MINING IN INDIA THE HISTORY AND THE PRESENT SCENARIO Contributed by Prof. Phalguni Sen Dept.

of Mining Engineering

INTRODUCTION The history of mineral development is as old as the civilization. In case of India, the mineral production dates back to the ancient times as the mining activities can be traced as far back as 6,000 years or so. The importance of mineral development for the economic growth of a country was realized in India long back. As early as 400 B.C. Chanakya in his Kautilyas Arthasastra mentioned Mines are the sources of treasury, from treasury comes the power of Government and the Earth whose armament is by means of treasury and army. The remains of some of the old mine workings are a witness to this fact. A few of these workings have led to the discovery of a number of significant mineral deposits, which are being worked in the present time. These include the leadzinc deposit at Zawar, copper deposit at Khetri, and gold deposits in Karnataka. HISTORY OF COAL MINING IN INDIA India has a long history of commercial coal mining covering nearly 220 years starting from 1774 by M/s Sumner and Heatly of East India Company in the Raniganj Coalfield along the Western bank of river Damodar. However, for about a century the growth of Indian coal mining remained sluggish for want of demand but the introduction of steam locomotives in 1853 gave a fillip to it. Within a short span, production rose to an annual average of 1 million tonne (mt) and India could produce 6.12 mts. per year by 1900 and 18 mts per year by 1920. The production got a sudden boost from the First World War but went through a slump in the early thirties. The production reached a level of 29 mts. by 1942 and 30 mts. by 1946 (www.coal.nic.in/abtcoal.htm). HISTORY OF GOLD MINING IN INDIA India has long been the site of gold mining, first from placers and then in more modern times from the oxidized and primary zones of a variety of auriferous deposits. Pliny, writing at the beginning of our era in his Historia naturalis, mentions the gold of India, and the land of Ophir mentioned in I Kings 10:11 in the Old Testament can, according to some authorities, be equated with India. It is certain that gold placers and the rich oxidized zones of auriferous deposits were worked in India long before the Christian era, as evidenced by archaeological data and written records. Large-scale mining in India began with the Mauryan

colonization of the Deccan about the end of the fourth century B.C. The discovery of the Kolar field would seem to date from the beginning of the Christian era, probably coeval with that of the Hutti field to the north. The modern mining of the famous Champion Lode in the Kolar field, rediscovered in 1873, began about 1880 and has continued since that date (www.minelinks.com/ alluvial/gold1.html). HISTORY OF DIAMOND MINING IN INDIA Diamonds were discovered in India during the 4th century B.C., and India was one of the first countries to mine the gem. India's diamonds were prized for their size and beauty for hundreds of years. "Indian" diamonds were mined in numerous locations that included Borneo (Landak), Golconda, Hindostan, and Raolconda. The majority of India and Borneo's diamond deposits were alluvial as opposed to kimberlite. India's most prized diamonds are known as the "diamonds of Golconda," and the most famous Golconda stones include the Hope Diamond, Koh-i-Noor Diamond, Orlov Diamond, and Sanc Diamond. The Darya-i-Nur (Sea of Light) was a rare blue-diamond weighed 186 carats, which was owned by the Nadir Shah of Persia after it was plundered from the last 'Great Mughal Emperor,' Aurangzeb's heirs in the 'sack of Delhi' in 1739. (www.khulsey.com/jewelry/kh_jewelry_diamond_mines.html). THE POST INDEPENDENCE ERA After the political Independence came in the year 1947, the importance of role of mines and mineral development in the countrys economic growth was realized, and an impetus to the development of the mineral sector was imparted in the country. Prior to independence, only a few minerals were mined and the country was largely depended on imports of commodities such as copper, lead, zinc, sulphur, graphite, petroleum, etc. On the eve of Independence, the annual value of mineral production was merely Rs.0.58 billion, and the inventory details were available only in respect of few minerals - coal, iron ore, chromite, bauxite, manganese ore and magnesite. The exploration of minerals was intensified and the Geological Survey of India was strengthened for the purpose. The Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) was established to look after the scientific development and conservation of mineral resources. IBM was also assigned the responsibility of conducting exploration with more of emphasis on coal, iron ore, limestone, dolomite, and manganese ore keeping in view the requirement of the proposed steel plants. Later, in 1972 when the Mineral Exploration Corporation was established, this function was transferred to it. Coal was the one to have received the maximum attention for being the basic fuel for a whole range of industries such as steel, railways and power plants. Capacity for large-scale production of various minerals was created in the public sector - National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC) 1956, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC)

