The coal mining industry has long been a vital and fundamental sector that has led to the growth and stability of India’s economy. To continue that tradition and meet the high demand for energy, the country has set out on a path of rapid growth in the sector.
According to India’s Press Information Bureau, the country’s coal sector has seen impressive growth since the end of the nationalization period. State-owned Coal India Limited has grown to become the single largest coal producer in the world, and has continually implemented new technological advancements to its mining operations to optimize its procedures.
Such developments include the use of opencast mining equipment, new mining concepts, satellite surveillance and awareness of the quality of coal produced. The company has sought out and adopted mining best practices that have positively affected its bottom line.
The nation’s Ministry of Coal stated it has put innovation to optimize the available coal resources as its top priority in its strategy to further develop the sector. This includes opening massive new underground and opencast projects in potentially lucrative coalfields. India is looking to deploy a new push to use clean fuel technologies and other modern techniques such as GPS and remote sensing in order to promote effective resource management. To remain competitive against global volatility in coal prices, the modern mining methods will be used to reduce mining costs and increase productivity, the news source stated.
In 2010-2011, India produced 533.07 million metric tons of coal, with roughly 81 percent, or 431.32 million metric tons, supplied by Coal India. Overall labor productivity within the mining industry has grown tremendously in recent decades, with the country’s Output per Manshift (OMS) growing from 0.58 metric tons in 1974-1975 to 4.73 tons in 2010-2011.
However, while opencast mining has seen major advancements, underground mining has remained sluggish for the past five years, with an OMS hovering in the range of 0.70-0.77. This suggests underground mining productivity must receive the same technological advancements that were introduced into other mining sectors, and utilize the country’s ability to innovate mining techniques that suit India’s specific geo-mining conditions, the news source stated.
The magnitude of India’s coal mining sector is evident in its recent bid to help transform nearby Afghanistan from a war-torn nation to an international mining powerhouse, the Indian Express reports.
India is looking into the the country’s huge mineral resource base, which includes untouched coal reserves. Indian companies have already invested nearly $2 billion in various mining projects around Afghanistan, which include improvements to power distribution, roads and water supply to streamline coal production.
Afghanistan says it has roughly $2.5 trillion of untapped resources, which in addition to coal, include large copper mines and rich quality iron ore reserves in several parts of the country.
According to the Press International Bureau, productivity improvement will likely even trickle down to smaller mines that have joined together to form larger-capacity projects and elongate the expected life of certain mines. Smaller mines are developing programs to better perform uninterruptedly, as the introduction of large equipment in massive open-cast mines have shown that obstruction can greatly reduce productivity.
The media outlet stated sophisticated new training and skills development programs, in addition to new technology, are also considered to be the best ways to improve production, productivity and in turn increase mining profits.
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