International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

I
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

II
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

FOREWORD

It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to the 2nd International Conference

on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019) at Singrauli, Madhya
Pradesh, India. The ICOMS 2019 is the second annual conference hosted by North-
ern Coalfields Limited, in association with its knowledge partner, Indian Institute of
Technology (BHU), Varanasi.
ICOMS 2019 is aimed at providing the mining industry, academics, researchers and
engineers from all over the world, a technological forum of sharing the knowledge
and expertise in the field of opencast mining. We have received overwhelming re-
sponse from all across them, which is reflected in messages and technical papers
compiled in this souvenir. I take this opportunity to thank all of them. I trust that
the papers compiled here will furnish an excellent reference book.
The ICOMS 2019 is organized in parallel with the exhibition by equipment man-
ufacturers, suppliers and service providers. I am thankful to them for their very
enthusiastic participation.
Once again, welcome to ICOMS 2019. I look forward for meaningful exchange of
ideas benefitting all across the industry, academics and research. Please enjoy your
stay in Singrauli under hospitality of Northern Coalfields Limited.
I hope the ICOMS 2019 will bring you an unforgettable experience of knowledge
sharing which will be an impetus to stimulate further study, research and adoption
of best practices in the area of opencast mining.
Happy ICOMS to all of you.

Satish Jha
Convener, ICOMS-2019

III
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

izYgkn tks'kh lalnh; dk;Z] dks;yk rFkk [kku ea=h

Hkkjr lkdkj
PRALHAD JOSHI ubZ fnYyh
MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS,
COAL AND MINES
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
NEW DELHI

MESSAGE
It is a matter of immense pleasure to note that Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing a
two day “ 2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining & Technology & Sustainability
(ICOMS-2019) in association with IIT (BHU) Varanasi and Springer Nature on 13th and 14th
December 2019 at Singrauli.

Coal is the major fossil fuel mined in this country and is the mainstay of our energy. For sus-
taining envisaged economic growth, coal has to play a critical role in fulfilling the energy re-
quirements of the country. For making coal production sustainable with the projected growth,
it is important to adopt the best international practices and improve operations through total
cost value chain.

With much happening in the sector, Conferences and Exhibitions provides a good platform for
the industry to meet and see about the latest developments in the sector.

I wish all the organizers and delegates the best of luck, and the conference a great.

Pralhad Joshi

Office : Room No. 15, Parliament House, New Delhi-110001, Tel : 011-23017780, 23017798, 23018729, Fax : 011-23792341
Office : Room No. 504, C Wing, 5th Floor, Shastri Bhawan, Tel : 23070522, 23070524, Fax : 23070529
Residence : 5, G.R.G. Road, New Delhi-110001, Tel : 011-23094650, 23093497
H. No. 122-D, 'Kamitartha' Mayuri Estate, Keshwapur, Hubli-580023 (Karnataka)
Tel. No. : 0836-2251055, 2258955 E-mail : pralhadvjoshi@gmail.com

IV
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

vfuy dqekj >k dksy bf.M;k fyfeVsM

v/;{k&lg&izcU/k funs'kd COAL INDIA LIMITED
(A Maharatna Company)
A Govt. of India Enterprise
Anil Kumar Jha "COAL BHAWAN"
Chairman Cum Managing Director Premises No. 04, MAR, Plot No. AF-III
Action Area=1A, New Town, Rajarhat
Kolkata-700 156

MESSAGE
We are living in an age of fast changing technology advancements aimed at efficiency in oper-
ations, increased productivity, grater safety and lowered costs, which makes it imperative for
any organization to adapt to these developmental strides. Unless we latch on to the new and
improved existing technologies, we shall be exposing ourselves to the danger of stagnation.

Indian coal mining is predominantly opencast based due to favorable economics, high quantity
yield, safety, higher productivity and lower gestation period. Mechanization of Opencast mines
in Coal India is comparable with the best in the world. CIL is leveraging technology to improve
efficiency in OC mines in a big way and coal companies continue to embrace and practice
newer technologies. Technology, be it any, especially when its add value to business processes
should be adopted without reservation. Importantly, we should align our operations with tech-
nologies suiting to geo-mining conditions. And, I am glad we are doing that.

Sustainable development can be conceptually broken into three constituent parts-environmen-

tal, economic and social sustainability. Unless these three are in perfect unison there cannot
be an all-around growth. On this front, Coal India has established measurable metrics to track
its progress and achieving targets.

I applaud Northern Coalfields Limited for organizing two-day “International Conference on OC

Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOM-2019)” on 13-14 December 2019 at Singrauli. With
the participation of Engineers, Academicians, Researchers and other stakeholders, I am sure
the Conference will be enlivening and enlightening. The lessons and experiences drawn from
the Conference should be put into practice for brighter and successful future of coal mining
industry.

I offer my Best Wishes for the success of the conference.

Anil Kumar Jha

V
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

BEML LIMITED
CIN:L35202KA1964GOI001530
Government of India, Ministry of Defence
A Miniratna Category-1 Company

MESSAGE
It is a heartening to note that, Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) is organizing a two-day
“2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019) in asso-
ciation with IIT (BHU), Varanasi and Springer Nature Journal on 13th and 14th December
2019 at Singrauli (M.P.) for second consecutive year.
Mining is an economic activity and has been the prime source of providing mineral resourc-
es to various industrial sectors. Innovation in technologies and skill up gradation is essen-
tial for optimal production of mineral resources in the country. Indian Mining industry plays
a pivotal role in the progress of country’s infrastructure and economy.
Coal industry is open with opportunities and wide possibilities with the rise in requirement
of energy. The growth in the demand of higher production of coal will ultimately lead to
the requirement of latest innovation and practices, higher capacity mining equipments.
I trust that this event shall deliberate on emerging technologies and global development in
the mining sector. It is also a great opportunity for the participants to learn from the best
practices being shared.
It is a matter of pride for NCL to organize this type of event and wish this International
Conference and Exhibition a grand success.

D K Hota
Chairman & Managing Director
Beml Limited

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

larks"k 'kekZ fgUnqLrku dkWij fyfeVsM

v/;{k ,oa izca/k funs'kd HINDUSTAN COPPER LIMITED
SANTOSH SHARMA ¼Hkkjr ljdkj dk miØe½
Chairman and Managing Director (A GOVT. OF INDIA ENTERPRISE)
rkez Hkou@TAMRA BHAVAN
1. vk'kqrks"k pkS/kjh ,osU;w]
1. ASHUTOSH CHOWDHURY AVENUE
dksydkrk@KOLKATA - 700 019
nwjHkk"k@Phone : (033) 2283-2725/2281-6222
QSDl@Fax : (033) 2283-2862
bZ esy@E-mail : santoshsharma@hindustancopper.com
CIN : No. L27201WB1967GO1028825

MESSAGE
I am pleased to offer my good wishes and congratulations to Northern Coalfields Limited for
organizing a two-day “2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustain-
ability (ICOMS-2019)” in association with IIT (BHU), Varanasi and Springer Nature Journal on
13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli for second continuous year.

Mining, as an activity, is a challenging operation. Irrespective of the product of mine, mining

requires continuous adoption and application of systemic improvements to remain competitive
in increasingly globalised world. The economic reforms and changes in the global economy in
the recent past have propelled the Indian mining industry into a new competitive environment.
In this environment of competition, the quality and cost effectiveness of operation would be
the key indicators.

I strongly believe that this conference will provide tools and knowledge to overcome significant
problems appearing in the mining industry and society by identifying innovative ideas and tech-
nologies introduced by the participants.

I wish NCL best in its endeavor of building forum for exchange of new ideas and shared knowl-
edge.

Santosh Sharma

VII
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

DeeÛeeÙe& Øeceeso kegâceej pewve

efveosMekeâ
Prof. Pramod Kumar Jain
Director

MESSAGE
It is a matter of pleasure that, Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing a two-day “ 2nd
International Conference on Opencast Mining & Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019)
on 13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli in association with IIT (BHU), Varanasi, for
second consecutive year.
Worldwide coal is the predominant source of energy, hydroelectric, nuclear, solar, wind and
other renewable sources. While tapping different sources of energy it is also necessary to
adopt sustainable mining technologies and develop appropriate strategies to mitigate the
industrial pollution and global warming. In Indian scenario, dependence on coal as prime
source of energy shall continue for the next few decades. The demand for coal is rising and
it has been imperative that we meet the coal production target for our country to meet its
targeted growth rate. To achieve this goal, we have to implement the latest technologies,
modern labour practices and strategies, streamline our policies and practices. Available
resources have to be exploited in a scientific manner to achieve prosperity.
Technologies like artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, data science, automation, clean
coal technologies etc. will play vital role in shaping the future of mining industry. In such a
scenario, organizing such a conference is of paramount importance as it will create a plat-
form for the industrials, professional researcher and students to share and express their
views on Innovative and Advanced Technologies in the mining sectors.
I take this opportunity to wish event a great success.
Pramod Kumar Jain

VIII
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

xksiky flag lsUVªy dksyQhYM~l fyfeVsM

v/;{k&lg&izca/k funs'kd ,d feuhjRu dEiuh
¼Hkkjr ljdkj dk ,d miØe½
GOPAL SINGH njHkaxk gkml] jk¡ph 834 029
Chairman-cum-Managing Director CENTRAL COALFIELDS LIMITED
A Miniratna Company
(Govt. of India Undertaking)
DARBHANGA HOUSE, RANCHI 834 029
Qksu@Phone : (dk;kZ- Off.) 2360001, 2360002
QSDl@Fax : 651-2360003
bZ&esy@E-mail : cmd@cclgov.in & cmd_sectt@yahoo.com

MESSAGE
I am immensely happy to note that, Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing an international
Conference on Opencast Mining & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019) in association with IIT (BHU),
Varanasi and Springer Nature Journal on 13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli for second
consecutive year.

It is very satisfying to know that the company has not only clearly chalked out the upcoming
challenges posed in front of them but is also reaching out to the world for technical and inno-
vative solutions.

With proactive and ahead of the time endeavors like ICOMS-2019, I hope team NCL will main-
tain its growth trajectory in the years to come. I wish NCL best in its endeavor of building forum
for exchange of new ideas and shared knowledge.

My Best wishes for the successful organization of this International Conference and Exhibition.

Gopal Singh

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

jktho vkj- feJ Jesmšve& keâesueHeâeru[dme efueefcešs[

v/;{k&lg&izcU/k funs'kd (Yeejle mejkeâej keâe Skeâ efceveer jlve - ßesCeer ~ Ghe›eâce)
WESTERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
(A Miniratna - Cat. │Government of India Undertaking)
Rajiv R. Mishra keâesue Fmšsš, efmeefJeue ueeF&vme, veeiehegj-440001
Chairman Cum Managing Director Coal Estate, Civil Lines, Nagpur - 440001
(keâe /O) : 2510315, 2510440
(efve /R) : 2510314
email : cmd.wcl@coalindia.in
website : http//westerncoal.gov.in

MESSAGE
It give me immense pleasure to note that keeping the tradition from the last year, North-
ern Coalfields Limited, is organizing a two-day “2nd International Conference on Opencast
Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019)” in association with IIT (BHU), Varanasi
and Springer Nature Journal on 13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli.
With the increase in the demand of coal, it is important to focus on sustainable coal pro-
duction and to adopt the best international practices, bridging the existing obstructions
through improved knowledge and its convergence into workable knowledge. The theme of
the conference offers plethora of opportunities to the stake holders including practicing
engineers, machinery manufacturers, planners, academicians, Scientists to enrich them-
selves with exchange of innovative developments.
I sincerely covey my best wishes for a grand success of this International Conference and
Exhibition.

Rajiv R. Mishra

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

'ks[kj lju mesvš^ue ceeF&ve hueeefvebie SC[ ef[peeFve FvmešerÛÙetš efueefcešs[

v/;{k&lg&izcU/k funs'kd (kesâeue FefC[Ùee efueefcešs[ keâer Deveg<ebieer/Yeejle mejkeâej keâe Skeâ ueeskeâ Ghe›eâce)
ieesvoJeevee huesme, keâeBkesâ jes[, jeBÛeer-834031, PeejKeb[ (Yeejle)
Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited
Shekhar Saran
(A Subsidiary of Coal India Limited / Govt. of India Public Sector Undertaking)
Chairman-Cum-Managing Director
Gondwana Place, Kanke Road, Ranchi- 834 031, Jharkhand (INDIA)
Corporate Identity Number (CIN) : U14292JH1975GOI001223

MESSAGE
It give me great pleasure to learn that Northern Coalfields Limited, for second year in a row, is
organizing a two-day “International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainabil-
ity (ICOMS-2019)” on 13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli.

World over, mining industry has been witnessing technological advancement which has helped
not only to increase mineral production but also its optimum utilization. The Indian Mining
Industry is a significant contributor to the economic growth of the country and coal is the main
fuel for power generation. As the majority of the production comes from the Opencast mines,
it becomes necessary to give due importance to the latest technological advancements in
opencast technology for improving the productivity on a sustainable basis..

I hope this mega event will help in crating awareness and showcase the latest technologies and
developments which have taken place in the mining sector and also in exchange of knowledge
among the researchers, academicians, engineers etc., which will surely contribute towards the
betterment of the coal industry.

I wish this International Conference and Exhibition a grand Success.

Shekhar Saran

Heâesve vecyej / Phone No. : +91 651 2230001 & 2230002

Hewâkeäme vecyej / Fax No. : +91 651 2230003 & 2231447
Jesye meeF&š / Website Address : www.cmpdi.co.in F& cesue : cmd@cmpdi.co.in

XI
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

izHkkr dqekj flUgk vee@o&ve& keâesueHeâeru[dme efueefcešs[

v/;{k&lg&izcU/k funs'kd ¼,d feuh jRu dEiuh½
iks- vkW- ,oa ftyk&flfaxjkSyh ¼e-iz-½ fiu & 486889
Prabhat Kumar Sinha NORTHERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
Chairman Cum Managing Director (A Mini Ratna Enterprise)
P.O. & Distt. Singrauli (MP), Pin - 486 889
Phone: 07805-266621/266573 (Off), 266459 (Fax)
E-mail : cmd.ncl.cil@coalfields.in, Website : www.nclcil.in
CIN No. - U10102MP1985G0I003160

MESSAGE
It is a matter of great pride and honour that Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing its
2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2018) on
13th-14th December, 2019 in association with IIT (BHU), Varanasi and Springer Nature Journal
at Singrauli.

ICOMS-2018 was a grand success where around 600 delegates from different corners of the
globe participated in this International Conference and Exhibition. The institutionalized event
has been envisaged as a catelyst for the development of Mining, Mineral Metal and allied
industries in and around Singrauli in particulars and India in general. From this year it is our
endeavor to further strengthen the Industry-Institute Interface and for this we have introduced
special Awards in from of ‘Budding Innovators Award’ and ‘Young Scientist Award’ in this year
of the ICOMS-2019.

Coal plays a vital role in meeting global energy needs and is critical to infrastructure develop-
ment. Increase in domestic coal production has been marked as the main priority for attaining
the increasing energy needs of the country. Opencast mining contributes over 90% of domestic
coal production and this can be sustained and further increased only if socially and environ-
mentally acceptable methods are adopted with pace. I am sure that the ICOMS-2019 will get
one and all onboard to script and paint a new history of learning and execution in opencast
mining.

The success of the ICOMS-2019 will certainly encourage to introduce and implement many
more innovative initiatives in the coming years. I sincerely extend my Best Wishes for a Grand
Success of this International Conference and Exhibition.

Prabhat Kumar Sinha

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

fou; n;ky COAL INDIA LIMITED

(A Govt. of India Enterprise)
funs'kd ¼rduhdh½ Premises No. 04, MAR, Plot No. AF-III
BINAY DAYAL Action Area=1A, New Town,
Director (Tchnical) Rajarhat Kolkata-700 156

MESSAGE
I am pleased to learn that, Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing a two-day “International
Conference on Opencast Mining & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019)” in association with IIT (BHU),
Varanasi and Springer Nature on 13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli for second consec-
utive year.

The topic chosen for this Seminar is relevant in the present context. In a developing economy
like India, volume of mineral extraction and assurance of quality are important, which con-
tributes substantially to the GDP. Coal is the driving force behind the phenomenal growth that
our country has achieved over the years. The present trend in coal production in the country is
more inclined towards open cast mining. The environmental concerns on account of opencast
mining brings new challenges to retain the flora and fauna apart from the quality of air and
water within the acceptable norms.

I am confident that the Seminar would come up with useful solution for the coal industry which
in turn will benefit the nation.

I take this opportunity to wish the Conference a great Success.

BINAY DAYAL

XIII
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

izse lkxj feJk F&mšve& keâesueHeâeru[dme efueefcešs[

v/;{k&lg&izcU/k funs'kd EASTERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
(keâesue Fbef[Ùee efueefcešs[ keâer Deveg<ebieer)
(A Subsidiary of Coal India Limited)
Prem Sagar Mishra meebkeâleesefÌ[Ùee/ Sanctoria, hees.- ef[mesjieÌ{/ PO - Dishergarh
Chairman/Managing Director efpeuee/Dist.- heef§ece yeo&Jeeve (he. yeb.)/ Paschim Burdwan (W.B.)
efheve/ PIN 713333- otjYee<e/ Ph: 0341-2520545,
Hewâkeäme/ Fax 0341-2523574,
meerDeeF&Sve/ CIN-U10101WB1975GO1030295
F&cesue/email : cmd.ecl.cil@coalindia.in
JesyemeeFš/Website : easterncoal.gov.in.