1958, Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) 1965, Pyrites, Phosphates and Chemicals Ltd. (PPCL) 1960, Hindustan Zinc Ltd.(HZL) 1966, Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. (NLC) 1957, Hindustan Copper Ltd.(HCL) 1967, Bharat Gold Mines Ltd.(BGML) 1972, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), formerly Hindustan Steel Ltd 1973. Coal mining With the advent of Independence, the country embarked upon the 5-year development plans. At the beginning of the 1 st Plan, annual production went upto 33 mts. During the 1st Plan period itself, the need for increasing coal production efficiently by systematic and scientific development of the coal industry was being felt. Setting up of the National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC), a Government of India Undertaking in 1956 with the collieries owned by the railways as its nucleus was the first major step towards planned development of Indian Coal Industry. Along with the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd. (SCCL) which was already in operation since 1945 and which became a Government company under the control of Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1956, India thus had two Government coal companies in the fifties. SCCL is now a joint undertaking of Government of Andhra Pradesh and Government of India sharing its equity in 51:49 ratio. Right from its genesis, the commercial coal mining in modern times in India has been dictated by the needs of the domestic consumption. On account of the growing needs of the steel industry, a thrust had to be given on systematic exploitation of coking coal reserves in Jharia Coalfield. Adequate capital investment to meet the burgeoning energy needs of the country was not forthcoming from the private coal mine owners. Unscientific mining practices adopted by some of them and poor working conditions of labour in some of the private coal mines became matters of concern for the Government. On account of these reasons, the Central Government took a decision to nationalise the private coal mines. The nationalisation was done in two phases, the first with the coking coal mines in 1971-72 and then with the non-coking coal mines in 1973. In October, 1971, the Coking Coal Mines (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1971 provided for taking over in public interest of the management of coking coal mines and coke oven plants pending nationalisation. This was followed by the Coking Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 under which the coking coal mines and the coke oven plants other than those with the Tata Iron & Steel Company Limited and Indian Iron & Steel Company Limited, were nationalised on 1.5.1972 and brought under the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), a new Central Government Undertaking. Another enactment, namely the Coal Mines (Taking Over of Management) Act, 1973, extended the right of the Government of India to take over the management of the coking and non-coking coal mines in seven States including the coking coal mines taken over in 1971. This was followed by the nationalisation of all these mines on 1.5.1973 with the enactment of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973 which now is the piece of Central legislation determining the eligibility of coal mining in India (www.coal.nic.in/abtcoal.htm).

THE PRESENT SCENARIO Presently, India produces as many as 89 minerals comprising 4 fuel, 11 metallic, 52 nonmetallic industrial and 22 minor minerals. Their aggregate production in 1999-2000 was about 550 million tonnes, contributed by over 3,100 mines (reporting mines) producing coal, lignite, limestone, iron ore, bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, etc. More than 80 per cent of the countrys mineral production comes from surface mines and therefore, one must add the quantity of overburden to that of the mineral production in order to assess the total amount of annual excavation in Indias mining sector. The mining leases numbering 9,244 are spread over 21 States on about 13,000 mineral deposits occupying about 0.7 million hectares which is 0.21 per cent of the total land mass of the country. The total value of mineral production in 2000-2001was Rs. 568070 million, of which the value of minerals other than petroleum and natural gas was Rs. 306751 million (http://mines.nic.in/imsene.html). The resources of 64 non-fuel minerals as on April 2005 is given in Table-1. Table- 2 shows the coal reserve of the country as on January 2006,

Table- 1: All India Mineral Resources as on 1.4.2005

Sl.. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 _ Remaining Resources 0 Ore Metal 0 0 6145575 6040544 32529793 34312780 899384 25060508 0 6742030 222121 18450 10588 174 20719133 15695817 46761403 39890567 2390433 Total Resources 18450 10588 174 26864708 21736361 79291196 74203347 3289817

Mineral Andalusite Antimony Apatite Asbestos Ballclay Barytes Bauxite Bentonite Borax Calcite China clay

Unit Th.Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes

Reserves

505512899 530573407 74204 15831937 2373540 74204 22573966 2595661 Table contd.

