal was submitted by John Sumner and Suetonius Grant Heatley on August 11, 1774 and after getting permission they opened up mines in Ranigunj Coalfield (RCF) in West Bengal. In September 1775, about 100 tonnes of coal was sent to Calcutta military store keeper for trial but could not find favour for use due to 50% less heat content than the contemporary British coal. The first underground coal mine that worked from pits was started in 1815. Prince Dwarakanath Tagore(grandfather of noble laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore) was the first Indian entrepreneur in coal mining.Carr, Tagore & Company was started in 1835 with Dwarakanath as principal partner. By 1842, the total coal production from Raniganj area reached about 50,000 tonnes. Proper geological survey of Raniganj coalfield was taken up in 1846 which was gradually expanded to cover Jharia, Bokaro, Ramgarh, Karapura and Hazaribagh coalfields. Bengal Coal Company takes over Ranigunj Coal Mines and others; is first Joint Stock Coal Company in India in 1843. Coal production had picked up from about 400 tonnes during 1815-1823 to about 91,000 tonnes by 1846. Geological survey for coal gathered momentum in 1851 when the Geological Survey of India was formed. Until the rail line from Hooghly to Raniganj was extended in 1855, coal was transported by bullock carts across unmetalled roads to the nearest river where it was ferried to calcutta by country boats and barges along the Damodar. Total production of coal by the end of 19th century was recorded as 6.12 million tonnes. Growth of Jharia Coalfield (JCF) in the last decade of the 19th century aided by completion of the Grand Chord line of East Indian Railway in 1907 led to almost a 'coal rush' in 1907 and 1908.This period was the first boom years of the Indian coal industry. During the first world war, the industry received further impetus. The coal industry witnessed a serious decline in production after 1919. The production reached a level of 29 mts. by 1942 and 30 mts. by 1946. Incorporation of National Coal Development Corporation(NCDC) in 1956 and the Govt policy to allow growth of private coal mining helped production grow to 55.67 million tonnes by the end of second five year plan. In 1972, Coking Coal Industry Nationalised, Bharat Coking Coal Limited formed to manage operations of all Coking Coal mines in Jharia Coalfield. In 1973, Non-coking coal nationalised; Coal Mine Authority Limited set up to manage these mines; NCDC operations bought under the ambit of CMAL. In 1975, Coal India Limited formed as holding Company with 5 subsidiaries viz. Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL). In 1985, Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) and South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) carved out of CCL and WCL. In 1992, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) formed out of SECL to manage the Talcher and IB Valley Coalfields in

Orissa.

In 2000, De-regulation of Coal pricing and distribution of coal.

Some Important Facts about Coal Industry in India

Do You Know? India is the third largest producer of coal in the world.

Coal is one of the primary sources of energy, accounting for about 67% of the total energy consumption in the country. India has some of the largest reserves of coal in the world. Indian coal has high ash content (15-45%)and low calorific value. With the present rate of around 0.8Mt average daily coal extraction in the country, the reserves are likely to last over a 100 years. The energy derived from coal in India is about twice that of energy derived from oil, as against the world, where energy derived from coal is about 30% lower than energy derived from oil. CIL contributes around 87% of coal production in India. CIL is the largest company in the world in terms of coal production. CIL employs nearly 468 thousand persons and is the largest corporate employer in the country. CIL is one of the largest 5 Companies in the country, turnover being around Rs. 262 billion in 2003-04.

Some Important Facts about Mine Fires in India

Do You Know? Mining in India was started in 1774 in Ranigunj Coalfield (RCF) in West Bengal.

It was started in Jharia Coalfield (JCF) in the last decade of the 19th century. In India, the history of mine fires can be traced back to the year 1865, when the first fire was reported in Raniganj coalfield. In Jharia coalfield the first fire occurred in 1916 at Bhowra Colliery followed by second fire in Sendra Colliery in 1917. In the independent India, mine fires were known to have existed in the coal mines in Margarita in Assam, Venkatesh Khani Mine in Singareni in Andhra Pradesh, Mahakali Colliery in Chandrapura in Maharashtra, Talcher Colliery in Talcher Coalfield in Orissa, and some mines in RCF in West Bengal and JCF in Jharkhand, etc. In 1937, Jharia and Raniganj coalfields had 28 active fires. In 1966 there were 64 coal mine fires out of which 32 were in JCF and 19 in RCF. The number increased to 82 in 1976. The number of the fires increased further and was about 196 covering an area of about 30 sq km in 1994. The maximum number of fires, over 70, were in JCF. Currently there are over 150 surface mine fires in the Indian coalfields and nearly half of them are in JCF. On a rough estimate about 2,000 million tonne of coal is locked due to fires in JCF alone.