MESSAGE
It gives me immense pleasure to note that Northern Coalfields Limited is organize “2nd
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019)” in
association with IIT (BHU) Varanasi and Springer Nature Journal on 13th and 14th Decem-
ber, 2019 Singrauli.
Mining is a challenging operation which requires continuous adoption and application of sys-
temic improvements to remain competitive and keep it sustainable. I hope the conference
will provide forum for exchange of new ideas and knowledge among mining professionals
across the globe, which in turn will benefit the mining industry.
I wish the “2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
(ICOMS-2019) a grand success. I also congratulate team NCL for the initiative taken to or-
ganize such an event.

Prem Sagar Mishra

XIV
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

,- ih- i.Mk meeTLe F&mšve& keâesueHeâeru[dme efueefcešs[

v/;{k&lg&izcU/k funs'kd SOUTH EASTERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
(A MINIRATNA PSU)
P.O. : S.E.C.L, Seepat Road, Bilaspur-495 006 (C.G.)
A. P. PANDA Phone : (07752) 246301/ 246302 (O)
Chairman Cum Managing Director Fax : (07752) 246450
E-mail : cmd.secl.cil@coalindia.in

MESSAGE
It is a mater of great pleasure that ‘Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL)’ is going to organize the
2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019) in
association with IIT (BHU) at NCL, Singrauli on 13-14 December, 2019 & a Souvenir is also being
released on this occasion to make the event memorable.

In India, presently about 94% of the coal is produced by Opencast Method. Opencast Mining
has so far been proved very economical, efficient and safe method of mining for coal lying at
shallow depth. But in last few years, due to environmental & societal reasons all over the world,
Opencast Mining is becoming increasingly difficult. Further, increase in coal demand in India
necessitates opencast mining of deep seated coal deposits, which has got its own limitations,
like dearth of OB dumping space, stability problem of high benches, increase in haul distance &
coast of transportation, requirement of extra land and various other environmental & societal
sustainability issues, which need to be addressed properly.

Hence, the Conference on Opencast Mining will be proved very much fruitful as it will provide
an excellent platform for practicing engineer, academicians, researchers and other stake
holders to share their experience & exchange views on recent developments in this field, which
would certainly help in addressing the present & the future challenges of the opencast mining.

I convey my best wishes to the organizers & participants and wish the event a grand success.

A. P. Panda

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Bhola Nath Shulka

Chairman-Cum-Managing Director
egkunh dksyQhYM~l fyfeVsM
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
(A Subsidiary of Coal India Limited)
A Mini Ratna Company

MESSAGE
I am delighted to learn that Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing a two-day “International
Conference on Opencast Mining & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019) on 13th and 14th December 2019
at Singrauli for second year in a row. This shows the importance of the event to the mining
sector especially in open cast mining in India.

I hope that the deliberations in the conference will address the core issues of the open-cast
mining and allied activities in totality and come out with meaningful recommendations. I am
sure that the concurrent exhibitions will provide a composite display of the Mining and Machin-
ery industry and its emerging technologies available in India.

I congratulate the organizers for the initiatives taken and wish this International Conference
and Exhibition all success.

B. N. SHUKLA

Corp. Office : Jagruti Vihar, Sambalpur-768020 Office : 0663-2542855, 2542366 (Fax), www.mahanadicoal.in

XVI
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

P. M. PRASAD
Chairman/Mg. Director
Hkkjr dksfdax dksy fyfeVsM
¼dksy bafM;k fyfeVsM dk ,d vax½
Bharat Coking Coal Ltd.
(A Subsidiary of Coal India Ltd)
dks;yk Hkou] dks;ykuxj
Koyla Bhawan/Koyla Nagar
Dhanbad-826 005

MESSAGE
It gives me immense pleasure to learn that Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli is going
to organize “2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
(ICOMS-2019)” in association with IIT (BHU) on 13-14 December, 2019 and is also going to pub-
lish a Souvenir on the ocassion.

At this juncture, it is a big challenge to fullfil the growing demand of coal. Now a days, contri-
bution from Opencast Mining to meet the demand of coal is substantially high. Organizing this
type of conference with participation from countries abroad, practicing Engineers, Academi-
cians, Researchers and other stake holders shall go a long way in understanding the intricacies
of the latest available technologies and its application in Indian conditions.

I extend my sincere wishes for grand success of the Conference and congratulate the organizers
for their endeavor.

P. M. Prasad

XVII
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

ukWnuZ dksyQhYM~l fyfeVsM NORTHERN COALFIELDS LIMITED

(A Mini Ratna Company)
,d feuh jRu dEiuh P.O. Singrauli Colliery
iks-vk&flaxjkSyh] Distt.-Singrauli (M.P.) - 486889
CIN - U10102MP 1985GOI003160
ftyk&flaxjkSyh 486889 e-iz- Tel : 07805-266615, Fax : 266652
nwjHkk"k % 07805 266615 Website : www.ncl.nic.in
QSDl % 07805 266652

MESSAGE
It is giving me immense pleasure to learn that Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), in asso-
ciation with Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi & Springer Nature, is organizing
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019) at
Singrauli during 13-14 December 2019.
I hope that ICOMS-2019 will definitely provide forum for all persons related to mining indus-
try to interact & exchange their knowledge in the field of Opencast Mining & Sustainability.
I wish a grand success for ICOMS-2019

Gunadhar Pandey

XVIII
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

,u-,u- Bkdqj vee@o&ve& keâesueHeâeru[dme efueefcešs[

funs'kd ¼foRr½ (Yeejle mejkeâej keâe Skeâ efceveerjlve Øeefle‰eve)
N.N. THAKUR efmebiejewueer 486889 (ce.Øe.)
Director (Finance/Personal) NORTHERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
(A Government of India Mini Ratna Enterprise)
P.O. & Distt. Singrauli -486 889
Phone: 07805-266613 (O), 266661
Mobile No. : 9406965001

MESSAGE
It is pleasant to note that Northern Coalfields Limited in association with IIT BHU and Springer
Nature is organizing a two-days “2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology
& Sustainability (ICOMS-2019)” on 13th and 14th December 2019 at Singrauli for the second
consecutive year.

Northern Coalfields Limited is the leading company in opencast mining where mega mines and
machineries are contributing round the clock to ensure energy security of the nation in a sus-
tainable manner, and is also known for its professional approach in technology absorption in
coal mining. The successful implementation of highly mechanized coal mining operations call
for equally high standard of equipment maintenance to ensure uninterrupted operation.

In this context, organizing International Conference on Opencast Mining & Sustainability is

quite timely and a welcome move to address various issues involved in absorption of the tech-
nologies. I am hopeful that this conference will address all the related issues and I wish the
International Conference a grand success.

Nag Nath Thakur

XIX
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

eukst dqekj izlkn vee@o&ve& keâesueHeâeru[dme efueefcešs[

funs'kd rduhdh ¼;ks- ,oa ifj;kstuk½ NORTHERN COALFIELDS LIMITED
(A Subsidiary of Coal India Ltd)
P.O. Singrauli Colliery
Manoj Kumar Prasad Distt.-Singrauli (M.P.) 486 889
Director (T/P&P)

MESSAGE
It is a matter of immense pleasure to know that Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing
a two days "2nd International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology and Sustainability
(ICOMS-2019)" on 13th and 14th December, 2019 at Singrauli for 2nd consecutive year.

With the objective of sustainability, it is very important to note that sustainable mining is not
only economical but also supports the existence of coal industry today. It is a high time for the
mining sector to be a conglomerate of interdisciplinary technology and ideas to walk on the
path of sustainable development.

I hope that the deliberation in this 2-days international conference will be very fruitful. Inter-
national experiences and best practices are expected to be shared at this event. Let us learn
from each other for safe and sustainable coal mining in the near future.

I congratulate NCL for organizing this event and extend my wishes for the grand success of 2nd
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019).

Manoj Kumar Prasad

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Yeejle mejkeâej
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
ßece SJeb jespeieej ceb$eeueÙe, MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT
Keeve megj#ee ceneefveosMeeueÙe Tel +91-326-2221000
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF MINES SAFETY Fax +91-326-2221027

MESSAGE
I am immensely happy to note that, Northern Coalfields Limited is organizing a two-days "2nd
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability (ICOMS-2019)" in as-
sociation with IIT (BHU), Varanasi and Springer Nature Journal on 13th and 14th December 2019
at Singrauli for second continuous year.

It is very satisfying to know that the company has not only clearly chalked out the upcoming
challenges posed in front of them but is also reaching out to the world for technical and inno-
vative solutions.

With proactive and ahead of the time endeavors like ICOMS-2019, I hope Team NCL will main-
tain its growth trajectory years after years. I wish NCL best in its endeavor of building forum
for exchange of new ideas and shared knowledge.

My Best wishes for the successful organization of this International Conference and Exhibition.

U. P. Singh
Director of Mines Safety
Varanasi Region, Varanasi

je°^ keâer mesJee ceW 100 Je<e&

A CENTURY COMMITTED TO THE SERVICE OF THE NATION

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index
Chapter 1 : Recent Practices and Innovations in Mining Industry
Sl. Institution/
Name of The Paper Page No.
No. Organisation
Monsoon Preparation in Big Opencast Mines NCL
1 1-11
Gunadhar Pandey, J P Dwivedi, R B Sindhur, Himanshu Wadhwani AMLOHRI
Croissance of Outsourcing in coal mining Industry- Issues , Challenges and its
2 requittal CCL 12-18
Dr. Manoj Kumar, Rajib Hui, K. S. Gaiwal,
Design Considerations for Waste Dumps in Indian Opencast Coal Mines: A Crit-
NIT
3 ical Appraisal 19-31
RAIPUR
Prashant K. Nayak, Pankaj K. Dewangan, A. K. Dash,
Energy Conservation in Conveyor Drive head stations with Variable Voltage and
NLC India Limited,
4 Variable Frequency (VVVF) Drives based on Dynamic Loading of conveyors 32-38
Neyveli
Lunavath Hemsingh , Nunavath Bansilal
To Extract Inter Mine Boundary (Imb) Of Pureva Top, Pureva Bottom & Turra
5 Seam By Highwall Continuous Miner (Hcm) – Exploring Possibility NCL DUDHICHUA 39-43
A K Tiwari,S K Jha,Bipin Kumar, Dr. Manoj Kumar
Factor of Safety (FoS) and Slope Design Acceptance – A Case Study
6 MEC Hyderabad 44-49
M.A. Saharan1, M.R. Saharan2,D.M. Surana3, S.K. Parihar, B.R. Bishnoi
A Performance Study on Four Stroke Diesel Engine using Methyl Esters and
NIT
7 Waste Cooking Oil 50-53
Surathkal
Balaji Rao K,B M Kumar,Ch. S N Murthy,
Innovative Slope stability Monitoring Instrument for O/C
8 WCL 54-56
S P Singh
Role of Earthing System to Improve Performance And Safety of Man and Ma-
NCL
9 chinery in a Mine 57-60
AMLOHRI
Anup Kumar Upadhyay
Khaitan Exim &
Truck And Shovel – Side By Side–Coordinated Training
10 Services Private 61-67
K PKhaitan, Graham Upton
Ltd.
Surface Coal Mine Haul Road Dust Suppression Using Hydrolysed Amylopectin
BHU/ IIT
11 grafted Polyacrylamide 68-71
BHU
Vivek Kumar Kashi,Penchala Abhisek,N. C. Karmakar ,S. Krishnamoorthi
Macro and micro level operational requirements for safe and productive drag-
12 line working in a large open cast mine NCL DUDHICHUA 72-79
Bipin Kumar,P C Singh,Kusumakar,
Issues of overburden handling and backfilling capacity with respect to various
CMPDI RI-VII, Bhu-
13 depth and stripping ratio in high depth opencast mining 80-87
baneswar
S.K. Bhar,P. Biswas ,G.K. Mishra ,
Implementation of Presplit drilling & blasting in Dragline bench to improved
Sasan Power Ltd,
14 the Safety and Productivity of dragline at M&MAE OCP 88-84
Singrauli, India
Anup Kumar Roy,Avijit Bhunia,Sanjay Sengar,

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

An Approach for Managing Infrastructure Projects in Mining for Value and Re-
IICM
15 silience through Risk Management 95-99
Ranchi
Dr. Shishir Dutta ,Susmit Roy
Challenges in Surface Mining- Some Technological Solutions
16 IIT(ISM), Dhanbad 100-104
V.M.S.R. Murthy
Optimisation of Capacity in an existing Open Cast Mine with operating
CMPDI RI-VI, SIN-
17 Draglines 105-112
GRAULI
Umakant Yadav,Ch. Shivraj Singh,Raj Kapoor Meena,Nikhil Narayana
Determination of the optimum strike length of a coal mining block area,
for a given stripping ratio, while addressing the issue of overburden dump
18 Nigahi Area 113-119
accommodation
Manish Kumar, Vimal Kumar Srivastava

Chapter 2 : Automation and Artificial Intelligence in Opencast Mining

An Improved Numerical Modelling Approach for Assessment of Instability in
19 Large Overburden Dump Structures IIT BHU 121-126
Gagan Gupta, Sanjay K Sharma, GSP Singh,
Learning Artificial Intelligence from Nature and its applications in Mining
20 MCL 127-132
B. N. Shukla, Dr. Shambu Jha
Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Coal Industry
21 Bina 133-137
Siddhartha Priya, Nandan Chaudhary
Use of AI, Machine Learning And Robots - In Mining
22 AKS SATNA 138-142
Pragya Shrivastava
Automation and AI in Mining Machinery and Switched Reluctance in Mining - Komatsu Mining
23 An Introduction Group, Joy Global 143-148
Dipankar Roy, Piyush Singh, Pvt. Ltd.
Use of Mine automation in achieving optimum payload for Dump Truck MT-4400
24 AC Sasan Power Ltd 149-151
Jayant Kumar Singh, Vikas Kumar Kesari
Material Behavior & Slope Stability Analysis by Numerical Modelling
25 AKS SATNA 152-158
Naman Soni, S Dasgupta, Dr GK Pradhan,

Chapter 3 : Environmental Sustainability

Troika of Social, Economic & Environmental Challenges/issues related to Forest
26 Clearance in opencast Coal mines CCL 160-167
Dr Manoj Kumar, Alok Kr Singh, Pravin Kr Singh, Pranaw Kr Sinha
Neutralisation of Acid mine Drainage using Fly ash and overburden
27 IIT BHU 168-173
Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Kumar Sharma , Brind Kumar,
Assessment of Ground water quality for drinking and irrigation around Singrauli
28 Coal fields region, Madhya Pradesh IIT BHU 174-179
Ashwini Kumar Somkar, Vijayendra Pratap Dheeraj, Aarif Jamal, C. S. Singh
Comparison of Mine Closure Cost Estimation Technique Globally
29 IIT BHU 180-182
Ashish Agrawal, Dr. Nawal Kishore
An evaluation of leachability from stabilised flyash- Mine Over burden - Lime
30 mixture soil under modified leaching conditions IIT BHU 183-189
Sunil Kumar, Sanjay Kumar Sharma , Brind Kumar,

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Assessment of Neutralizing Potential of Co-disposable Overburden Waste Rock

and Fly ash Mixer for the Development of Environmentally Sustainable AMD
31 IIT BHU 190-193
Remediation Process
Saba Shirin, Aarif Jamal,,
Performance Evaluation of PV Panel Under Different Dust Pollutants- An Exper-
Aditya Engineering
32 imental Approach 194-197
College
Abhishek Kumar Tripathi, Mangalpady Aruna,,
MCL/ NIT
Vetivar system - An appropriate tool for Dump slope stabilisation in Surface
ROURKELA/
33 mining 198-205
SAMBALPUR
D. K. Khanda, B. K. Pal, M. R. Mahananda
UNIVERSITY
Algae as a Water Purifier: A Green Technology for Improvement of Physico -
CSIR-National
Chemical Parameters and Excellent Removal of Heavy Metals from Semi-Treat-
34 Botanical Research 206-210
ed Sewage.
Institute
Atul Kumar Singh, Chitralekha Nag Dasgupta ,Sanjeeva Nayaka, Gayatri Singh
Effective Reclamation and Ecological Restoration Techniques – A case study of
Nigahi Project,NCL
35 Nigahi OCP, Northern Coalfields Limited 211-216
Manish Kumar,Keshav Sharma
Surface Miner in opencast mines of NCL
36 CMPDI HQ 217-218
A. K. Mishra, Rakesh Kumar
An Innovative Technique for Improving Waste Dump Stability VNIT
37 219
Murthreja, I. L., Agarwal, A. K. Nagpur (India)
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING
38 Sustainable development - SECL’s perspective. SECL 220-224
Manoj Kumar Prasad, K. Rajasekhar
IIT (Indian School
Technologies and Innovations for Sustainable Mining in India – An Overview
39 of Mines), 225-229
Sheo Shankar Rai a1*, Nalamasa Sukesh a, A Sairam Teja a
Dhanbad

Chapter 4 : Enhancement in Blasting Performance at Opencast Mines

Effect of Blast Fragmentation on Dumper Productivity - An experimental Over-
40 view NCL / NIT Raipur 231-237
Satish Jha, Dr. Manoj Pradhan, Dinkar Tiwari
Dag Blasting: A Novel Method of Explosive Consumption Reduction using Plas-
41 tic Waste NIT RAIPUR 238-242
Vineeth Balakrishnan, Dr. Manoj Pradhan, P Y Dhekne
Correlation Between Powder Factor and Rock Fragmentation For Jharia Coal
Field IIT ISM DHANBAD 243-247
42
Vishal Babu Guggari, Sohan Singh Rajpurohit, Shankar Kumar
Assessment of Blast-Induced Ground Vibration based on Peak Particle Velocity
43 and Corresponding frequency of an Opencast Coal Mine IIT BHU 248-252
Anand Kumar, Sanjay Kumar Sharma, C. S. Singh,

Evaluating Relation between Blasting Parameters and Mean Fragment Size

44 Distribution IIT BHU 253-257
Kamlesh Meena, Suresh Kumar Sharma,,

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Optimisation of Blast Design Parameters to Minimise Fragmentation Size and