Table- 1: contd
Sl.. No. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Mineral Chromite Cobalt Copper Corundum Diaspore Diatomite Diamond Dolomite Dunite Emarald Feldspar Fireclay Fluorite Fuller's Earth Garnet Tonnes Th.Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Ore (Primary) 27 Gold Tonnes Metal (Primary) Ore (Placer) Metal (Placer) 28 29 30 31 Granite (Dimen stone)* Graphite* Gypsum Iron Ore(Heamatite) 000 cu.m. Tonnes Th.Tonnes Th.Tonnes Unit Th.Tonnes Mill. Tonnes Th.Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes Carats Th.Tonnes Th.Tonnes Ore Metal _ Reserves 66128 0 369493 4383.97 604 3125032 634 1205577 985156 128074 NOT ESTIMATED 38049836 561805 9213831 58200 20975605 19253951 85 0 0 1130024 10749908 68658 7004168 52731827 646393 10951838 90781663 1208198 20165669 Remaining Resources 146935 44.91 1024933.07 7033.75 83190 2212361 2251 3376336 6547952 39855 Total Resources 213063 44.91 1394426 11417.72 83795 5337393 2885 4581913 7533108 167929

256593879 256652079 36680028 57655633

371035286 390289237 406.12 26121000 5.86 36295977 491.12 26121000 5.86 37426001

158025030 168774939 1168218 7626220 1236876 14630388 Table contd.

Table- 1: contd

Sl.. No. 32 33 34

Mineral Iron Ore(Magnetite) Kyanite Limestone*

Unit Th.Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes

Reserves 58504 1374191 12696674

Remaining Resources 10560977

Total Resources 10619481

101239032 102613223 162632240 175328914 396826.27 4616.7 13166.79 118.45 261749 240418 1787938 522580 7207.25 24259.68 118.45 337882 378569 1792638

Ore Lead Metal 35 Lead-Zinc Ore Th.Tonnes Zinc Metal Lead&Zinc Metal 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Magnesite Manganese Ore Marble Mica* Molybdenum Nickel Ore Ochre Perlite Potash Pt.Grp of Metal Pyrite Pyrophyllite Quartzite Quartz-Silica Sand* Rock Phosphate Th.Tonnes Th.Tonnes Th.Tonnes Kilogram Tonnes Mill. Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes Mill. Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes Th.Tonnes Tonnes Metal Ore Containes MOS2

125754 2590.55 11092.89 0 76133 138152 4700 48157843 1500000 1050 0 47867858 504 0 0 56726 19489617 98544 771508 52723492

325285576 373443419 17786732 11589.57 188.71 45573436 1385 21815 14.2 1617675 14205319 1046413 2466703 19286732 12639.57 188.71 93441294 1889 21815 14.2 1674401 33694936 1144957 3238211

252585084 305308576 Table contd.

Table- 1: contd
Sl.. Mineral Unit _ Reserves Remaining Total

No. 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 Rock Salt Ruby Sapphire Sillimanite Silver Sulphur Talc-SteatiteSoapst Tin Titanium Tungsten Vanadium Th.Tonnes Kilogram Kilogram Tonnes Tonnes Th.Tonnes Th.Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Ore Contained WO3 Ore Metal 62 63 64 Vermiculite Wollastonite Zircon Tonnes Tonnes Tonnes Ore Metal 13530 1925.1 0 11423994 115912738 6058 0 115526 249497 25148538 0 0 6318663 10769.78 1763630 8533311 3705912

Resources 0 3346 450 62915875

Resources 13530 5271 450 74339869

128720729 244633467 4154 210 196810 86302812 10213 210 312335 86552310

363239828 388388366 87387464 142094.35 18529225 54620.49 674631 11709141 569748 87387464 142094.35 24847888 65390.27 2438261 20242452 4275660

* Provisional

Source: http://ibm.nic.in/reserves.html Table- 2: Coal Reserves (in Billion tones) of India as on January 2006 Type Coking Non-coking Total Proved Reserve 17 79 96 Indicated Reserve 13 106 119 Inferred Reserve 2 36 38 Total Reserve 32 221 253