Some Important Facts about the Minerals

Gold is for the mistress silver for the maid Copper for the craftsman cunning at his trade. Good! said the Baron, sitting in his hall, But Iron Cold Iron is master of them all. Rudyard Kipling *************************************************************** "In rain or shine, It don't much matter, Down in the mine, Where the tunnel's deep, Lord, the air gets thin, That's the way of life, For the minin' man, His lungs are weak, His back is gone, His sixty years, Are plainly shown, Lived half his life, Down in the ground, A cold steel hammer, Rings a mournful sound." The Song Coal Minin' Man , by Ricky Skaggs ************************************************************** DO YOU KNOW that in the last 100 years, we have mined more minerals than in the entire history of mankind before that? BUT THEN, Over 99 percent of the Earth's surface has never been mined. So why worry? RIGHT? WRONG!!! Minerals are actually limited in supply. That s because though they may be everywhere, only in a few places are they concentrated enough to make them valuable. In the past, we could find enough mineral resources on the earth s surface. This is not the case today.

Reality 1: Minerals are becoming more difficult to mine. Reality 2: Environmental impacts are increasing. Reality 3: More energy is being required to extract one kilo of raw material. Reality 4: More waste is being created. Reality 5: Once a mine has been mined, it cannot be replaced. On an average, one cubic kilometre of rock contains 239 million metric tons of Aluminium, 149 million metric tons of iron, 62 million metric tons of magnesium, 155,000 million metric tons of manganese, 239,000 million metric tons of copper... ...but the problem is that most of these minerals are present in concentrations too low to make their extraction viable

Everything that man uses on Earth which isn t a plant or an animal is a mineral. There is simply no exception. Man started mining for copper 9000 years ago The prices of Third World minerals are steadily going down "The mineral dependent developing countries actually had slower rates of economic growth, lower levels of social welfare and higher disparity between rich and poor when compared to developing countries less reliant on mining." G.Nankuri, World Bank researcher Tiny change, HUGE impact Developing economies are heavily dependent on mineral exports and hence at the mercy of the international market. This is how it works: A minor recession in the US in 1970 led to a 0.3 per cent drop in GNP. This led to a 3.3 per cent decline in sales of consumer durables. This led to a 12 per cent decline in demand for copper. Which led to a 34 per cent decline in the copper industry's profitability. AND 90 PER CENT OF ZAMBIA'S EXPORTS COME FROM COPPER!

From 1850 to 1900, the use of minerals increased 10-fold even as the population doubled. Prices of the West s products from minerals are steadily going up From 1750 to 1990, the world's overall use of minerals increased tenfold while population doubled. Since 1900, it has jumped by atleast thirteen-fold. Each catalytic converter for cars devours about three tons of natural raw materials in the course of its production.

Why? Because of the platinum component and its enormous rucksack.

Diamonds aren t forever

they re brittle and can burn!

Singrauli mines in Madhya Pradesh alone displaced 200,000 locals 150 million acres of Orissa fields & villages are now being mined A copper mine in the US has 40 billion litres of acid water Mining has displaced 10 million people in India after 1947 Each year, we consume 700,000,000 tonnes of metal worldwide [SOURCE:GOBAR TIMES]

Some Important Facts about the Minerals

Do You Know that .... Minerals have directed the progress of mankind and early ages have been named after metals.

At first, man carved simple tools and weapons out of stones and that was called the Stone Age. Then came the age of the metals. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, man made his implements out of metals dug from the Earth's crust. After that, the more sophisticated our society became and more advanced our technology got, the more we relied on more and more minerals. Minerals powered the Industrial Age of the eighteenth century and the Space Age of the twentieth century. More than 3,500 different minerals have been identified in the earth s crust.Prominent among them are metals. The rocks inside the earth that contain the metals are first mined, then refined, or extracted from the rock. Aluminum is the most abundant metal to be found, but it never occurs in a pure form. Its always bonded to several other elements and must be put through a very energy-intensive process. SOMEWHERE IN THE 19TH CENTURY: Thousands of gold prospectors raided Red Indian lands in a series of gold rushes in North America. The whites did a lot of damage. They tore down fences. Pastures were dug up. But the natives could do little. Red Indian land which had gold, silver or oil was snatched away by force. SOMEWHERE IN THE 20TH CENTURY: After thriving by extracting mineral resources from colonies for centuries, the colonial powers were forced to give independence to them. But while going, they ensured that the economics of exploitation would continue through their so-called free trade . SOMEWHERE IN THE 21ST CENTURY: The Developed world's major mineral deposits have been mined out, but they are still getting what they want from the developing world. Each major industrial region has picked a zone. The US looks to Latin America, Western Europe to Africa, Japan to the rest of Asia. Although man has been mining for thousands of years, it was the Industrial revolution which really set the pace for the exploitation of the Earth s resources. From 1850 to 1900, the use of minerals grew 10-fold even as the population doubled.Since 1900, it increased 13-fold again. The West made tremendous economic gains and mineral exploitation continued well into the twentieth century. England, which was a small island nation, used the mineral resources of its colonies to power both its economy and military. Even today, things are not very different. The Third World continues to be the major producer of minerals, while the Developed countries are still the largest consumers.

[SOURCE:GOBAR TIMES]