45 Control Blast Induced Hazard by Soft Computing Method GEC, KOENJAR 258-262
Abinash Parida, Soumya Ranjan Mallick
Investigation into the effect of non-electric and electronic initiation systems on
46 blasting performance in surface coal mines IIT BHU 263-269
Ujjwal Kumar, Suresh Kumar Sharma,,
Investigations On Improving Dragline Productivity Through Re-Engineered Blast
47 Design IIT, Dhanbad 270-276
Nachiket V Bhagade and V.M.S.R. Murthy

Chapter 5 : Social Sustainability

CSR vis a vis SDGs and Coal producing companies of Jharkhand
48 CCL 278-284
Dr. Manoj Kumar, K. S. Gaiwal, Sanjiv Kumar, Sanjay Kumar
Psychosocial Hazards and Mental Health in Mining Industry
49 BHU/ IIT BHU 285-288
Madhurima Mukherjee, Suresh Kumar Sharma, Purnima Awasthi,
Role of CSR in Social Sustainability
50 NCL 289-292
Parul Yadav
Low back disability among mine workers: An overview
51 BHU/ IIT BHU 293-296
Vibha Yadava, Suresh Kumar Sharma, Purnima Awasthi

Chapter 6: Green Mining and Alternatives to Coal

A critical analysis for prospects of application of Solar & Wind Power for gen-
eration of renewable energy within NCL to become a lead example of Sustain-
52 NCL KAKRI 298-304
able Development
L. P. Godse, Mayank Singh, Arpit Kumar Nagar
The Performance Evaluation of Solar Energy System Based on the Environmen-
53 tal Parameters in Mines NIT Rourkela 305-308
Ganti Praful Kumar, H K Naik
GHG emmission factor - A way forward for green mining initiatives
54 CCL/NCL 309-313
Dr. Manoj Kumar,Sangeetha,K. S. Gaiwal,Rajesh Kumar Jha
A review of catalytic pyrolysis and torrefaction of biomass to enhance high-val-
ue chemicals in bio-oil and maximize high energy gases in non-condensable
55 IIT BHU 314-319
volatiles
Satyajit Shukla ,Dr. Jyoti Prasad Chakraborty
Waste-to-Energy (WTE) technology for proper disposal of municipal solid waste
53 (MSW) in the urban environment NCL HQ 320-324
Sabiya,Pradeep Magare,Sandeep Raj

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1

Monsoon Preparations in larger Opencast Coal
mines: A study based on Northern Coalfields Limited
Gunadhar Pandey
Director (Technical/Operations)
Northern Coalfields Limited Singrauli
dto.ncl@coalindia.in
R. B. Sindhur
Chief Manager, Amlohri Project
Northern Coalfields Limited Singrauli
rbsindhur@gmail.com
I. Monsoon in India
Monsoon is a familiar, though a little known climatic
phenomenon. Many attempts have been made to discover
the exact nature and causation of monsoon, but so far, no
single theory has been able to explain the monsoon fully.
During April and May when the sun shines vertically over
the Tropic of Cancer, the large landmass in the north of
Indian Ocean gets heated and causes the formation of
an intense low pressure zone in the northwestern part of
the subcontinent. Since the pressure in the Indian Ocean
in the south of the landmass is high as water gets heated
slowly, the low attracts the southeast trade winds across
the equator. These conditions help in the northward shift
in the position of Inter-tropical convergence zone. The
southwest monsoon as the continuation of southeast trades
and easterly jet streams after the withdrawal of westerly
jet streams is held responsible for the burst of monsoon in
India. The southwest monsoon sets in over the Kerala coast
by 1st June and moves swiftly to reach Mumbai and Kolkata
between 10th and 13th June. By mid-july, southwest
monsoon engulfs the entire subcontinent. (IMD, 2018)
Anxiety over delayed rains is nothing new. This anxiety
is like the rains themselves: a staple of Indian life. The
monsoon isn’t just the key climatic or agricultural event
in the Indian subcontinent — it’s the key economic event.
Its effects reach far beyond agricultural output, shaping
political dynamics on both the regional and national levels.
Agriculture accounts for 18 percent of India’s growth
domestic product (GDP) and employs around half of its
total workforce. The monsoon rains are the main source
of water for 55 percent of the country’s arable land. This
means the rains are crucial — not only for India’s farmers,
but for its economy as a whole.
But for a Mining Engineer at opencast mines, he sees
monsoon as hardship. The monsoon keeps him on toes-
2
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Jai Prakash Dwivedi
General Manager, Amlohri Project
Northern Coalfields Limited Singrauli
jpdwivedi66@gmail.com
Himanshu Wadhwani*
Assistant Manager, Amlohri Project
Northern Coalfields Limited Singrauli
himanshu.wadhwani@coalindia.in
maintaining stability of dumps, water management,
pumping out water, slippery haul roads, risk of drowning
of machines, disruption in power, flow of silt in adjoining
areas- villages, public wrath keeps him worried and over
worked for he has to maintain coal production levels. In
mines water has always been a source of danger and many
inundation have occurred due to heavy rainfall, change of
water course, constriction on water courses, in accurate
survey, incorrect mine plans, ineffective evacuation system,
geological disturbances, and water charged strata. NCL-
a company with difference for having all the mines with
opencast mines and also operating with high stripping
ratios (above 1:4). It not only moves mountains but also
create mountains (of 400 Mcum qty annually). 90% of its
produce goes to pit head power plants and the company is
responsible for 15% of nation’s coal production and 10%
power generation. Consistent Coal supply to power plants
is essential. The area has an average rainfall of 1200 mm, but
due to high stripping ratios vast open and excavated areas,
even a small quantity of rainfall disruption in production
is likely to happen. Effective steps ahead of monsoon and
during monsoon need to be taken. (Akala, 2018)
Fig. 1. Monsoon Onset Map of India
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

II. Effect of Monsoon Intra Seasonal
Variability on Opencast Mine Planning:
1. Drop in coal production: Pegged at 22% in Q2 in
planning process, may dip further to 3-4% below
also.
Fig. 2. Drop in Monthly Coal Production & Dispatches during
Monsoon Period. (Monthly reports to Cabinet and Company
reports, May 2019)
2. Deterioration in quality of coal: Due to flow of silt
to coal faces and increase in moisture content, the
quality is likely to dip to around 5-10%.
3. Increase in risk of stability of dumps: Very often
the hydro-static pressure inside the dumps increases
due to incessant rains, this in turn may unstable the
dumps which otherwise were stable pre-monsoon: A
list of incidences that happened in past is enclosed in
Table I.
4. Breach of retaining walls, gabion walls, flow of silt
in adjoining areas, blockage of railway tracks and
disruption to power supply. Fig pic in Annexures
5. Drowning of costly HEMMs.
6. Slippery haul roads leading to reduced tire life.
7. The more dangerous and out of control situations
arise is when dump silt flows into property not
belonging to mine owner, especially villages, houses
and agricultural land. This will incite public wrath
and huge compensation will be demanded from them.
Protection against these properties should be on top
priority. Atleast mine management should plan and
be ready to face torrential rains of the quantity double
than the highest rainfall. All drains should be wide
enough to course water to its proper destination.
8. The toe of dump if not maintained at safe distance
and if not protected by drainage and retaining walls,
the silt is likely to rush on haul-roads and disrupt
mine operationsFig. 2. Drop in Monthly Coal Production &
Dispatches during Monsoon Period. (Monthly reports to Cabinet
and Company reports, May 2019)

TABLE I. List of Incidents of Opencast Mines Due to Instability of Dumps (DGMS, 2019)

No of
Name of No of Persons
Year State Name of Mine Date of Accident Persons
Company Seriously Injured
Killed

2007 Jharkhand Chasnalla IISCO 21/08/2007 1 0

2008 Madhya Pradesh Jayant NCL 17/12/2008 5 0

2009 Maharastra Sasti WCL 4/6/2009 2 0

2010 Maharastra Umrer WCL 28/09/2010 1 1

2011 Jharkhand Chasnalla IISCO 9/3/2001 1 1

2011 West Bengal Dalurband ECL 14/06/2011 1 0

2013 Odisha Bharatpur MCL 21/04/2013 1 1

2013 Odisha Kulda MCL 10/8/2013 13 0

2014 Madhya Pradesh Dhanpuri SECL 1/6/2014 2 0

2016 Jharkhand Rajmahal ECL 29/12/2016 23 0

2019 Odisha Bharatpur MCL 23/06/2019 4 9

3
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

III. Understanding the Drainage system,
rivers, dams, nallahs of adjoining area
General topography of the coalfield shows plain country
to the South. East & West has a gentle slope towards
the Rihand river in south of the coalfield forming main
drainage of the area. Kachni river, Ballia nala, Bijul nala and
Tippa-Jharia nala are the important streams for drainage of
the coalfield. Kachni river drains a major part of the area
in the west, Ballia nala drains the eastern part, Bijul nala
drains the northern part and Tippa-Jharia nala drains the
north-eastern part.

Fig. 3. Drainage System of Singrauli Coalfields

Fig. 4. Considerations for Monsoon Preparation

4
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Year wise OB removal in Mcum in NCL

400
350
300
250
200
150 338 324 315319
100 186 203 178 182 202 196 209 213
142 133134 140
50 89 89 82 91 94 101 106 112112 123 134136138
0

Fig. 5. Year Wise OB Removal in MCuM in NCL

TABLE II Period-wise Remarks on Stability of Dumps

Period Average OBR/year Remarks

(M.Cum)
1990-91 to 2010-11 129 Compacted
2011-12 to 2014-15 205 Moderately compacted
2015-16 to 2016-17 320 Less Compacted
2017-18 to 2018-19 318 Fresh and Least compacted
Dumps which are least compacted are likely to flow in the galena or any other software may be used for assessing the
event of heavy rains, gullies, rain cuts are formed. To avoid FOS, but in no case dumps should be steeper than 28 ˚It
this, proper water management has to be made. Dumps takes nearly 25 years for complete consolidation- a report
have to be kept properly benched at 30m X 30m bench. A abstract is given in Fig.6

Fig. 6. Physical Properties of rehabilitated area of Amlohri OCP, NCL (ICFRE, 2018)
IV. Monsoon Preparatory Activities
The following steps are required to be taken to reduce the impact of heavy downpour during monsoon:
A. Activity Schedule: Scheduling of activities under monsoon action plan shall commence from the start of the

5

calendar year so that the execution of activities are
completed before the onset of first rainfall. It would
be appropriate to prepare a calendar program of all
the monsoon activities. A timeline should be followed
to keep the monsoon preparatory activities on track
as in Fig 7.
Fig. 7. Timeline for Monsoon Preparatory Activities
B. Mine Planning and Operations:
1. Monsoon Preparation Plan : Monsoon preparation
plan of the mine is required to consider :
a. An extensive study of the catchment area,
b. Expected position of dragline cut in both the sections,
c. Estimation of available sump capacity in and around
the mine,
d. Expected volume of OB dump and its extent
demarcated on plan,
e. Direction of water flow during rainfall, inside and
outside of mine,
f. Material properties of OB dump,
g. Position of siltation ponds with specifications along
the water flow route,
h. Stabilization of dump slopes before monsoon.
i. Position and details of garland drains and mine
drains.
Monsoon preparation plan shall include location and details
of all the drains with specifications, siltation ponds, hume
pipe and box culverts, stretch of gabion walls, alignment of
drains etc.
Calculation of catchment area and sump capacity shall
be considered on the basis of peak rainfall within a short
span of time and shall be vetted by CMPDIL and ISO.
Assessment of catchment area may consider 100% for solid
area and 60% for Dump/loose. Layout and size of garland
6
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
drain shall be such as to manage peak rainfall.
Monsoon action plan shall include mine developmental
activities considering the scale of mine extension and
volume of OB handling and activities required for dealing
the effect of rainfall in monsoon. (S. J. Sibal, 2016)
2. Sump Preparation:
a. Method of advance Sump preparation, wherever
feasible, in the successive cut shall be adopted.
This will enhance the sump capacity and safety of
installations.
b. Mine operation shall include preparation of sump
with pumping facility in Purewa bottom and Purewa
top floor, according to topographical suitability, in
order to avoid the diversion of total rain water to the
Turra seam sumps. Mine should be advanced in main
dip direction first prior to June so that sump could be
prepared in the dip most area.
c. Mine operational plan shall consider the scheduling
of coal faces in such a manner that coal production
by shovels and surface miner from dip side area of
Purewa bottom and Purewa top seam, during the
monsoon period is avoided and the same shall be
considered for sump preparation.
3. Dump Management :
a. Mine operation shall ensure proper benching of
OB dumps. The operation shall also consider the
direction and gradient of table top of the dumps
in order to regulate the direction and flow of water
during the rains.
b. A Dump Management organization should be
established in the project which will be responsible
for design and maintenance of dumps so that proper
benching & slope is maintained, water flows along the
designed path, slope stabilization is done by technical
and biological reclamation.
c. Mine operation shall ensure that storage of top soil do
not add to the flow of silt during the rains. If possible,
table top of the dump shall be considered for topping
by second bench material, in order to restrict the silt
flow.
d. Stabilization of dump slopes, by benching, erection
of gabions, appropriate plantation and preparation of
water pathways in the dump slopes shall be considered
in the mine operational plan.
C. Plantation:
a. Plantation work should be taken up wherever dumps
have reached their ultimate height and this should be
well coordinated by Manager, planning department
and Environment, so as to avoid submergence of
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
plants later on.
b. Washed out plantation in OB dumps shall be
considered for replantation by appropriate technical
reclamation.
c. Different methods involving High performance
Flexible Growth medium for Erosion control or
reinforced geo composites shall be considered for
stabilization of dumps.
D. E&M related works:
1. Pumping system :
a. Sufficient no. of pump and motor assembly along with
Switches and starter panels shall be made available
before the onset of monsoon period, with a view to
counter any emergency situation.
b. It is also advisable that standby pump and motor
assembly shall be mounted on the pontoons and
placed near the sump area for dealing with emergency
circumstances.
c. Flexible pipes of matching dia and longer lengths
shall be fitted on the delivery side, for flexibility of
operation during sudden increase of water level.
d. High capacity diesel pumps shall be considered for
deployment in emergency condition.
2. Pipelines:
a. Fixed pipe lines near the main sump area shall be
elevated to appropriate level, so as to deal with sudden
increase water level.
b. Refurbishment/replacement of existing pipelines
shall be done before the onset of first rainfall.
c. Pipelines shall be set on the pedestal along the main
entry to the Turra seam.
4. Power Supply:
a. Alternate of power supply shall be made so as to
immediately resume power in case of emergency.
b. Power supply to panels and starters shall be done by
overhead lines erected at an higher altitude, so that it
is not affected b y water accumulation or silt.
c. It is also considered that standby starter panels and
switches of the pontoon pumps, if applicable, shall be
mounted on the pontoons, to avoid its submergence
/ damage during the heavy rains, which shall be used
in case of emergency.
d. To prevent the possibility of theft of conductors
and thereby stoppage of power, towers should be
established, if feasible, for provision of uninterrupted
power supply.
E. Civil related works:
1. Retaining Walls :
a. Existing retaining walls - their strengthening and
additional requirement should be identified, planned
and executed, irrespective of monsoon dates.
b. Existing RRM wall shall be replaced by RCC walls, as
per the requirement.
c. De-silting backside of existing retaining wall at
various locations are required to be completed on
time
2. Silt protection :
a. Identification of infrastructure at lower levels, close
to drains which might get damaged/ affected should
be identified and planned to either shift or raise levels
if possible or provide sufficient protection to guard
against silt/water.
b. Embanking by earthwork and side slope pitching
stone, is required on different slopes including the
dump slopes at vulnerable locations.
c. Extensive installation of Gabion wall shall be
considered for arresting of silt and stabilization of
slopes , and the work shall be undertaken throughout
the year.
3. RCC culverts & Hume pipes:
a. Requirement of RCC culverts shall be assessed on
the basis of experienced gained in the current year
monsoon and proposed under mine development
program.
b. Hume pipe culvert of 1800mm diameter, shall be
considered for deployment. (Shivir, 2016)
V. Effects of heavy rains in larger
opencast mines
Fig. 8. Silt flow from dumps
7
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Fig. 10 Rise of water level in coal face

Fig. 9. Damaged RRM Wall

Fig. 11. Heavy Rain cuts

Fig. 9. Damage to Railway track

VI. How Much Rain We Can Withstand

TABLE III. Year Wise Rainfall in Jayant & Nigahi OCP (S. J. Sibal, 2016)

Jayant OCP Nigahi OCP

in a span of 8 days in a span of 8 days

Year Rainfall from Rainfall from
June-Sept June-Sept
(mm) Max Rainfall (mm) Max Rainfall
Period Period
(mm) (mm)

2011 1912 393 (5-12 Aug) 1741 395 (5-12 Aug)

2012 1315 232 (28 Jul-4 Aug) 1206 225 (28 Jul-4 Aug)

2013 1204 161 (21-28 Jul) 971 156 (25 Jun-2 Jul)

2014 980 201 (1-8 Sep) 869 230 (3-10 Aug)

2015 755 259 (6-13 July) 705 243 (6-13 July)

2016 1963 505 (11-18 Aug) 1901 441 (11-18 Aug)

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

From Year 2011-15, there was not any major damage to to mine. It is more about short span of heavy rainfall that
mine infrastructure as the average rainfall was around 250 cause devastation. Suppose we have rain of 100 mm on a
mm in a span of 8 days. Whereas in Year 2016, with the day and next day it continues to rain another 100 mm then
maximum rainfall, there was a huge infrastructural damage the silt start flowing and damages can happen.