Source: http://www.coalindia.nic.in/coalreserve.htm In India, the Public Sector Companies contribute 100% of copper, diamond, lead, silver and zinc and lignite; 98% of coal, 60% of iron ore and 50% of manganese,

bauxite, chromite and dolomite in the total mineral production. The value of mineral production during 1999-2000 was estimated at Rs.452.3 billion of which the contribution from public sector was Rs.378.4 billion (84%). In the total value of mineral production, fuel minerals accounted for Rs.372.3 billion (82%), metallic minerals at Rs.34.2 billion (8%) nonmetallic minerals Rs.18.3 billion (4%) and minor minerals Rs.27.6 billion (6%). The mineral production in 1970-71, 1990-91 and 1999-2000 are given in the following table (Table-3). It may be observed from the table that there has been a rapid growth in the production of coal and lignite, iron ore and limestone in the past three decades (TERI Report No. 2001EE42). Table-3: Production of some selected minerals in India (by mineral groups)
Mineral Coal Lignite Crude oil Natural gas Bauxite Chromite Copper ore Iron ore Manganese ore Lead & zinc ore Gold ore Limestone Dolomite Gypsum Diamond Unit Million tonnes Million tonnes Million tonnes BCM Million tonnes Million tonnes Million tonnes Million tonnes Million tonnes Million tonnes 1970-71 1990-91 Fuel minerals 73.7 211.3 3.5 14.0 NA 33.0 NA 18.0 Metallic minerals 1.4 5.0 0.3 0.9 0.5 5.3 31.4 55.5 1.7 1.5 NA NA 1999-2000 300.0 21.9 32.0 26.4 6.8 1.7 3.1 73.5 1.6 2.7 0.7 127.9 2.9 3.3 41 2005-06 407.22 30.05 32.20 31.22

12.33 3.42 2.64 154.43 2.00 4.79 0.51 170.38 4.43 3.14 44.17

Million tonnes NA NA Non metallic minerals Million tonnes 23.8 70.1 Million tonnes 1.1 2.6 Million tonnes NA 1.7 (000 Carats) 20 18

In 1970s, in India, a purposeful thrust was given towards surface mining to meet the increasing mineral demand, and since then the countrys mining industry has experienced a phenomenal shift from underground to surface mining for production of different minerals in general and coal in particular. The upsurge of the surface mining activities has resulted in establishing large size surface coal mines (Jayant, Nigahi, Dudhichua, Amlohri, Gevra and Dipka, Rajmahal, Piparwar, Ashoka, etc.) and surface metal mines (Kudremukh, Malanjkhand, Rampur-Agucha, etc.), increase in production from existing surface mines, increase in size of conventional mine equipment and introduction of new equipment and new technology. Of the 89 different minerals that are mined today in India, most are coming from surface mines. Some of the minerals, produced exclusively or mainly from

underground mines earlier, are currently being produced by surface mines also. Presently, in the country, the surface mines contribute the major share (more than 80%) of the coal & lignite production, more than 50% of copper ore and lead & zinc ore and a considerable amount of manganese ore produced. Chromite comes from both surface and underground mines. A small portion (about 10% of the total production) of gold ore is also extracted by surface mining. Very recently a surface mine has been opened up, and few more are likely to come into existence in near future, to extract uranium ore in the country. Only petroleum and natural gas come exclusively from underground mines. Almost 100% of the countrys production of the minerals other than coal & lignite, copper ore, lead and zinc ore, uranium ore, chromite, gold ore and petroleum and natural gas comes from surface mines. More than 80% of the total mineral production, in terms of both volume and value, of India comes from surface mines, and the same trend is likely to continue for the next few decades. SURFACE MINING - THE CHALLENGES AND DEVELOPMENTS The Challanges The main challenge to the present-day surface mining industry is that of extracting mineral from increased depth while fulfilling the increasing production demand and maintaining the economy of operation. The average depth of currently operating surface coal mines in the country has been estimated at 80m (Chaudhuri, 2000). The currently operating deepest surface coal mine is Amlohri where the deep most working bench in Turra Seam has reached a depth of 160m. The Amlohri mine has been planned to be worked by surface mine upto a depth of about 300m. A number of other surface coal mines Jayant, Dudhichua, Nigahi and Jhingurda in NCL, Gevra in SECL, Sonepur-Bazari in ECL and Gautam Khani in SCCL- have been planned upto depths exceeding 200m. Malanjkhand and Rampur-Agncha have been planned to go to depths beyond 200m. Elsewhere in the world, a number of surface mines (Rossing uranium ore mine in Namibia, iron ore mines is Ural, borax mine of Rio Tinto in California and gold mine in Finniston, Western Australia) are operating at or planned to go beyond the depth of 350m. The Ekibastas surface coal mine in Russia has been planned upto a depth of 500m. The worlds deepest surface mine, the Bringham Canyon copper mine in Utah, USA, is reaching a depth of 760m (Banerjee, 2006). In general the deep mines are of larger size, and with the increase in mine size the following problems are generally enhanced. The problem of land acquisition and land clearance if forest areas are involved. The problem of resettlement and rehabilitation.