VII. The Catchment Area Calculator and Requirement of sump area and pumps

VIII. An Example of Calculation of sump make up of water (max) and sump area to be provided
TABLE IV - Calculation of Makeup Water (Monsoon Preperation Plan, 2018-19)

Max
Catchment area Coeff of Make up of
Solid Draining in Rainfall@20
in Sqkm. precipitation water in Cum
years in mm
Above Turra( Purewa area ) 2.37 100% 100% 474000
In Turra Area 3.4 100% 100% 680000
200
Dump West 2.15 22% 60% 56760
East 1.28 57% 60% 87552
Total make up of water in the vent of 200 mm rainfall in a day 1298312

Fig. 12. Calculation of Catchment Area, Amlohri OCP, NCL

9
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

It may not be feasible in a large opencast mines to have RCC drain of inner dimension 3.5m x 2.5m will be capable
a single large sump at its present deepest portion of to handle water of catchment area 2 to 3 sq km. A minimum
excavation. Normally the main sump is located at the slope of drain should be 1 degree. If a slope of 2 degree
deepest portion of the present excavations (which is is provided, the water flow rate will be higher and it will
likely to remain throughout the current year. Once Coal cater the water handling requirement from much higher
excavation is done, depending upon the site situation the catchment area.
floor may be deepened to the extent possible (so that muck
is removed). Additional sumps in other areas depending Other Protection Measures:
upon the catchment area they are likely to cater should be 1. Gabion walls
made accordingly. In the above example. 3 Sumps – one 2. Garland drains
in purewa and two (east and west) sumps may be created. 3. Siltation ponds
If space permits stage pumping may be be also done, 4. Retaining walls
pumping from one sump to other sump at higher level,
thereby avoiding high pumps and also improving face 5. Culverts
pumping efficiency 6. Kutcha drains

Pumps and pumping: Depending upon the water effecting 7. Hume pipes
coal evacuation program, pumps need to be installed in 8. Geosynthetics, Geo bags
such a way that they can dewater in 3/7/15 days’ time (15 9. Jute bags
days where no coal production is likely to be affected). 10. HDPE pipes
Selection of head, capacity of pumps is also an important
11. Geomembrane Roll
criteria as we have to keep number of pipe ranges to
minimum. Spare pumps, alternate power arrangements 12. Coir
should be kept in readiness. In large opencast most suitable 13. Flexion wall designed by CIMFR
are pumps on pontoons, so that they can rise upto 8-10 m.

Fig. 13. Pontoon Boxes

For draining out water beyond mine area:
RCC drain of inner dimension 3m x 2m will be capable to
handle water of catchment area 1 to 2 sq km. A minimum
slope of drain should be 1 degree. If a slope of 2 degree
is provided, the water flow rate will be higher and it will
cater the water handling requirement from much higher Fig. 14. Design of Retaining wall (CIMFR, 2017)
catchment area.

10
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Fig. 15. Stages of Overburden Dump Management
IX. Conclusion
More than 95% of coal production in India comes from
opencast mines and more than 60% of this production
comes from larger opencast mines ranging from 10-40MT
annually. Coal production in the country usually slows
during the monsoon season. This can increase the problem
of fuel availability for the thermal power plants, unless
electricity demand slackens or renewable energy, especially
hydropower generation, steps up to the plate. Any drop in
coal production hampers generation of electricity from
Thermal power plants. Although these power plants have
been asked to keep a stock to operate plant for 21 days, but
often during monsoon these stocks get evacuated and a
hue and cry is seen, challenging the nation to go with less
electricity. Monsoon preparation hence become not only
important but a priority so that coal production from these
mines is regular.
The paper describes the intricacies of monsoon preparation
and hope in long way help the mine planners and mine
operators to gear up for monsoon well in advance. The
paper covers wide range of topics related to opencast
mine such as sequence of mining, catchment areas, sump
requirements, pump requirements, drains, retaining and
gabion walls and effects of monsoon if proper action is not
taken timely.
X. Acknowledgement
NCL faced abnormal rainfall during 2016. Concentrated
heavy rainfall for 8 days (11 to 18th August) was 437 mm
which was 15% more than the rainfall experienced in
any year earlier. (S. J. Sibal, 2016) Due to this very high
precipitation in short duration, all the 4 Mega Projects of
NCL suffered considerable loss in terms of production,
equipment and infrastructure due to huge inrush of
water and silt inside the mines. Various committees were
constituted with a view to prepare a roadmap for avoiding
repetition of such incidences in future. Shri Gunadhar
Pandey, Director (Tech./Operations), NCL was the
guiding force behind the proceedings of the committees
and also the driving force behind the implementation of
recommendations of the committees. Further in his able
leadership, NCL reached the benchmark 100 MT in FY
2018-19.
References
[1]. Akala, B. (2018). NCL A Company with difference. ICOMS .
[2]. CIMFR. (2017). Slope Stability Report. CIMFR.
[3]. DGMS. (2019). DGMS Accident Analysis.
[4]. ICFRE. (2018). Roadmap for Ecological restoration works in Coal
Mines of NCL. Dehradun: FRI.
[5]. IMD. (2018). Monsoon Report. IMD.
[6]. (2018-19). Monsoon Preperation Plan. NCL: Amlohri Project.
[7]. (May 2019). Monthly reports to Cabinet and Company reports.
[8]. S. J. Sibal, R. K. (2016). Committee Report on Monsoon Issues of
NCL Projects. NCL.
[9]. Shivir, C. (2016). Committee Report on Monsoon . NCL.
11

Croissance of Outsourcing in Coal Mining Industry-
Issues, Challenge and its Requital
Dr Manoj Kumar
Manager(M), E&F Deptt , CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
mkpatna@yahoo.co.in
K S Gaiwal
Chief Mgr (M), Dir (T/Oprns) Secretariat., CCL,
CIL Ranchi, India
Ksgaiwal1972@gmail.com
Abstract — Coal is the prime source of Fuel in India. Ap-
proximately 70% country’s energy need is fulfilled by Coal.
India is third largest coal producing country. The demand
of coal is increasing year by year which has necessitated
the public sector companies engaged in coal production to
look forward production from outsourcing patches, where-
in HEMMs are deployed by the contractors for enhancing
production. In this paper an analysis of the production share
from outsourcing patches of one of the coal producing compa-
ny from central Jharkhand reveals that share of production
from outsourcing patch has increased from 20.51% (2013-14)
to 66.56% in 2018-19. This coal producing company is eyeing
67.14% of its coal production from outsourcing patches in
2019-20. With increase in % share from outsourcing patch-
es various issues/challenges is likely to generate. This paper
aims to look into these issues in managing the complicacies
arising out of Contractual operation in opencast mines. In
this study 25 issues/challenges arises from the outsourcing
patches has been pinpointed and grouped into 7 heads viz,
Human Resource (HR), Socio-political, Environmental, Le-
gal, Technical Competencies, Financial viability, Demand of
fuel. This research paper stipulates ways to requite the chal-
lenges often faced by coal mine manages and provide tools to
mine managers in resolving the issues. Developing close and
harmonious relationship with local villagers/ Project affect-
ed persons (PAFs), tuning up the skill set of employees, es-
pecially in reference to Arbitration Act 2019 came into force
on August 9, 2019. Extensive training/ awareness programme
on CVC circulars on applicability of post tender negotiations,
applicability of Integrity Pact, Circular No. 01.04.14 on short-
comings of bid documents, provisions of contract manage-
ment manual etc. can contribute immensely to the growth of
the coal company. The coal mine managers have to focus on
Welfare of contractual workers and dispute resolution related
to them by suitably framing and implementing the Contract
Management Manual.
Keywords—Outsourcing, Arbitration, Dispute, issues, CVC
12
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Rajib Hui*
Chief Mgr (M), SOM, Piparwar Area, CCL, CIL
Bachra, India
rajib.hui@coalindia.in
Sanjiv Kumar
Chief Mgr (M), CMC Deptt., CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
poonamsanjiv@gmail.com
I. Introduction
Outsourcing is seen as one way of ensuring that organizations
or departments remain lean and contribute more value to
the organization at the same time describes outsourcing as
one effective way to meet the production demand of nation.
Outsourcing has been going on in the coal industry for a
number of years. It has since graduated from outsourcing
of peripheral activities like cleaning, catering and security
to strategic activities like drilling, maintenance, hauling
and even mining. But the outsourcing activities involves
contract work, its implementation and are full of challenges,
which needs regulated.
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on the 11 – 12
September, 1997, constituted a Committee to go into
the system of contracts prevalent in our Public Sector
Undertakings and came with a report - “Report of the
Committee of CVOs on the Contracting Systems in Public
Sector Undertakings”. The suggestions made therein
constitutes a strong framework for preventive vigilance in
the area of contracting which today seems to be vulnerable
to the manipulations of interested parties. The suggestions,
if followed, could make Contracting of Works, more
transparent process and this in itself should be a step in the
right direction.
II. Objective
Objective of this study is to pinpoint various issues faced
in outsourcing patches, grouping them and find the way to
resolve issues for flawless coal production.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
III. METHODOLOGY & STATUTORY
PROVISIONS
A. Methodology
The methodology of this study to achieve the objective
includes following step :
Step 1 – Collection of issues
Step 2 – Establishment of issues related to statutory
provisions.
Step 3 – Compilation and segregation of issues
Step 4 – Analysis and Grouping
Step 5 – Drawing Requital mechanism
Step 6 - Conclusion
B. Statutory Provisions
1) Arbitration Act 2019
Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act,
2019 introduces noteworthy original modifications
of its own to the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,
1996 (‘1996 Act’) while significantly tweaking
some of the formulations introduced by dint of
the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act,
2015.
2) CVC Circulars & guidelines
CVC are conceived to be the apex vigilance
institution, free of control from any executive
authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the
Central Government and advising various authorities
in Central Government organizations in planning,
executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilant
work . The CVC is empowered to inquire or cause
inquiries to be conducted into offences alleged to have
been committed under the Prevention of Corruption
Act, 1988 by certain categories of public servants of
the Central Government, corporations established by
or under any Central Act, Government Companies,
societies and local authorities owned or controlled
by Central Government. Categories of such public
servants.Various guidelines and circulars have been
issued by CVC.
3) Integrity Pact
Ensuring transparency, equity and competitiveness
in public procurement has been a major concern of
the Central Vigilance Commission and various steps
have been taken by it to bring this about. Leveraging
technology especially wider use of the web-sites for
disseminating information on tenders, tightly defining
the prequalification criteria and other terms and
conditions of the tender are some of the steps recently
taken at the instance of the Commission in order to
bring about greater transparency and competition in
the procurement/award of tender. Integrity Pact, a
vigilance tool has been found to be useful. Entering
into the Pact would be a preliminary qualification.
The Integrity Pact in respect of a particular contract
would be effective from the stage of invitation of
bids till the complete execution of the contract and
envisages a panel of Independent External Monitors
(IEMs) approved for the organization. The essential
ingredients of the Pact include:
• Promise on the part of the principal not to seek or
accept any benefit, which is not legally available;
• Principal to treat all bidders with equity and reason;
• Promise on the part of bidders not to offer any benefit
to the employees of the Principal not available legally;
• Bidders not to enter into any undisclosed agreement
or understanding with other bidders with respect
to prices, specifications, certifications, subsidiary
contracts, etc.
• Bidders not to pass any information provided by
Principal as part of business relationship to others
and not to commit any offence under PC/ IPC Act;
• Foreign bidders to disclose the name and address of
agents and representatives in India and Indian Bidders
to disclose their foreign principals or associates;
• Bidders to disclose the payments to be made by them
to agents / brokers or any other intermediary.
• Bidders to disclose any transgressions with any other
company that may impinge on the anti-corruption
principle.
4) Contract Management Mannual.
C. Study Area
A coal company of Jharkhand was selected as study
area for this research paper. The study area is an
important subsidiary of a major coal producing
company of India. The total man power of the study
area as on 31.03.2019 was 39222 with an overall
productivity of 8.091 Tons/person during 2018-
19. It ha was produced 68.719 Million Tons of coal
and earned revenue Rs. 11, 273.99 Crores. The
Profit (PBDIT) earned during 2018-19 was Rs.
3580.43 Crores in 2018-19. The production includes
production from outsourcing patches, where HEMMs
from contractors are being deployed for enhancing
production.
13
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

The growing importance of outsourcing can be realized
from Fig. 1. Table 1 shows the production of coal and %
share of production from outsourcing patches.
TABLE I. PRODUCTION VIS A VIS % SHARE FROM
OUTSOURCING PATCHES.
company to meet the target but at the same time there are
some issues to meet the expectations and demands. Various
issues and challenges arises during the process are listed
below:
1. Skill set of employees :

Production Prodn from The employees of the company needs to be redeployed

%
Year (coal) for Outsourcing
outsourcing
with renewed skills. The contractual relationship is a
Study Area patches legal relationship.
2013-14 50.03 10.26 20.51%
The employees dealing with contractors needs to be
2014-15 55.65 25.55 45.91%
skilled managers with legal, financial and operational
2015-16 61.324 31.236 50.94%
expertise to deal with growing outsourcing. The legal,
2016-17 67.046 39.57 59.02%
finance deptt. needs to be strengthened to deal with
2017-18 63.405 39 62.51%
2018-19 68.719 45.74 66.56%
contractual matters efficiently.
2019-20(Planned) 77 51.7 67.14% Dependence on contractors leads to monopolistic
attitude of contractors.
90 In this situation, employees needs to be skillful having
80
70 good bargaining skill to protect the interest of the
60 company.
50
40 2. Unemployment
30 If there is unemployment, poverty at the society then
20
there will be pressure on contractor to create as many
10
0 jobs as possible for the society.
13-14 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19 19- This may cause industrial relation problem, conflict
20(P) etc. at the outsourced patches.
Total Production Production from Outsourcing
It may also cause reduction of margin of contractors.
Fig. 1. Total Production vis a vis Production from Outsourcing
3. Political environment
Patch
Like any other industry, outsourced mining industry
80 needs peaceful political environment. For example, a
70 bloody protest on 22.05.2018 at Tuticorin, Tamilnadu
60
50
caused immense loss to Sterlite Copper.
40 4. Propriety of local villagers
30
20
Industry like outsourced mining activities also needs
10 to have cordial relationship with local villagers.
0 5. Statutory provisions in EC conditions
The contractors needs to comply with statutory
4

d)
-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

-1

ne
13

14

15

16

17

18

provisions in EC conditions, which restricts their

an
Pl
0(

% Outsourcing scale of operation, their margin etc.

-2
19

2 per. Mov. Avg. (% 6. Statutory provisions in FC conditions

Fig. 2. PercentageOutsourcing)
Share of Production from Outsourcing Patch
Similarly, 64.23% of total OB removed in CCL was through
Contractual means. It proves that contractual outsourcing
operation continues to be an important means of achieving
the desired coal production target.
7.
IV. Issues / Challenges
Outsourcing patches have eased the way for the coal
The contractors needs to comply with statutory
provisions in FC conditions, which affects their
profitability. Greed on the part of contractors may lead
to violation of statutory provision in FC conditions,
causing lot of legal issues.
DGMS directives
The DGMS directives affects the outsourced mining

14
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
industry. For example, the recent DGMS directive on
restricting the working beyond 100 m of any dumpsite
has affected many outsourced patches which were
awarded before this directive came into being.
8. Cases at lower court, High Court, Supreme Court
& NGT :
Cases at lower court/ higher court/Supreme court,
NGT etc. also affects the Outsourced patches. In one
of the reputed coal companies in Jharkhand, due to
some contractual dispute the Hon’ble High Court
imposed stay order on certain patch at a mine, causing
it difficult for the other contractors to operate from
safety as well as operational point of view.
9. Arbitration Cases
2019 amendment suggest modified timeline for
completion of proceedings. In the case of a domestic
arbitration, the time-period of 12 months (extendable
of course by another 6 months subject to consent by the
parties, and thereafter by the Court) for the conclusion
of the proceedings is now to be reckoned from the date
of completion of pleadings instead of from the date of
constitution of the arbitral tribunal.
The 2019 Amendment specifies that when the parties
have approached the Court concerned with an
application under Section 29A for extension of time
for completion of the arbitration proceedings, then
the mandate of the arbitrator(s) shall continue till the
disposal of the said application.
10. Competency of the work force to deal with
technical aspects of contracts:
Competency to deal with technical aspects of
contracts- The contractors must employ skilled
workers to deal with various emerging technologies
in the industry
11. Preparation of bid documents
It has been observed that in the award of contracts
for goods and services specially in outsourcing
proposals, the detailed evaluation/exclusion criteria
are not being stipulated in the bid document and
at times is decided after the tender opening. This
system is prone to criticism and complaints as it not
only leads to a non-transparent and subjective system
of evaluation of tenders but also vitiates the sanctity
of the tender system.
12. Deployment of suitable machineries by contractors
The contractors must employ machines of suitable
capacity otherwise it may cause crowding and other
safety related issues.
13. NIT / Processing of Tender / Post Tender
Negotiations
Their violation may lead to controversy, legal
complications etc.
14. Framing of estimates for inviting tenders
Arbitrariness should be avoided while framing of
estimates. Framing of Schedule of rates in preparing
estimates may lead to successful contracts.
15. Evaluation of tenders
The tenders should be evaluated strictly as per NIT
provisions/CVC guidelines/norms of the company.
The approval of tenders should be approved as per
the delegated powers.
16. Award of contracts
Issues related to award of work are:
• Vagueness of qualification criteria.
• Non incorporation of evaluation criterion.
• Category-wise anticipated TEUs are generally
not specified in the bid documents and the same
are left for assumptions by Tender Evaluation
Committee for comparative evaluation of
financial bids, which led to comparative
evaluation of bids on surmises and conjectures.
• Further, it was also provided as a condition in the
tender bid that the tenderer should have previous
experience in undertaking handling of similar
work and/or transportation works preferably of
ISO containers, however,
• Not defining ‘similar works' in the bid documents.
• Orders were allegedly split in order to bring it
within the powers of junior officers and that the
proper records of machine breakdown were not
being kept.
17. Advance Payment, Bank Guarantee / Performance
Bank Guarantee and Insurance
Proper billing is very essential and any deviation may
cause litigation, legal complications.
18. Reasonableness of Prices / Market Rate
Justification
This include Payment Terms and applicability of
Taxes & Duties etc.
19. Demand of fuel
It is the guiding principle for determination of
outsourcing at a mine, based on the demand of fuel,
return on investment etc. the outsourcing proposals
are planned.
15