The problem of increased stripping ratio. The problem of increased generation of overburden/waste material and subsequent overburden/waste dump planning With the increase in depth of working and increasing stripping ratio, the quantity of overburden/waste material that is to be handled to produce a certain quantity of mineral/ore increases at a faster rate. Proper placement of the overburden/waste material in dumps, external and/or internal (in case of flat or gauntly dipping bedded deposits), calls for integrated planning and design of overburden/waste dumps. The dump planning includes the selection of dump site and dump geometry giving due consideration to the foundation competence and inclination, material properties (cohesion and effective friction), the likely environmental impacts, the hazard potential and the overall economics of dump formation and maintenance. The problem of slope stability Stability of highwall benches and of overburden/waste dumps is of major concern in case of deep surface mines. As the depth of mine workings increases, the height of highwalls (and that of internal backfills incase of bedded deposits) increases. To have stable slopes in mines, a proper slope stability planning, slope formation and slope stabilization method is of prime importance. The deep surface mines are likely to have large external dumps of greater height, which are more likely to develop instability. To have safe dumps, therefore, proper planning and design, suitable formation (including zonation) and slope stabilization methods (including installation of proper drainage system) are to be followed. More over to assess the stability (or instability) condition of slopes, same from of continuous slope monitoring method/system needs to be implemented.

The problem of increased transport cost As the mines are going to be deeper, the vertical lift from the bottom most benches and the average distance of ore and/or waste transport will be increasing. At comparatively lower depth high capacity dumpers may be used in case of shovel-dumper operation to minimize the overall transport costs. However, in case of high depth, the cost of dumper transport may become prohibitive, and in such cases the use of in-pit crusher conveyor (shiftable and/or high angle) system may have to be adopted.

The problem of blast vibration and air vibration The problem of increased level of impacts on physical environment (land, water, air, flora and fauna) The problem of changes in hydrologic regime. The problem of accumulation of noxious gasses in the bottom benches

In deep mines, the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gases produced by the diesel-operated equipment are likely to be accumulated in the bottom benches. In case of deep surface coal mines, there is also likely hood of accumulation of methane in the bottom benches. If such a condition arises, suitable artificial ventilation measures have to be adopted. mining. The Developments In the last few decades, a number of developments have taken place in the surface mining industry of the country. The developments are in terms of improvement of conventional equipment, introduction of new equipment, introduction of new system and introduction of new technology. Conventional equipment In terms of development of conventional equipment, the power and capacity have been greatly increased and improved/advanced features have been incorporated. Presently, in India, the largest size electric rope shovel is being used in Piparwar Open Cast Project (OCP) of CCL. The 20m 3 shovel fitted with a 25m3 bucket feeds the hopper of a fully mopile crusher. At amlohri OCP of NCL and Rajmahal OCP of ECL, 20m 3 shovel is working in conjunction with 170 t dumpers. The use of 10m 3 shovel 120 t dumpers is becoming a regular feature in the countrys surface mines. Hydraulic shovels of bucket capacities 3 to 5m 3 are used in many of the surface mines. The draglines that are used in Indian Surface coal mines are mainly of 24m 3 96m size. The drills used in dragline benches are of 300 325 mm dia range. In shovel benches drills upto 250 mm dia prevails. With the increase in size/capacity of the conventional equipment, the modern ones also incorporate improved features that optimize their operational efficiency. The modern day drills have features like auto-positioning, auto-levelling, auto-regulation of thrust and r.p.m., semi automatic handling of drill rods and automatic recording of drilling data (that may be analysed latter) through the use of sensors and pre-programmed chips (Sen, 1987). The shovel and draglines are fitted with system that automatically records the equipment performance data. Some of the models of Volvo dumpers have independent elephant foot suspension system, which improves the performance of these dumpers to a great extent particularly in rough conditions. It is envisaged that the large size draglines of 45 to 55 m 3 bucket size with over 100m dumping radius, 40 to 45 m 3 capacity rope shovels, 10 to 15 m3 capacity hydraulic shovels, 850 h.p. dozers and 240 to 320 t dumpers will be used in some of the large size coal mines in future (Banerjee, 2006). The problem of creation of a large water body at the end of