20. Use of Website in tender process
Reservations in implementation of CVC instruction
dtd. 28.03.02 about publishing of tender documents
on the website (the instruction not being implemented
in toto).
21. Payments to Contractors & Suppliers etc.
Reducing opportunities for corruption. Issues
relates with Advance Payment, Bank Guarantee /
Performance Bank Guarantee and Insurance.
22. Necessity and Justification of Works.
23. Pre-Qualification Criteria & Post Contract
Management (PQC & PCM).
-Transparency
-Fairness
-Maintenance of fair competition.
Following issues arises:
• Stringent PQ Criteria resulting in poor
competition.
• Unduly restrictive criteria, creating entry.
• Barrier for potential bidders.
• Evaluation criteria not notified to the bidders,
making the PQ process non-transparent.
• PQ Criteria relaxed during evaluation, thus
creating entry barrier to the other potential
bidders fulfilling the relaxed criteria.
• Credentials of the bidders not matched with
the notified criteria.
• Credentials of the bidders not verified.
24. Completion schedule of Contracts (CSC).
25. Defect Liability Period Clause (DLPC).
V. Analysis and grouping
The issues and challenges being faced by coal company
have been grouped into six categories (Table 2). They are
• HR Issues
• Sociopolitical issues
• Environmental issues
• Legal issues
• Technical competencies
• Economic
TABLE II. LIST OF ISSUES FOR OUTSOURCING PATCH
16
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Category List of Issues
HR Skill set of employees to deal with contractual
matter.,
Sociopolitical unemployment, political environment,
proparity of local villagers,
Environmental statutory provisions in EC conditions,
Statutory provisions in FC conditions, DGMS
directives
Legal lower court , higher court ( High court/
Supreme court, NGT, Arbitrations ), Vagueness
of Qualification criteria
Technical competency of the work force to deal with
competencies technical aspects of contracts – preparation
of bid documents, deployment of suitable
machineries by contractors, ensuring
compliance of NIT provisions while
implementation, NIT / Processing of Tender
/ Post Tender Negotiations, Use of Website
in tender process, Necessity and Justification
of Works, Pre-Qualification Criteria, Post
Contract Management, Defect Liability Period
Clause
Economic Financial viability - framing of estimates for
inviting tenders, evaluation of tenders, award of
contracts, Advance Payment, Bank Guarantee /
Performance Bank Guarantee and Insurance ,
Proper billing, while implementation.
Demand of fuel, Reasonableness of Prices
/ Market Rate Justification, Payments to
Contractors & Suppliers etc.
VI. Redrrssal Mechanism
The question arises whether the company is ready to
meet these growing importance of Outsourcing activity
in overall operation of the company. The contractors and
their employees have become very important stakeholders
of the company.
1. Equal treatment of all Bidders/Contractors/
Subcontractors
2. Skill set of employees needs to be tuned to this growing
importance of outsourcing.
• With growing outsourcing company needs to
strengthen its Legal Deptt with executives having
knowledge of Arbitration Act’1996, Arbitration
Act’2015 and Arbitration Act’2019 etc.
• Company needs more of finance background to
deal with issues related to Contractors like contract
finalization.
• Extensive training/ awareness programme on CVC
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
circulars on Applicability of post tender negotiations,
applicability of Integrity Pact, Circular No. 01.04.14
on shortcomings of bid documents, provisions of
contract management manual of the company if any
exists etc can contribute immensely to the growth of
the company.
• For this purpose, training should be given to each
executive dealing with contractual matter irrespective
of their discipline/cadre.
• The welfare and safety of contractual employees also
becomes an important aspect in overall welfare of the
Company. The company as a principal employer has
to ensure availability of drinking water, availability
of rest room, vocational training, medical facilities,
washing places, urinals etc.
• The Company should also ensure compliance of
various statutory provisions like- Payment of Wages
Act’1936, Payment of wages (amendment) Act’2005,
Minimum wages Act etc.
3. Dispute resolution of Contractors-
• A well-organized body to quickly resolve the
contractual disputes will help the company in
achieving faster growth.
• The contractual disputes and their amicable
mitigation is very important for the welfare and
growth of the company. The contractual disputes have
the potential to cripple the company’s growth. The
clarity in implementation of Contract Management
Manual and various other statutes/Laws would help
in managing the affairs of the company successfully.
4. Close and Harmonious relationship with local
villagers/ Project affected persons-
• The project affected persons should be given more
opportunity at Outsourcing activity by means
of employment, by financing them to become
entrepreneurs etc. Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) has a major role in confidence building.
• The Section 135 of Companies Act’2013 deals with
CSR. As per Section 135(5) of Companies Act’2013,
a company must spend at least 2% of the average net
profit of the company during immediately preceding
three years must be spent on CSR.
• A specialized team of CSR executives may contribute
immensely to company’s growth.
The basic structure of the company needs to re-orient
to meet the needs of the industry in view of growing
outsourcing activities being undertaken.
5. Bid Documents
The bid documents needs to unambiguous, clearly specified,
fit from legal point of view. Ambiguous bid documents leads
to misinterpretation, legal complications, and court cases.
The CVC reiterate (09.07.03) that whatever pre-
qualification, evaluation/exclusion criteria, etc. which
the organization wants to adopt should be made explicit
at the time of inviting tenders so that basic concept of
transparency and interests of equity and fairness are
satisfied. The acceptance/rejection of any bid should
not be arbitrary but on justified grounds as per the laid
down specifications, evaluation/exclusion criteria leaving
no room for complaints as after all, the bidders spend a
lot of time and energy besides financial cost initially in
preparing the bids and, thereafter, in following up with
the organizations for submitting various clarifications and
presentations.
6. Award of work
It should be ensured that pre-qualification criteria,
performance criteria and evaluation criteria are
incorporated in the bid documents in clear and
unambiguous terms as these criteria are very important to
evaluate bids in a transparent manner.
Whenever required the departments/organisations should
follow two-bid system (Technical bid and price bid). The
price bids should be opened only of those vendors who
were technically qualified by the Deptt./ Organisation.
The Commission would therefore advise that the Deptt./
Organisation may issue necessary guidelines in this regard
for future tenders.
Proper records to be kept for breakdown.
7. Publishing of tender documents
In order to ensure competitiveness, level playing field,
equity and smooth finalization of contracts it is important
that online tender is created and finalized. Use of technology
gives all contractors equal opportunity to bid and leads to
better price discovery.
CVC interim way out dtd. 04.09.03 that departments/
organisations may continue with publishing of NIT
in newspapers in concise format and put the detailed
information in their respective web-sites. MoLE dtd.
26.04.12, 30.11.11, vide which E publishing to be mandatory
on Central Public procurement (CPP) portal.
Improving Vigilance Administration –Increasing
transparency in procurement/ tender Process (CVC
Guidelines dated 18.12.2003, 09.02.04, 11.02.04, 2.07.04
and 05.07.04)
17
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

8. Timely payments to Contractors & Suppliers etc. improved by taking due cognizance of requital mechanism.
• Reduces opportunities for corruption.
• The organizations may fix a cut off limit for review. Acknowledgement
• The payments to contractors should be regular and The authors would like to acknowledge the contract
based on company’s norms. management cell of the study area for extending their help
• Hindrances if any should be maintained online to and coordination. The views presented by authors are solely
reduce the scope of corruption. their interpretation. We would also extend our regards to
the organizing secretary of ICOMS 2019 for allotting slot
• Lack of clarity about contract terms and conditions
to present the paper and publishers for making the things
may lead to disputes. The persons dealing with
publish in right way.
contracts should be educated to deal with contracts.
• The contracts are legally enforceable document,
References
so it should be ensured that there is no deviation
[1] http://www.cvc.nic.in/sites/default/files/CompcirculCTE.pdf
from Agreement terms and conditions while
[2] CVC Office Order No.44/9/03 issued vide letter No.98/ORD/1
implementation
dated the 04.09.2003
9. For ensuring compliance of NIT provisions while [3] MoLE, GOI, notifcation no. 12011/01/2009/CLS.II dtd. 26.04.12
implementation, it must be ensured that NIT provisions are [4] https://labour.gov.in/s//3GuidelinesforoutsourcingofGroupcandG
strictly followed and implemented while implementation. roupDstaffinCGITs.pdf
[5] http://www.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/deptt_offcr/
10. Necessity and Justification of Works administrative- wing/admn-wing-circ/guidelines-on-outsourcing.
Before finalizing a contract, it must be very clear about pdf
the necessity and justification of works to be awarded on [6] http://www.centralcoalfields.in/vglnc/pdf/vigilance_%20
contract. Based on the requirements, the estimate should compedium.pdf
be prepared with due diligence. As the contract terms and [7] https://upavp.in/pdf/cvc_30dec2014.pdf
conditions cannot be changed post-award. Post award [8] https://centralcoalfields.in
changes may lead to lot of disputes.

11. Completion schedule of Contracts (CSC)

The completion schedule of contract should be clearly
spelled.

12. Defect Liability Period Clause (DLPC)

The defect liability period should be clearly and
unambiguously mentioned at the NIT document. Lack of
clarity may cause lot of unproductive disputes.

VII. Conclusions
The research explores the reasons to get the expected
benefits of outsourcing. Findings include a list of the most
critical success factors for outsourcing in coal mining. It
was also discovered that the amount of effort going into
these factors was disproportional to the level of importance
of the factors. For a way to better manage outsourcing,
which is easy to follow, a framework of requital mechanism
related to issues prevalent and to be used by coal mines to
improve their outsourcing have been listed. This research
also tested a list of predefined practices and cannot exclude
the possibility that there are other practices that can lead
to success. It is hoped that coal mining companies will use
the results of this research for future outsourcing ventures.
It is also hoped that the sustainability of coal mining will be

18
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Design Considerations for Waste Dumpsin Indian Open-
cast Coal Mines: A Critical Appraisal
Prashant K. Nayak
Department of Mining Engineering,
NIT, Raipur
Pankaj K. Dewangan
Department of Mining Engineering,
NIT, Raipur
pdewangan.min@nitrr.ac.in
Abstract- Proper design of waste dumps in open cast mines
is essential to avoid any large-scale dump failure which may
have significant impacts on safety as well as the economics
of an open-pit project. Number of waste dump slope failures
have occurred in the recent past and resulted in huge loss of
men and machinery. With the continuous increase in depth of
open cast mines and limited availability of land area for dis-
posal of waste rock, the optimum design of waste dumps with
its maximum capacity is now need of the hour. Indian coal
measure rocks mainly consist of shale, sandstone and clay
beds which are soft to moderate in strength and having mod-
erate durability. Number of parameters like shear strength of
waste rock, its size and gradation characteristics, presence of
any weak interface or material, method of dumping, strength
of foundation rock, weatherability of dump material, pres-
ence of water, rainfall, seismic or any short term stresses due
to blasting including the dump profile govern the design con-
siderations for waste dump and affects its long term stability.
An in-depth knowledge of deformation of dump slope and its
failure mechanisms is required to install suitable monitor-
ing instruments to provide early signs of instability of waste
dumps. In this paper, a comprehensive review of various fac-
tors affecting the design and stability of waste dumps along
with a critical discussion on its failure mechanisms and defor-
mation behaviour has been addressed.
Keywords: Waste Dump, Failure, Stability, Mechanisms,
Deformation
I. Introduction
Open cast coal mining method requires removal of large
volumes of overburden (OB), which is dumped either as
internal dumps or external dumps. OB dumps are some of
the largest structures built by man considering their weight
or height aspects (Robertson, 1982). The size (height and
volume) of these dumps is increasing year by year as deeper
mines are being planned due to increased demand of coal by
A. K. Dash
Department of Mining Engineering
NIT, Raipur
thermal power plants. At the same time, limited availability
of land for OB disposal forces the mine management to go
for steepening and the heightening of the existing dumps.
The key design objective is to construct OB dumps in the
proximity of the open pit within compact footprints to
the maximum heights governed by geotechnical analyses
to minimize the operational costs. Frequent dump slope
failures occurred in recent years have focussed attention
of regulatory authority to issue stringent guidelines for the
proper scientific design of OB dumps with all geotechnical
considerations and other associated factors.
Most of the dump failures resulted in the past were due
to erroneous design, poor construction and maintenance.
In open-cast coal mining operation. Dragline and shovel
are used to excavate the blasted OB rock overlying the coal
seams and dumping of the same is carried out either in the
de-coaled area as an internal dump or outside the mine in
the non-coal bearing area as external dump. These dumps
are required to be constructed as high and steep as possible
due to the limited space of land available for dumping.
Therefore, maintaining large-sized dump at steepest
possible slope angle is becoming a challenging task for
mine management. Hence the slope stability study of OB
dumps is required to be carried out for maintaining safety
and economics of the mine (Sengupta et al., 2014).
The OB dumps are heterogeneous in terms of grain size and
structure (Fityus et al., 2008). Coal mine OB dump material
consist of natural soils, sandstone, siltstone, shale and some
coal. Dump material may range in size from clay particles
to boulders (e.g. less than 0.1 mm to greater than 1 m in
diameter). Coal mine OB dump material can be categorized
as low strength rock fill material with some fines. OB
dumps in open cast coal mines are generally constructed
using end tip dumping and the excess material is bulldozed
over the edge and the outer face of the slope rests at the
angle of repose of dump material. This method of dump
19
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

construction results in formation of dumps with relatively of foundation slope. In the ridge crest fill, slopes are formed
low density as compared to embankment fills and other on both sides of the crest. Heaped fills consist of small
engineered fills constructed in civil engineering projects dumps with slopes in all directions (Wahler, 1979).
(Linero et al., 2007). A very little or no attention is paid
towards its compaction parameters. It has well established
fact that proper compaction of any filled structure improves
its shear strength and other engineering properties
(Sridharan, 2006; Ugbe, 2011; Wang et al., 2011; Dewangan
et al., 2016). Compaction of the dump matrix occurs by
the weight of added material and by dumper movement on
it without the use of any specific compaction equipment.
No attention is given by the mine management towards
its compaction requirement without any monitoring of
the maximum compaction density achievable in that
material (Dewangan et al., 2016). Optimum compaction
also provides benefits by accommodating more volume
of dump material at steeper slope angles by improving
its strength properties. Moreover OB dump materials
are usually subjected to a wide range of environments,
geo-morphological and climatic changes which include Figure 1: Methods of dump construction (Wahler, 1979)
erosion, ageing, wet dry cycles, seasonal temperature
fluctuations and cyclic loading due to earthquakes, blasting
The dumping method divides the dump into the following
and machine movement etc. which results in continuous
basic types (Roberston, 1982; Nichols 1986; Tran et al.
degradation of strength properties of dump material with
2003):
time and consolidation settlement with the passage of time
(Hawley and Cunning, 2017). (a) End dumping
In this paper, an exhaustive review of literatures concerned (b) Push dumping
with factors affecting the design and stability of waste
(c) Free dumping or plug dumping
dumps, its various modes of failures and a critical discussion
on its failure mechanisms and deformation behaviour has (d) Dragline spoiling
been made. In end dumping method, the slopes are generally not
flattened or compacted until closure of the dump. OB
II. Dump Types, Geometry And Methods dumps constructed from end dumping are more likely
of Construction to have a loose collapsible particle structure within the
The shape of a mine dump is mainly based on the nature dump than those constructed from the layered method.
and topography of the area where they are employed. Mine In comparison, layered or stacked dumps allow for a
dump can take the shape of one or a combination of many higher factor of safety to be maintained because they are
different configurations such as valley-fill, cross-valley, constructed in a more controlled manner from the bottom
sidehill and ridge or heaped depending on the topography up. The layers can be placed and compacted to increase the
(Zahl et al. 1992). The various dump configurations are density and strength of the material.
shown in Figure 1 (Wahler 1979; Priyadarshi and Caldwell Dumps are also constructed in a series of lifts following
2012).Valley fills are constructed parallel to the topographic either descending or ascending sequence (Stuckert et al.,
contours. Generally, three dimensional confinements are 1989). Ascending construction is advantageous as the toe of
provided by the valley walls. The dump surface is graded each lift is supported on the preceding lift in this case. The
to prevent accumulation of water. In cross valley fill, the method of construction selected is based on a combination
dump extends from one side of the valley to the other side of factors such as minimizing haulage distance, accessibility,
of the drainage. The upstream portion of the valley is not available capacity and dump stability. Stability can be
filled, and slopes are established in both upstream and enhanced by judicious use of terracing and restricting
downstream directions. Sidehill slopes are constructed in lift heights to limit shear stresses on the foundations.
sloping terrain. Dump slopes are inclined in the direction Ascending construction requires the development of lifts

20
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
starting at the base of the structure and progressing to the
ultimate height. Material is placed in a controlled manner
in relatively small thickness. Once a lift is completed, the
next lift is placed on top, and the sequence is continued
until the ultimate dump height is reached. This controlled
construction technique is commonly used in situations,
where sensitive foundation soils exist. The incremental
loading allows these soils to drain and consolidate through
strain hardening at rates suitable for foundation stability.
Rapid loading of such soils may result in strain softening
and static liquefaction due to generation of pore pressure
trending to the overlying weight of material (Hoek and
Bray, 1981; Stuckert et al., 1989; Hawley and Cunning,
2017).
Descending construction is placement of material from
the operating height, which allows the dump to develop
based on natural material strength. Material is placed from
the ultimate height or the crest of the dump. Typically,
the material is end-dumped from the haul truck at this
elevation (Hoek and Bray, 1981; Pradhan et. al, 2019)
III. Factors Affecting Stability of Dumps
The forces influencing waste dump stability are categorized
by (MSHA, 1999a; 1999b; 2000):
1. Factors driving failure like gravity; loading at the top;
removing support from the bottom (trimming toe of
slope); and changes in moisture conditions and
2. Factors resisting failure like spoil strength; frictional
forces; cohesive forces; and strength can decrease due
to locked-in water pressure.
Factors which can cause a stable slope to become unstable
are developed by (MSHA, 1999a; 1999b; 2000):
1. Changes in resisting forces (material strength) i.e.,
weathering of rock; lubrication by water; internal
water pressures; loss of apparent cohesion due to
saturation or drying; exceeding the strength of a weak
layer; and sliding along weak layers or
2. Changes in driving forces, i.e., adding load to the top-
truck, dozer, loader, or dragline etc.; outward force by
truck braking near edge of a slope; adding load to top
by making the slope higher; additional water weight
(from precipitation or groundwater); and removing
support at the bottom-trimming toe etc.
Mainly the dump failures are associated with:
1. Foundation failures, in the central to toe regions of
the dump;
2. Crest and face failures, associated with excessively
rapid advances of the dump and an associated lack of
consolidation of the dumped material;
3. Face blowouts, but usually only in dumps that are
being leached and caused by a build-up in pore
pressure at the base of the horizon (lift) being leached;
and
4. Face failures caused by the uncontrolled release of
storm water over the crest of the dump.
There are several parameters that affect the stability of
the dump slope like geotechnical properties of dump
material and foundation, dump geometry, dynamic forces,
mining methods, hydrological and drainage conditions
etc. (Upadhyay et al. 1990; British Columbia Interim
Guidelines 1991; Singh et al. 1994; Mukhlisin and Aziz,
2016). Some of the key parameters are discussed in the
following paragraphs.
A. Geotechnical Properties of Dump Material
The geotechnical properties of dump material vary
significantly between projects and even between different
phases of the same project. The density, saturation and
shear strength parameters of the material forming the
dump slope affect the failure mode and the calculated
factor of safety (FoS) against sliding. An understanding of
the shear strength and deformation behaviour of material
forming these dumps is required for design and analysis
of stability of OB dumps. The effective shear strength of
dump material is affected by parameters mainly particle
size, gradation, intact particle strength, particle angularity,
presence of water, degree of saturation, compaction
density, stress and others. The dominance of cobble and
boulder sized rock fragments in typical dump imparts a
dilatant behaviour under low effective normal stresses and
significant crushing of contact points at high stresses and
affects its shear strength. Following are the parameters
controlling the shear strength of the dump material and
hence its stability (Mathur et al., 2013):
• Grain Size Distribution of the Waste Rock (Dump)
Material - It indicates the composition of dump
material comprising of clay, silt, sand, and gravels
and boulders and the individual particle size of dump
mass, which may vary from less than 0.075mm to
more than 10 cm.
• Atterberg Limits i.e., Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit,
Shrinkage Limit and Plasticity Index -Determination
of Atterberg limits is necessary to assess the expansive
properties of clay material. In the case of expansive
soil, shear strength properties drastically reduce due
to swelling when meets water. Swelling index is also
21

to be determined in case of expansive soil;
• Coefficient of Permeability - This parameter is
important for assessing the water seepage properties
of the dump. It is pertinent here to mention that,
except for the pure clayey dump, waste rock dumps
are permeable;
• Bulk Density of Dump Mass - Bulk density of dump
mass determines the weight of the waste rock/soil
mass, which is one of the major influencing factors
for the determination of disturbing and resisting
forces.
The shearing resistance of soil comprises basically
of the following components: (1) The frictional
resistance (Ф) between the individual soil particles at
their contact points; and (2) The cohesion (c) between
the surfaces of the soil particles i.e. the structural
resistance to displacements of the soil because of
the interlocking of the particles. Shear strength in
cohesion less soil results from inter-granular friction
alone while in other soils, it results both from internal
friction and cohesion.
Coal mine OB dump material is generally soft to medium
hard in strength and degradable in nature and can be
considered as cohesion less soil. The loose coal mine OB
dump material usually has low shear strength, but its
strength increases with time as it becomes more and more
compact.
B. Geotechnical Properties of Foundation
The foundation is a critical factor in the overall stability
of the OB dump. The shear strength and thickness of the
foundation soil or rock is an important parameter for slope
stability and the dump failure mode. The permeability of the
foundation material will affect the generation of pore water
pressures in the foundation, affecting the dump stability
and limiting the permissible dumping rate. The foundation
can deform in case it is made of saturated soil or similar
zones resulting in a toe failure, or a complete circular failure
involving both the dump as well as the foundation. Porosity
and permeability decide the pore dynamics and generation
of pore water pressure. Water table rise as the dump height
increases resulting in saturation of the bottom layers of
foundation. This condition reduces the shear strength of
foundation as compared to the no dumping conditions
and can result in unexpected failures by the liquefaction
of the foundation. Hence, detailed laboratory testing of the
foundation material is required (Pradhan et al., 2019). The
foundation types are categorized into three different groups:
(a) Competent Foundation; (b) Intermediate Foundation;
and (c) Weak Foundation (Chaulya and Prasad, 2016;
22
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Pradhan et al., 2019).
C. Ground Water and Drainage
Water at the dump can adversely affect stability in following
ways (Hoek and Bray 1981):
• By reducing the strength of the material in the dump
or the material on which the dump is founded.
• By increasing the weight of dump material thereby
providing additional disturbing forces.
• By generating water pressures in the dump, thereby
reducing the effective shear strength of the dump
material.
• By generating seepage pressures leading to piping.
An increase in the foundation water table can significantly
decrease the FoS for a deep failure through the foundation
material, whereas perched water within the dump can lead
to surface failures. Flow parallel to the surface of the slope
decreases the FoS significantly. Design and construction
elements can significantly affect seepage and drainage
through the dumps. The top surface of the dump must
be graded to prevent surface water from flowing onto the
slopes. When waste rock is dumped, the coarse fraction
ends up at the bottom of the dump, creating a rock drain
at the base.
Piezometric conditions (in the dump foundation and
within the dump) can affect the stability of a mine dump
(Caldwell and Moss, 1981; Singhal, 1988; Upadhyay et al.,
1990a; Chaulya and Prasad, 2016; Pradhan et al., 2019).
Climatic conditions, notable precipitation in the form
of rainfall, have a direct influence on the piezometric
conditions (Tassie, 1988). A critical condition develops if
a phreatic surface is generated within the waste (Pernichele
& Kahle, 1971). Water enters a dump by either direct
infiltration through its surface or groundwater seepage.
The potential inflow of water and piezometric conditions
within the dump are known based on hydrogeological and
hydrologic information obtained during field studies and
estimated material properties (Iverson, 2000; Chaulya and
Prasad, 2016; Pradhan et al., 2019). Rainwater infiltrates
the dump material as well as will runoff from the surface
based on the porosity and permeability of dump material.
Surface runoffs result in superficial erosion and choke the
drain channels as well as make the dump structurally weak
if the toe area of the dump is eroded.
Vegetation growth on the waste dump has a significant role,
as the roots of the vegetation act as a binder for the soil/
overburden material, hence holding it against the erosion
and gives an idea of the effect of water moving in and
around dumps (Pradhan et al., 2019).
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
D. Dynamic Forces
Blasting, earthquakes and the operation of heavy plant and
machinery may generate dynamic forces and can cause a
reduction in the shear strength of dump material and hence
reduces the stability of the dump.The possible effects of
earthquakes on the stability of mine dumps are discussed by
Caldwell and Moss (1981), Glass (1981) and Forbe (1984).
The utmost substantial impact on stability due to earthquakes
appears to be potential liquefaction of susceptible foundation
materials. Saturated fine-grained materials are exposed to
liquefaction. Dynamic ground motions induced by blasting
associated with mining affect dump stability (Stuckert et
al., 1989; Sharma et al., 1993). Liquefaction of the dump
foundation as a result of seismic activity sometimes results in
gradual inevitable failure (Pradhan et al., 2019). Other loads,
i.e., moving of HEMM on or near the dump performance
a role in the stability of dump slopes (Chaulya and Prasad,
2016; Pradhan et al., 2019).
E. Site Topography
Foundation slopes steeper than 25° typically results in
lower factors of safety for slope stability. On the other
hand, topographical features providing lateral support or
toe buttressing improve the stability of the dump.Together
the slope foundation and degree of confinement presented
in the shape of a foundation affect dump stability (Blight,
1969, 1981; Campbell, 1981; Tassie, 1988). If the slope
of the waste dump foundation is less than 10°, then it is
called "level foundation"; or else, it is termed as "sloping
foundation" (Crossby, 1983). Steep foundation slopes
or lack of confinement or both has considered causative
factors for slope failure. The least desirable situation is
wherever the slope angle increases towards the toe (i.e.,
a convex slope). If a slide occurs in this situation, it gains
sizable momentum as it translates downslope. The most
constructive situation is the decreasing slope towards the
toe, that is, a concave slope (Campbell, 1986; Vandre,
1986;Chaulya and Prasad, 2016).
On the other hand, when a dump is constructed on a sloping
foundation, it is required to check the stability of the dump
pertaining to shearing along its base (Okagbue, 1984;
Lau et al., 1986). The slope of the ground surface within
some areas might be so steep as to be inappropriate for the
disposal of waste materials. Where the slope of the ground
surface is relatively uniform, plane down-slope sliding of
the dump along its base must be considered. When the
base of the waste dump is provided with a drain to facilitate
excess hydrostatic pressure cannot develop, then the steepest
allowable foundation slope is given as; tan θ = tanα/F; where
θ = Maximum Safe dump foundation inclination angle; α =
Minimum Effective angle of friction of dump material; and
F = Minimum FoS desired. When the slope of the ground
surface within the probable waste disposal area is non-
uniform, then the maximum slope angle at lower elevations
is flat, whereas those at a higher elevation slope angle are
steeper. For these foundation slope conditions, the stability
compared to shearing along the base of the dump must be
checked by the wedge method of stability analysis (Campbell
and Shaw, 1986; Chaulya and Prasad, 2016).
F. Settlement
Waste rock settlement occurs on account of particle
reorientation, weathering of high clay content material,
weakening of inter-particle bonding due to water and
transport of fine particles through the dump. The rate of
settlement is marked by dump height, loading rate, location
within the dump and material type. Settlement is normally
less in layered dumps followed by in the end dumped
slopes. During placement of the dump material, self-weight
settlement might arise initially, or crest settlement can
occur far ahead due to compaction and surface sloughing
from over steepening. After waste placement, primary
settlement and creep settlement occurs at a lessening rate
with time and continue for years after dump construction.
G. Weathering and Erosion
Soft and weathered rock fragments existing in the coal
mine OB dump material are largely broken down by the
combined effects of temperature, air and water. Durability
and the prospective for physical or chemical degradation
of these fragments impact the long-term shear strength
and hydraulic conductivity of the dump. The progress
of particle sizes and the production of clay could result
in a change in the shear strength properties of the dump
material and modify the physical stability of the dump. By
most conservative analysis, the overall stability of the dump
material is determined by an internal angle of friction with
zero cohesion. Weathering of rock fragments present in
the dump material grounds decrease in its particle size
and friction angle, thus affects the stability of the dump.
Instead, the additional shear strength might be developed
by cohesion when the dump material develops a higher
fraction of sand, silt and clay.
Coal measure rocks are susceptible to physical and chemical
deterioration with changes in moisture content. This grades
in slaking and softening and thus causes reduction in its
shear strength.
Water pressure can develop both positive and negative
effects on slope stability depending on the stress states
within the dump mass, the moisture content and time-
scale measured (Bradfield et al. 2013; Fredlund et al.,
2012). Cohesion possibly will occur as effective cohesion
23

and/or apparent cohesion. Effective cohesion describes the
cohesive strength resulting from inter-particle cohesion
due to the presence of clay minerals and the precipitation of
secondary mineral products i.e., as grain to grain cements.
Apparent cohesion defines the cohesive strength associated
with matric suction. The matric suction in the unsaturated
dump material causes an increase in its shear strength. On
the contrary, positive water pressure reduces shear strength
by pushing rocks fragments apart and reducing their inter
granular friction. Erosion of void filling material or zones
of percolation efficiently decrease cohesion among grain
boundaries and results in increased permeability and
ground water flow in the slope. This lead to failure due
to formation of gully and deep flow channels in dump
(Kaintholaet al. 2011, Fredlund et al., 2012).
IV. Types of Dump Failure
The differenttypes of dump failure modes are described
below and are shown in Figure 2 (Caldwell and Moss
1981).
A. Rotational Failure or Circular Failure
Rotational failure of the dump involves mass sliding of the
dump along a circular or curvilinear surface formed within
the embankment. The shape of the failure surface varies
depending on the characteristics of the material in the
dump. Creep failure is a unusual case of rotational failure
involving widespread rotational shearing through the mass
without the movement along a single failure surface.
Figure 2: Modes of dump failures (Caldwell and Moss 1981)
Creep failure establishes itself by a long-term progressive
bulging at the toe of the dump. Rotational failures
are associated with OB dumps consisting of weak or
fine-grained dump material. Rotational failures can
24
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
be triggered by high water pressures in the dump. A
comprehensive selection of proven methods is available
for analyzing rotational failures, including simple slip
circle analysis and various methods of slices. Circular
failures are common in the case of soil consisting of sand,
silt and smaller particle sizes. It occurs on slopes of even
few meters high.
The actual shape of the “circular” slide surface is influenced
by the geological conditions on the slope. Circular failure
is classified into subsequent types depending on the area
that is affected by the failure surface (Suman, 2015):
a) Rotational failure: This type of failure occurs in a
homogeneously weak or weathered rock mass or a
rock-fill. The failure occurs along a shallow and large
radius surface extending from a tension crack close
behind the crest to the toe of the slope.
b) Slope Failure: In this type of failure, the arc of the
rupture surface meets the slope above the toe of the
slope. This happens when the slope angle is very
high and the soil close to the toe possesses the high
strength.
c) Toe Failure: In this type of failure, the arc of the
rupture surface meets the slope at the toe.
d) Base Failure: In this type of failure, the arc of the
failure passes below the toe and into the base of
the slope. This happens when the slope angle is low
and the soil under the base is softer as well as more
plastic than the soil above the base.
In directive to detect important changes in the rate
of deformation and evaluate likely causes along with
consequences, there is a need for constant monitoring
of dump slope and given that early warning before the
occurrence of slope failure. The best sign of approaching
failure is the increase in the rate of movement of pit
wall slope. It is, therefore, vital to use the rate of ground
movement as a tool for prediction of imminent pit wall
failure (Chaulya and Prasad, 2016). The different failure
types, its causes and warnings signs are described in
Table 1.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TABLE 1: FAILURE TYPES, CAUSES, AND WARNING SIGNS (Chaulya and Prasad, 2016)

Failure
Usual Cause Likely Effects Warning Signs
Types

Over-steepened crest due to high Crest cracking, subsidence near the crest, steep
Small-scale crest failure,
Silver failure fine content, rapid dumping rate, wet slope blow crest, increasing crest displacement
subsidence at the crest of a dump.
material. rates.

Weak material in the foundation, rapid

Foundation Can cause large failure involving a Seepage at the toe, building or spreading of dump
loading rate, high pore pressure in
failure significant part of the dump. toe, cracks well behind dump crest.
foundation/blasting.

O v e r a l l Weak material along base of dump, Cracking of dump surface back as far as to contact
Entire dump fails along the base.
failure steep foundation, rapid loading rate. with the ground, settlement of the entire platform.

Can cause failure involving a

major part of the dump. Building pressure at the toe, cracking, and
Rotational Weak material in dump or foundation,
May involve dump only, or dump settlement well behind the crest, rock noise,
failure high pore pressure, rapid loading rate.
and foundation. possible scarps well behind the crest.
May be circular or noncircular.

Weak foundation materials on the toe,

Loss of support of the toe may lead Spreading of a toe, yielding of foundation soil or
Toe failure high pore pressure at the toe, steep
to the propagation of failure. dump material at the toe.
slope at the toe.

Presence of silt and sand materials in

the foundation, possibly confined by
Foundation
aquitards, pore pressure build-up due
liquefaction
to rapid loading seismic forces may be
important.
A possible major failure ofa
High piezometric pressure on a foundation in
significant portion of the dump
the same class, sandy soils may present prior to
with large run-out distance may
complete failure.
occur on flat foundation slopes.

Weak plane in dump material approx.

May involve a large amount of Slumping of dump crest, the buildings of toe or
Planar failure parallel to dump face. Due to poor
material with large run outdistance. face crack on a platform well behind the crest.
material or rapid loading.