Elsewhere in the world, the large mines have increasingly switched over to higher truck sizes of 290 t (Komatsu 930 E), 328 t (Hitachi EH 5000), 345 t (Caterpillar 797B) and 370t (Liebharr T282) (Banerjee, 2006). New equipment The latest equipment that has been introduced in Indian surface mining industry is the surface miner. The first surface miner was introduced in one of the lime stone mine of Gujrat Ambuja Cement Ltd in Feb. 1995. Since then, the number of surface miners in Indian Surface mines is steadily increasing and the first surface miner in Indian surface coal mine was introduced in Lakhanpur OCP of MCL in June 1999 (Dey, Pathak and Sen, 2000; Dey and Sen, 2001). Presently, most of the surface miners being used in India are of Wirtgen Gmbh make. Only a very few are of Bitelli type, and very recently L & T surface miners have been commissioned in some of the OCPs of MCL and some lime stone mine in the country. New System In an effort to optimize the dumper performance, truck dispatching system has been introduced in few surface mines (Jayant OCP of NCL, West Bokaro mine of TISCO, etc.) of India. In this system, all dumpers serve all shovels in place of assigning a group of dumpers to a particular shovel. The available dumper is routed to the shovel that is either kept idle for maximum time or is going to be idle first for want of dumper. The system may be fully automatic or semi-automatic. This system offers the advantages of minimizing the waiting time of dumpers thereby improving their productivity and economizing the number of dumpers for a particular number of shovels thereby lowering the required capital investment. In-pit crushing and conveying offers number of advantages over conventional dumper transport system (such as, high capacity, better energy utilization, lower unit transport cost, etc.). The system may be classified into three main groups system with permanent in-pit crusher, system with relocatable in-pit crusher and system with fully mobile crusher. In the system with permanent in-pit crusher, the material from all the faces are transported to the crusher by dumper transport and the crushed material are transported to destination by belt conveyor network. In case of relocatable crushers, one crusher serves a group of faces. Here also, the dumpers are used to transport the material from the faces to the particular crusher and the crushed material is transported to destination via belt network. This system offers the advantage of relocating the crusher at an interval of time (usually 3 to 7 years) depending on the movement of the faces. In case of fully mobile crusher system, the excavator in the face loads directly on the crusher hopper and the dumpers are totally eliminated from the transport system. The crushed material is transported to destination via belt network.

In India, a fully mobile in-pit crusher-conveyor system has been installed in Piparwar OCP of CCL for handling the coal from the lower most coal seam (Lowar Dakra) face. The coal is excavated and loaded by a 20m 3 shovel fitted with 25m3 bucket to the fully mobile crusher hopper and the crushed coal is directly transported to the pit head washery via a belt network. The system handles a production of about 7.5 million tonnes per year (Srivastava, 1998). Recent steep hike in diesel price may compel the surface mining industry to explore the applicability of non-diesel type of transport systems in the mines, particularly in case of deeper mines. In-pit crushing-conveying system is a proven technology and use of high angle conveyors (to take care of the vertical lift) and trolley wire assisted truck haulage are other alternatives to the conventional truck haulage system. Trolley wire assisted trucks are operating in many mines in USA, Canada, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe (Banerjee, 2000). Extraction of developed coal seams by surface mining method is one of the challenges to the present day coal mining industry in India. Several problems uncertain stripping ratio, dilution of coal quality, inefficient drilling and blasting and falling of HEMM are generally associated with this method, and the method becomes less efficient. In case, the coal is of low incubation period and/or fire exists in the developed workings of the coal seam(s), the problems are further aggravated. To reduce some of these problems and improve the safety of operation, the system of integrated blasting of benches in coal seam(s), parting of contiguas seams and the last overburden bench has been experimented and adopted in some of Indian surface coal mines (Wani OCP of WCL, Gautam Khani OCP of SCCL) extracting developed coal seams. New Technology Blasting is the predominant method of rock breakage in hard rock mines. A lot of improvement has taken place in recent years in the type of explosives and the blasting accessories that are used in surface mines. Most of the present-day surface mines use site mixed emulsion explosives with the help of pump trucks with bulk loading facility. The uses of nonelectric initiation systems are also becoming popular. The electronic delay detonators have been developed recently and its first trial in an Indian surface mine was carried out in 2004. These detonators permit high accuracy in delay timing, large number of delays within the range of 0 to 15000 milliseconds and use of centralized networked blasting (Banerjee, 2006). Surveying is an important operation in surface mines for slope monitoring, equipment positioning and preparation of mine plans including that of dumps apart from day-to-day jobs of measurement of faces, highwall