B. Surface or Edge Slumping
In surface slips, the failure surface is parallel to the front
face of the dump. Such slides generally take place in dry,
cohesionless and granular material tipped at or above the
angle of repose. This may occur as the surface layer dries
out and any temporary cohesion is lost. Debris flow, edge
slumps and sheet like failures are examples of surface failure
modes. Debris flow results from the flow of water over the
crest and down the face of dump. The most common failure
mode is edge slumping (crest slumping), where a thin wedge
of material translates down the slope, parallel to the dump
face. Edge slumps occur primarily on high active truck
dumps. These failures may include significant volumes of
material. They are invariably due to an over steepening of
the upper portion of the dump slope. The over steepening is
caused by the tendency of finer spoil to temporarily hang up
near the top of the dump. Cohesive or low-permeability OB
dump material allows the development of over steepened
slopes. End dumping in thick lifts or pushing material over
the dump crest also leads to a higher risk of over-steepening
and edge slumping. Edge-slumping failures often occur
after heavy precipitation, which leads to increased pore
pressures in the low-permeability dump material. Sheet
like failures, also known as plane shears or infinite-slope
failures occur where cohesion is a minor component of the
material strength. This mode of failure dominates where
dumps are placed by draglines, shovels or other methods
of loose dumping.
D. Shallow Flow Slides
Flow slides are shallow slumping failures of saturated or
partially saturated dump. Typically, triggered by rain or
snow melt, they result in material flowing down the slopes
due to shear failure or collapse of the soil structure.
E. Base Failure (Spreading)
Base failure may occur if a thin and weak base layer is
placed over the foundation, especially if the foundation
is inclined. If a slope wedge of the OB dump translates
laterally along a shear surface, the foundation soils may

25

spread and be squeezed ahead of the advancing dump toe.
This phenomenon, known as foundation spreading, may
result in progressive failure of the overall dump.
F. Plane Failure
Plane failure of the dump involves sliding along a single
plane of weakness. If the weakness plane does not daylight
on the dump face or at the toe, some shearing through dump
material at the toe of the failure will be required. Weakness
planes may be created during construction, if poor quality
or fine dump material is dumped over the dump crest
and form zones or layers parallel to the dump face. It also
forms, if the zones of susceptible dump material slake or
degrade due to exposure or shear strain within the dump.
High pore pressures within the dump may also contribute
to plane failure. In the case of a weakness plane parallel
to the dump face, plane failure is like edge slumping. The
exception being that the failure surface is generally deeper
within the dump mass and failure results in substantially
more break back.
G. Non-Circular Rotational Failure
Non-circular rotation also referred to as a form of base
or foundation spreading. It is like a rotational foundation
failure, except that part of the failure surface occurs along
a weakness plane. This plane may occur along the interface
between the dump and the foundation (e.g. base failure),
or within the foundation. High pore pressures in the
foundation may trigger non-circular failure. Non-circular
rotational failure could also occur along weak zones within
the dump.
H. Block Translation
Block translation (planar sliding) may result from any of
the inducing factors mentioned for rotational failure. It is
favoured by steep foundation slopes and a thin and weak
soil cover or lined surface. The bulk of the dump slides as a
rigid block along a plane of weakness. This weak plane may
be within the foundation soil along the interface between
the dump and the foundation or along a liner interface.
I. Liquefaction
Liquefaction susceptible soils normally consist of loose silts
and fine to medium size sands. Liquefaction occurs when
the effective stress on the soil becomes very low due to high
pore pressures. If the soil foundation or the OB dump it
is composed of liquefiable material and high pore-water
pressures exists, then liquefaction possibly will pose a
noteworthy stability risk.
26
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
J. Piping
Piping is a localized failure caused by internal erosion
within the dump as soil particles are washed out by the
passage of water. Collapse due to piping may occasionally
trigger other forms of failure.
K. Mud Runs
A mud run is a localized failure caused by a rapidly moving
flow of waterborne soil having the consistency of mud. This
is brought about following heavy rainfall by flows or issues
of water eroding gulleys in the side slopes and forming
mud runs at the base of the dump.
V. Review Of Shear Strength Behaviour
Of Coal Mine Ob Dump Material
Richards et al. (1981) performed shear tests on coal
mine OB dump material collected from Goonyella mine,
Australia. They found peak cohesive strength of 15 kPa
and peak friction angle ranging between 15° and 30° for
the dump material. In residual condition, cohesion of 50
kPa and friction angle ranging from 3° to 5° was reported.
Hoek and Bray (1981) emphasized the use of curved
linear strength envelope for colliery dump material and
concluded that the cohesion and angle of internal friction
depends upon normal stress and water pressure existing in
the dump.
Ulusayet et al. (1995) carried out geotechnical
characterization of OB dump material collected from
Eskihisar strip coal mine of South-western Turkey. They
reported very small difference in shear strength parameters
of OB dump material in terms of peak and residual
conditions. They also demonstrated negligible difference
in the shear strength values for OB dump material using
both linear and curved shear strength envelopes. The peak
cohesion and friction angle were found as 12 kPa and 34.3°
respectively.
Simmons and McManus 2004 (cited in Bradfield et al.
2013) developed a strength framework for dragline
scaled dump and characterized dump material into
four different categories. Spoil category identification
is based on the assessment of five geological attributes,
comprising predominant particle size, consistency,
structure, plasticity and age (Table 2). It is based on
laboratory tests with empirical adjustments using
back analysis of several large spoil dump failures.
The framework provides a visual-tactile method for
identifying any type of spoil into one of four categories.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

The ‘structure’ attribute is a fabric-related parameter, particles. Framework abundant spoils are said to be
where larger particles represent the ‘framework’, and finer stronger and less compressible than matrix abundant spoils
particles the ‘matrix’. Matrix represents the finer-sized (Simmons and McManus 2004 cited in Bradfield et al.
component that fills the void spaces between framework 2013).

TABLE 2: SPOIL CATEGORIES AND ATTRIBUTES (Simmons and McManus 2004; Bradfield et al., 2013)

Category 1 2 3 4
Fine-grained Fine-grained low Large blocks,
Description Weighting Larger clasts with fine
clay-rich, high plasticity with larger minor fines, minor
Attributes (excl. age) matrix, low plasticity
plasticity clasts slaking
P r e d o m i n a n t 3/31=9.7%
Clay Sand Gravel Cobbles
particle size (11.6%)
Consistency:
7/31=22.6% Soft to firm Stiff Hard XLS+ rock
Cohesive
(26.9%) Loose Med. dense Dense Very dense
Cohesion less
7/31=22.6% Framework
Structure Matrix only Matrix supported Framework only
(26.9%) supported
9/31=29.0% High Intermediate Low Not plastic
Liquid Limit
(26.9%) (>50) (35-50) (20-35) (<20)
5/31=16.1%
Age 0-2 y 2-10 y 10-30 y >30 y
(26.9%)

TABLE 3: SHEAR STRENGTH PARAMETERS FOR CATEGORIES AND MOBILIZATION MODES (Simmons and McManus 2004, cited in
Bradfield et al. 2013)

Unsaturated Saturated Remolded

Category γ c’ φ’ γ c’ φ’ c’=0,
(kN/m3) (kPa) (deg) (kN/m3) (kPa) (deg) φ’(deg)
18 20 25 20 0 18 18
1
(1) (10) (2.5) (1) (0) (3) (1.5)
18 30 28 20 15 23 18
2
(1) (15) (3) (1) (7.5) (2.5) (1.5)
18 50 30 20 20 25 18
3
(1) (15) (2) (1) (10) (2.5) (1.5)
18 50 35 20 0 30 28
4
(1) (15) (2.5) (1) (0) (1.5) (2)
(Parameter standard deviation in parentheses)

Bradfield et al. (2013) pointed out that the above
framework is not suitable in the very low stress range and
for very high dumps.
Based on direct shear tests performed on weak pit floor
material at the South Blackwater coal mine, Mallett et al.
(1983) (cited in Bradfield et al. 2013) inferred that accurate
shear strength models can only be achieved by testing
representative size samples of the stress range of interest.
Kainthola et al. (2011) conducted, consolidated drained
direct shear tests on dump material samples collected from
a failed dump slope of an open cast coal mine situated in
the Wardha valley coal field, India. They reported peak
cohesion and friction angle of the dump material in the
range of 85 kPa to 95 kPa and 23.5° to 25.5° respectively.

27

Verma et al. (2013) conducted tests on OB dump material
collected from 80 m high internal dump slope of an open-
cast coal mine in the Wardha valley coal field, India. They
reported cohesion and friction angle of the OB dump
material as 91 kPa and 25° respectively.
Poulsen et al. (2014) found cohesion and friction angle of
the OB dump material collected from a failed dump slope
of coal mine in the range of 27 kPa to 48 kPa and 25° to 34°.
Koner and Chakravarty (2015) carried out geotechnical
characterization of OB dump material collected from
various sites of external dumps of an open cast coal
mine located in the Wardha valley coal field, India. They
conducted compaction and shear tests on OB dump
material and found the average values of dry unit weight
varying between 14.88 kN/m3 and 18.10 kN/m3 and
cohesion and friction angle ranging between 5 kPa to 80
kPa and 20° to 45° respectively.
Dewangan et al. 2016 developed generalized peak shear
strength criteria for soft and weathered coal mine OB
material. The shear strength parameters were evaluated by
combining all the shear test results which were performed
at various moisture content, compaction density, stress
levels and material having a difference in gradations and
fragment sizes. The shear strength envelope so established
is presented in Figure 3 which gives apparent cohesion and
angle of internal friction angle of soft and weathered coal
mine OB dump material as 4.72 kPa and 31.21° respectively.
However, these values of apparent cohesion and angle of
internal friction of OB dump materials can be used for
designing up to a maximum height of 60 m.
Figure 3: Generalized shear strength envelope for soft and
weathered Coal mine OB dump material (Dewangan et al. 2016)
VI. Design Consideration
Selection of the dump site constitutes the primary step
28
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
for the OB dump design. The dumping site is restricted
by factors i.e., open-pit size and location, topographical
features of the considered area, surface and groundwater
flow, working boundaries, rehabilitation requirements
and foundation conditions. The information gathered
throughout mining exploration, i.e., topography, geology,
hydrology and climate etc. be effectively used for the
assessment and selection of a dumping site for waste rock
generated from mining activities.
Factors designate considered for selection of the dump site
are following - (1) Size of the dump area - The capacity of
the dump and its height will determine the size of the dump
site; (2) Presence of infrastructure and other features - The
haulage cost is given the prime importance while selecting
the site, neglecting the location of critical infrastructures.
In the event of failure, these features are severely affected,
causing high cost of dump failure; (3) Topography and
landforms - The sloping site lowers the safety factor of
dump stability, and hence present larger risks associated
with sliding than level sites. The study shows that the
FoS reduces with increase in floor slope dipping in an
unfavourable direction. Lands with irregular topography
influence stability; thus type of landforms essential be
known; (4) Soil Characteristics - The factor of safety is
higher for better soils for higher values of cohesion and
angle of internal friction respectively; (5) Rainfall - Areas
of high rainfall require special construction methods to
control run-offs and minimize infiltration; (6) Hydrology
- Study on the effect of the height of water table in waste
dump shows that increase in the height of water table in
a dump reduces factor of safety significantly; and (7)
Regional Seismicity - Seismicity affects the stability of
waste dumps depending on its degree of compaction, type
of dump material, and moisture content, so the study of the
regional seismicity is important.
The DSR system provides a semi-quantitative method
for assessing the relative potential of dump stability and
recommends the appropriate level of dumping investigation
and design (Table 4). This is based on individual point
ratings for each of the main factors affecting dump stability.
Each factor is given a point rating based on qualitative and/
or quantitative descriptions accounting for the possible
range of conditions. An overall DSR is calculated as
the sum of the individual ratings for each of the various
factors. The maximum possible DSR is 1800. It must be
recognized that the behaviour of a mine dump, and the
potential for instability, depends on a wide range of diverse
and interrelated factors, as discussed above. Not all of these
factors lend themselves to easy quantitative assessment.
Consequently, any comprehensive stability rating scheme
for mine dumps will be partially subjective. Similarly, no
rating scheme can hope to realistically evaluate all possible
permutations. To simplify the rating scheme for possible
practical application, four categories or Dump Stability
Classes have been defined, based on Dump Stability
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Ratings. Table 5 summarizes the four classes and ranges of DSR values for each class.

TABLE 4: DUMP STABILITY RATING (DSR) (BCMWRPRC, 1991a)

Key Factors Range of conditions or description Point Rating

Low < 50 m 0

Moderate 50-100 m 50
Dump Height
High 100-200 m 100

Very High > 200 m 200

Small < 1 x 106 BCM (bank cubic meters) 0

Dump Volume Medium < 1 x 10 -5 x 10 BCM

6 7
50

Large > 5 x 107 BCM 100

Flat < 26° 0

Dump Slope Moderate 26-35° 50

Steep > 35° 100

Flat < 10° 0

Moderate 10-25° 50
Foundation Slope
Steep 25-32° 100

Extreme > 32° 200

Concave in plan or section; valley or cross-valley fill, toe buttressed against

Confined opposite valley wall; incised gullies that can be used to limit the foundation slope 0
during development.

Degree of Confinement Moderately Natural benches or terraces on a slope; even slopes, limited natural topographic 50
Confined diversity; heaped, sidehill or broad valley or cross-valley fills.

A convex slope in plan or section; sidehill or ridge crest fill with no toe confinement,
Unconfined 100
and no gullies or benches to assist any development.

Foundation materials as strong or stronger than dump materials; not subject to

Competent 0
adverse pore pressure; no adverse geologic structure.

Intermediate between competent and weak; soils gain strength with consolidation;
Intermediate 100
Foundation Type adverse pore pressures dissipate if loading rate controlled.

Limited bearing capacity, soft soils; subject to adverse pore pressure generation
Weak upon loading; adverse groundwater conditions, springs or seeps; strength sensitive 200
to shear strain, potentially liquefiable.

High Strong, durable; less than ~10% fines 0

Dump Material Quality Moderate Moderately strong, variable durability; 10-20% fines 100

Poor Predominantly weak rocks of lower durability; greater than ~25% fines, overburden 200

Thin lifts (< 25m thick), wide platforms; dumping along contours; ascending
Favourable 0
construction; wraparounds or terraces.

Mixed Moderately thick lifts (25-50 m); mixed construction methods. 100
Method of Construction

Thick lifts (> 50 m), narrow platforms (sliver fills); dumping down the fall line of
Unfavourable 200
the slope; descending construction

29
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Low piezometric pressures, no seepage in foundation; development of phreatic

Favourable surface within dump unlikely; limited precipitation; minimal infiltration into 0
dump; no snow or ice layers in dump or foundation.

Moderate piezometric pressures, some seeps in foundation; limited development

Piezometric and Intermediate of phreatic surface within dump possible; moderate precipitation; high infiltration 100
Climatic Conditions into dump; discontinuous snow or ice lenses in dump or foundation

High piezometric pressures, springs in the foundation; high precipitation;

Unfavourable significant potential for the development of phreatic surface or perched water 200
tables in the dump; continuous layers of snow or ice in the dump or foundation

Slow < 25 BCM/m of crest/d; crest advancement rate < 0.1 m/d 0

Dumping Rate Moderate 25-200 BCM/m of crest/d; crest advancement rate 0.1-1.0 m/d 100

High > 200 BCM/m of crest/d; crest advancement > 1.0 m/d 200

Low Seismic Risk Zones 0 and 1 0

Seismicity Moderate Seismic Risk Zones 2 and 3 50

High Seismic Risk Zones 4 or higher 100

TABLE 5: DUMP STABILITY CLASSES AND RECOMMENDED LEVEL OF EFFORT (BCMWRPRC, 1991a)

Dump Stability Dump Stability Failure Recommended level of effort for

Rating(DSR) Class (DSC) Hazard Investigation, design and construction

Basic site reconnaissance, baseline documentation; minimal laboratory

< 300 I Negligible testing; routine check of stability, possibly using charts; minimal
restrictions on construction; visual monitoring only.

Thorough site investigation; test pits, sampling may be required; limited

laboratory index testing; stability may or may not influence design;
300-600 II Low
basic stability analysis required; limited restrictions on construction;
routine visual and instrument monitoring.

Detailed, phased site investigation; test pits required, drilling or other

subsurface investigations may be required; undisturbed sampling may
be required; detailed laboratory testing, including index properties,
shear strength & durability testing likely required; stability influences
& control design; detailed stability analysis, possibly including
600-1200 III Moderate
parametric studies, required; Stage II detailed design report may
be required for the approval/permitting; moderate restrictions on
construction (e.g. limiting loading rate, lift thickness, material quality);
detailed instrument monitoring required to confirm design, document
behavior & establish loading limits.

Detailed, phased site investigation; test pits, and possibly trenches,

required; drilling and possible other subsurface investigations probably
required; undisturbed sampling probably required; detailed laboratory
testing, including index properties, shear strength and durability
testing probably required; stability considerations paramount; detailed
> 1200 IV High stability analysis, probably including parametric studies and full
evaluation of alternatives probably required; Stage II detailed design
report probably required for approval/permitting; severe restrictions on
construction (e.g. limiting loading rate, lift thickness, material quality);
detailed instrument monitoring required to confirm design, document
behaviour and establish loading limits.