benches and dumps. With the increase in mine size and mine depth, it assumes a greater importance. For the surveying operations, the Smart Stations are gradually becoming popular and replacing Total Stations. The Smart Stations provide the facilities of both the GPS and Total Station. Monitoring of slopes (highwall and dump) is very important to assess the slope stability (or instability) condition in surface mines. The slope monitoring is important from the points of view of maintaining a safe working condition for both men and machine, to provide advance and accurate information about any impending slope failure and to provide such information that the failure mechanism may be understood and the appropriate remedial or mitigating measures may be adopted. The various slope monitoring techniques that are available may be classified into two main categories observational techniques and instrumentation techniques. The observation techniques include terrestrial surveying, EDM and automatic surveillance and surveying with GPS. The instrumentation techniques include use of movement indicators, convergence meters, strain meters, joint meters, extensometers, inclinometers, deflectometers, etc. (Mohan, Mishra and Sen, 2005). However, the most effective slope monitoring system is through microseismic applications. In this system, network of geophones is used to detect the enhanced micro-seismic activities that may take place in the event of the slope becomes stressed. This is a continuous monitoring system and can provide both the visible and audible alarm system. SURFACE MINE Definition A surface mine is a mine in which no part of its workings extends below the super adjacent ground. Types Surface mines may be classified into different types Open-pit mines, Area (modified open-pit) mines, Strip mines, Contour mines and Mountain top removal (full or partial) mines. Open-pit and area mines are associated with extraction of thick deposits. These justify mining of deeper overburden/cover rock. They are typically multiple bench type operations with special consideration required for the vertical lift requirements of the haulage system. Strip mines are associated with extraction of flat (dip 1 in 20) bedded deposits (seams) commonly under shallow cover. The seam/seams is/are extracted in number of long strips of predetermined width after getting released by the removal of the overburden/cover rock. The strips are generally laid along the strike direction. Single or multiple seams may be extracted by this method. Direct overburden disposal techniques are utilized as much as possible.

Contour and mountain top removal mining permit the extraction of deposits in very hilly or mountainous terrain. Benching and direct disposal techniques are used individually or in combination for overburden removal and replacement. Contour mining permits the extraction of bedded deposits, and mountain top removal mining is generally used for extraction of massive or cap type deposits (Martin et. al., 1982). MERITS AND DEMERITS OF SURFACE MINING Surface mining methods offer a number of advantages over underground mining methods. Most important of them are
Higher production Greater safety and better Working environment No support problem No limitation on head room Possibility of mechanization Higher recovery Low grade ore can extracted profitably also be high degree of Higher productivity (output) No/very less ventilation problem No roof problem Lighting/illumination problem is less Less limitation on the size and weight of equipment Less cost of production Better grade control Less gestation period Lower specific investment, (i.e. lower capital cost per tonne per annum production) After-mining land-use potential may be increased by proper reclamation

Higher flexibility of operation Greater concentration of all operations and simplified management of men and machines

Surface mining methods also have some disadvantages in comparison to underground mining methods. The most prominent ones are
Workings are exposed to open weather Problems of maintaining slopes and roads during rainy season Handling of large quantity of unproductive material (overburden/waste rock) Problems of ground vibration and air vibration (noise) due to blasting A large land area is affected Adverse effects on ecology and environment land, water and air pollution Emplacement of large quantity of overburden/waste material in spoil piles/waste dumps/overburden dumps Maintenance of mechanical dumps/overburden dumps and environmental safety of the waste

Monitoring of waste dumps/overburden dumps and their stabilization in case of occurrence of any sort of instability Capital intensive

 High reclamation/closing cost