30
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
VII. CONCLUSIONS
Overall stability and improved mechanism of dumping is
a function of three factors: (a) Placement of materials; (2)
Control of water, and (3) Foundation. Safe and optimum
design of dumps requires a detailed study of different
geotechnical properties and detailed determination of
shear strength parameters of OB dump material in addition
to bearing capacity of foundation rock. Several factors,
i.e., groundwater content and seepage conditions; the
presence of geological structures, the effect of differential
settlements etc. affects the stability of dump and therefore
requires correct assessment by scientific methods. The
environmental problems during a dump construction
as well as reclamation requirements after the completion
of dumping have a direct impact on the designing of a
dump and must be taken into considerations. Closure
plan essential aim is to return the dumpsites to a state
like surrounding lands and to ensure long-term physical
stability (slope stability) and chemical stability of the waste.
Reference
1. Blight, G.E., 1969. Shear stability of dumps and dams of gold
mining waste. Trans. South Afr. Inst. Civil Eng. 11, 46-49.
2. Bradfield, L., Simmons, J. and Fityus, S. 2013. Issues related to
stability design of very high spoil dumps. Proceedings of 13th
Coal Operators Conference, The University of Wollongong,
pp. 376-386.
3. British Columbia Mine Waste Rock Dump Research
Committee, BCMWRPRC (1991b). Operating and
Monitoring Manual. Interim Guidelines, Klohn Leonoff Ltd.,
Canada.
4. British Columbia mine waste rock pile research committee.
1991a. Mined rock and overburden piles. Investigation and
Design Manual, Interim Guidelines, North Vancouver, pp.
1-177.
5. Caldwell, J.A., Moss, A.S.E., 1981. Simplified stability
analysis. In: Proceedings of Design of Non-Impounding
Waste Dumps, American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical,
and Petroleum Engineers (AIME), New York, pp. 47-61.
6. Campbell, B.D., Shaw, W.H., 1986. Performance of a waste
rock dump on moderate to steeply sloping foundation. In:
Proceedings of First International Symposium on Stability in
Coal Mining, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, pp. 395-
405.
7. Campbell, D.B., 1981. Construction and performance in
mountainous terrain. In: Proceedings of Workshop on
Design of Non-Impounding Mine Waste Dumps, Society
for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME), USA,
November.
8. Campbell, D.B., 1986. Stability and performance of waste
dumps on steeply sloping terrain. In: Proceedings of
International Symposium Geotechnical Stability in Surface
Mining, Calgary, November.
9. CANMET, 1977. Pit Slope Manual, Chapter 8-Monitoring,
Ministry of Supply and Services, Canada, Report 77-s15.
10. Chaulya, S. K., and Prasad, B. M., Sensing and Monitoring
Technologies for Mines and Hazardous Areas, (2016), Ch-1,
pp 1- 86, Elsevier Inc.
11. Crossby, W.A., 1983. Design of waste rocks, Australian
Mineral Foundation Workshop Course No-228/ 23, pt. I-D3,
pp. 71-91.
12. Dewangan P. K., Pradhan M. and Ramtekkar G.D., 2016.
Generalized Shear Strength Criteria for Soft and Weathered
Coal Mine Overburden Dump Materials, Academic Journal
of Science, 06 (01): 131-146.
13. Fityus, S., Hancock, G. and Wells, T. September 2008.
Geotechnical characteristics of coal mine spoil. Australian
Geomechanics 43 (3), pp. 13-22.
14. Forbe, P. J., 1984. Dynamic effects in waste dumps and tailings
dams. Trans. Inst. Min. Metall. Assoc. 93, A197-A202.
15. Glass, C.E., 1981. Influence of earthquakes. In: Proceedings
of Workshop on Design of Non-Impounding Mine Waste
Dumps, SME, November.
16. Hawley, P.M., and Cunning, J. (2017), Guidelines for Mine
Waste Dump and Stockpile Design, CRC Press, USA.
17. Hoek, E. and Bray J. W., 1981. Rock slope engineering.
Revised Third Edition: Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
18. Iverson, R.M., 2000. Slope failure triggering by rain
infiltration. Water Resour. Res. Geol. Surv. 36, 1897-1910.
19. Kainthola, A., Verma, D. and Singh, T.N. 2011. Computational
analysis for the stability of black cotton soil bench in open
cast coal mine in Wardha valley coalfield, Maharashtra,
India. International Journal of Economic and Environmental
Geology 2 (1), pp. 11-18.
20. Koner, R. and Chakravarty, D. 2015. Characterization of
overburden dump material: A case study from Wardha
valley coal field. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the
Environment, pp. 1-13
21. Lau, R.K., Perez, A., Khahn, J., 1986. Design, construction
and performance of sidehill waste dumps at byron creek
colliery in Corbin; British Columbia. In: Proceedings of
International Symposium on Geotechnical Stability in
surface Mining, Calgary, pp. 331.
22. Linero, S., Palma, C. and Apablaza, R. 2007. Geotechnical
characterization of waste material in very high dumps with
large scale triaxial testing. Proceedings of International
Symposium on Rock Slope Stability in Open Pit Mining and
Civil Engineering. 12-14 September, Perth, Australia, pp. 59-
75.
23. Mathur, S. P., and Singh, N.K.,Coal Mining & Management,
Vol-1, Ch-5, Slope Stability Study in Open Cast Mining, pp
no. 1-14, KhananPrakashan, 2012.
24. Nichols, R. S. 1986. Rock segregation in waste dumps in
flow through rock drains. Proceedings of the International
symposium convened at the Inn of the South Cranbroo B. C.,
8-11 Sept., pp. 105-120.
31

Energy Conservation in Conveyor Drive head stations
with Variable Voltage and Variable Frequency (VVVF)
Drives based on Dynamic Loading of conveyors
Jagadeesh Chandra Mazumdar
Chief General Manager,
Unit Head, Mine-II,NLC India Limited,
Neyveli-607803, Tamilnadu, India
Nunavath Bansilal
Executive Engineer,
Mine-II,NLC India Limited, Neyveli-607803
Tamilnadu, India, bansilal.n@nlcindia.in
Abstract — This paper was proposed based on the Ex-
perience had from Contactor Logic Dive heads with Resis-
tive mode, PLC based Drive heads with VVVF drive mode
Installed in NLC India Limited’s Lignite Mines, the conveyor
system used for overburden soil load transfer from excava-
tion area to dumping area. The Drive head’s primary and sec-
ondary consist of 4 No’s of slip ring induction motors rated
capacity of 1250KW,these motors are working with always
full speed and without speed/torque control , so that it leads
degradation of conveyor and motor life.
As we know that the VVVF Drives will save high amount
of energy based on speed and percentage loading of the con-
veyor system and it reduces wear and tear of mechanical
equipments due to smooth starting of conveyer system and
reduced strain in belts, thus Belt life also increased. But The
existing method consist of 4x1250 KW motors were running
continuously without speed and torque control and it draws
more energy compare with controlled speed technology.
Hence in this paper it was proposed to control the speed of
the 2400mm width conveyor system over 2KM length based
upon dynamic loading of conveyor using VVVF Drives to re-
duce starting torque and load detecting switching system.
. In this study we have compared energy consumption and
performance of the drive head in various starting methods i.e.
Resistive starting in Contactor logic driveheads, VVVF Drive
starting and controlled by SIEMENS PLC-system using SIE-
MENS Drive (STARTER) and PLC (SIMATIC MANAGER)
software. The average power savings obtained for 20 hr’s per
day. Energy consumption per year reduced from 12191000
KWH to 9772875 KWH which is equal to 21 % saved. The an-
32
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Lunavath Hemsingh
Executive Engineer,
Mine-II,NLC India Limited,
Neyveli-607803, Tamilnadu, India
lunavat.h@nlcindia.in
nual costs of power consumption saving is Rs.12, 090,625, re-
sulting in the payback period after investing to be 19 months.
The system also monitored Real time data from control room
using wireless technology.
Keywords— Drive head Station, BWE (Bucket Wheel Ex-
cavator),VVVF Drives, Dynamic Loading of Conveyor, Energy
Conservation Siemens software, PLC, Wireless modem.
I. Introduction
Conveyor systems, often called conveyor belts, work by
using two pulleys that continually loop over the material
that rotates over them. The belt is then supported by a
series of rollers along the path. The roller in the center
of the device prevents the conveyor from sagging in the
middle while it is carrying a load.
In general Conveyer Drive head systems were equipped with
three or Four motors depends on length of the conveyor /
current rating and load on the conveyor system, the length
of the conveyor around 1.8KM with a power capacity of
4x1250KW (2400mm Steal core conveyer) motors. These
motors are started by using rotor resistance technique
or VVVF drive systems. Some of the conveyors working
without PLC technique and most of the conveyors are
working with PLC Technique along with variable Voltage
and Variable Frequency conditions. Typical Conveyor
drive head picture is shown below Fig.1.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Fig. 1. Typical Conveyor drive head in contactor logic
A. Programble Logic Controller (PLC)
As a part of technology upgradation / control of the
system in a simple way the conveyor system converted
from conatcator logic conveyor drive head station to PLC
control drive head station. SIEMENS make S7-400 PLC
system used for logic development ,commissioning etc done
within a stipulated time. Humen machine interface(HMI)
installed in every drive head station with necessary screen
development done with process input/output information
along with alarm and events information. An additional
device communication module also configured for the
purpose of remote monitoring and trouble shooting of the
conveyor drive head status from remote control room.
A Siemens make PLC controller S7-400 configurred
as master and all individual drives configurred as
slaves. all drives will communicate to CPU via Profibus
communication interface with a speed of 1.5 Mbps.
The Hardware configuration of CPU and individual drive
networking diagram as shown in Fig.2.[1]
Fig. 2. Conveyor PLC Hardware configuration scheme
PLC system CPU used for commissioning of all 4 drives
via profibus communication system. Communication
processor CP443 used for wireless communication to
control room via wireless modems.
The conveyor PLC status monitoring and diagnostics can
be done from control room. The wireless communication
networking configured using 2.4 Ghz frequency modems
with suitable antenna.
B. Variable Voltage Variable Frequency (VVVF) Drive
A new innovation in Power Electronics Devices leads to
Variable Voltage Variable Frequency Drives shortly called
as “ VVVF ” It is technology used in Electrical drives ,
where there requires a Variable speed, i.e. 0- 100 % speed
irrespective of Torque, either at 100% or at 0 %. Till the
invention VVVF technology, normally - DC motors were
used for variable speed drives and Slip Ring motors in
applications where heavy starting torque is required.
In principle the 3 phase LT/ HT AC is first converted into
DC using the latest Power Electronics components like
IGBT (Insulated Gate Bi- Polar Transistors). Then this DC
is once again converted in to AC at variable voltage and at
variable frequency depending upon the Torque and Speed
requirement respectively. So the VVVF system consists of a
Converter and an Inverter in general. For example the 415
V ac 3 phase 50 Hz is converted into 0 – 415 volts ac at
0 – 300 Hz frequency in the VVVF Unit .
Different manufacturers use different technologies like DTC,
AFE etc to achieve this VVVF.This VVVF drives a Squirrel cage
induction motor to achieve the variable speed applications as
well as high starting torque applications. Normally the squirrel
cage motor cost is almost 1/4th of a Slip ring motors and its
1/8th of that of a DC motor. In addition to that the maintenance
cost of both DC motors and Slip ring Motors are also not
economical. Fig.3. Typical diagram as follows [2]
Fig. 3. Typical diagram of Converter and Inverter circuit
Since an induction motor rotates near synchronous speed,
the most effective and energy-efficient way to change the
motor speed is to change the frequency of the applied
33

voltage. VFDs convert the fixed-frequency supply voltage
to a continuously variable frequency, thereby allowing
adjustable motor speed. A VFD converts 50 Hz power, for
example, to a new frequency in two stages: the rectifier
stage and the inverter stage [3].
II. Starting Of Conveyer Drive Heads
A. Rotor Resistance Control
In general Conveyer Drive head systems were equipped
with three or four motors; it may vary from 75 KW (for
fabric conveyer LK Kiosk) to 1250 KW (for 2400mm Steal
core conveyer) each. These motors are started by using
rotor resistance technique or VVVF drive systems.
In general rotor resistance starting shown in Fig.4, are used
to have high starting torque with reduced starting current.
But in Conveyer drive head systems are designed to develop
optimum starting torque in discrete step by step manner.
Hence high staring current is minimized.
3Ph
M
M
R6R
R5R
R4R
R3R
R2R
R1R
Fig. 4. Rotor resistance Control of Slip Ring Induction Motor
Motor Starting is designed with six step rotor resistance
control. Induction motor is designed to start at rated motor
34
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
full load Torque (Tn). Between every rotor step switching
motor torque designed to vary from Tn to less than twice of
Tn. Never motor is allowed to go up to Pull out torque (Tp)
and Pull out torque is 2.9 times of rated Torque (Tn).[3]
B. VVVF Drive Starting And Control
VVVF drives start the motor with linear Torque and current
raise. This minimises the strain in the belt during starting.
VVVF drives provides the facility to control the Load flow,
hence conveyer speed may be reduced with reduction of
load, this may reduce wear and tear of mechanical items like
Rollers, Drums, Gear box etc. The general purpose AC motor
drives typically provide Constant flux into the induction
motor. Since the motor flux is the ratio of the voltage to
the frequency (V/f) applied to The motor, this ratio is held
constant to achieve constant flux Operation. The motor
current increases almost linearly with Load. Conveyor belts
and other frictional loads require such profiles.
This method will work based on the Reference value given
By PLC or individual operator from field.The actual value
Of motor speed will be detected via encoder module and it
will transfer data from Encoder module to Drives control
unit via drive cliq communication cable.
Fig. 6. Closed
loop speed /
torque control
Diagram
Fig. 7. Motor starting Torque with/without VVVF DRIVE
III. Energy Consumption
A. Rotor Resistance Control
Each Drive head motors rating of 4x1250 KW will work on
continuous operation with rotor resistance control.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Average running Hr’s of drive head system in NLC mines with variable speed application.Conveyor acceleartion and
is around 20Hrs/Day. Because of degraded life of conveyor deceleration programmed from VVVF Drive.Because of
belt, most of the times only one machine will work or two VVVF drive commissioned at load end so that the effective
machines will work at 50% of loading of conveyor. power factor improved from 0.23 to 0.76 and incoming line
Rotor Resistance control method will applicable only during power factor doen not effected.
starting condition due to high torque requirement to drive While starting Conveyor follows starting and stopping
the conveyor. The speed or torque cannot control with this conditions as per acceleration and deceleration time to
method so it will run always with full speed irrespective of run the conveyor in smooth manner.
conveyor loading. Due to heavy inductive load the power
factor always very low i.e. PF=0.23.
There are 2 No’s of energy meters installed in drive head to
monitor performance of the conveyor during starting and
running condition.For the purpose of energy consumption
calculation the respective energy meter reading recorded
and plots were drawn as follows.

Fig. 9. Motor Torque,Voltage,load current waveforms

Table II. Energy Consumption With VVVF Fixed Speed Method

ENERGY CONSUMPTION WITH VVVF DRIVES

Meter

Meter

consumption
individual motors (GWH)

Average Machine Running

Energy Consumption per

Energy Cost at Rs. 5.0

Day in KWH (G=F*E)
Fig. 8. Energy consumption over a duration of 1 Hr
Energy Meter Name

Initial Energy
Reading (GWH)

Reading (GWH)
Energy

Table I. Energy Consumption With Resistive Starting Method

(E=D-C) KWH

per Day in Hr’s

(H=G*5)
Energy
SI.NO

Final

A B C D E F G H
1 EA4 28.073926 28.0746 1372
20 27400 137200
2 EA5 26.981666 26.9824

From above table states that per hour 1670 KWH of energy
consumed, average conveyor running per day around 20
Hr’s and Energy consumption per day 33,400 units at a cost
of Rs.1,67,000.
B. VVVF Drive Control Method
Variable voltage variable frequency(VVVF) Drive
commissioned at respective drive head motors with smooth
starting and stopping purpose and it was not configured
From above table states that per hour 1372 KWH of energy
consumed, average conveyor running per day around 20
Hr’s and Energy consumption per day 27,440 units at a cost
of Rs.1,37,200.
The energy consumption of VVVF fixed speed method is
reduced compare with resistive starting method.
Cost reduction done with the above method but conveyor
life degradation occurred and waste of energy during
empty conveyor ruuning condition and while starting
torque can not controlled manner.This problem further
praposed a conveyor line speed changing based on loading
of individual machines loads.So that the power factor will
improve close to unity and energy will save.

35
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

IV. Speed Variation of Conveyor Line reduction is initiated. While both BWEs were operat-
The speed variation philosophy is based on the following ing, the conveyor line would have been operating at ei-
ther 65% or 75% or 85% or 96% speed. If the line is al-
principles,[6]. ready working at 65% speed, then there is no need
1. It should be done while ensuring the safety of people for any change in speed. The maximum time re-
and equipment. quired for clearing the material at the lowest possi-
ble speed (75% speed) is 7.41minutes. It would not be ap-
2. It should be done to achieve the optimum usage of en-
propriate to initiate the speed reduction unless the entire
ergy.
higher load of material has been cleared from the NS1 con-
3. It should be done by avoiding hunting in the speeds. veyor. Hence the speed of NS1 will be reduced to 65% after
4. It should be comprehensive for different operating time more than 7.41 minutes. The present time set is 10 min-
conditions of the plant. utes. After the command for speed reduction of NS1 is giv-
5. It should be done,keeping in mind the future convey- en the logic waits for another 10 minutes, before initiating the
or length extensions. speed reduction command to NS2. Then it waits for an-
other 10minutes before speed of NS3 can be reduced and so on
While developing the conveyor speed variation philoso-
till NS6 operates at 65% speed. In case second BWE starts
phy, the basic conveyor line data is used.
in the intermediate stage of this speed reduction se-
Maximum speed conveyor ‐ 5.4 m/sec. quence, then the speed of the line is increased to 96% [7
Maximum length of conveyor‐ 1800 mtrs.
Operation with Both BWE
TABLE III. TIME TAKEN FOR CLEARING THE SOIL LOAD IN After restarting of the line, if both the BWEs s
MINUTES
tart, then the speed is immediately increased to 96%
and it remains at that level for next 5 minutes. This en-
Time taken for clearing the soil load in minutes
sures than there is no possibility of chute blocking
100% 96% 85% 75% 65% 55% due to existing material on the conveyor line and the
discharge boom of the BWEs. After running the
5.4 m/ 5.18 4.59 4.05 3.51 2.97
Sec m/Sec m/Sec m/Sec m/Sec m/Sec line with 96% speed for five minutes, the gateway PLC de-
cides the conveyor line speed based on the loading pat-
5.56 5.80 6.54 7.41 8.55 10.11 tern. From the instant of detection of start of sec-
min min min Min min min ond BWE (prior to that only one BWE was operational), then
To avoid hunting of speed of the conveyors, the conveyor the line speed is immediately increased to 96% and it re-
speeds remain fixed for certain band of TPH loading. mains at that level for next 5 minutes. After running the
Upto 60% loading - 65% speed line with 96% speed for five minutes, the gateway PLC de-
cides the co veyor line speed based on the loading pattern.
Between 60 to 75 % loading - 75% speed
Between 75 to 90 % loading - 85% speed The speed increase command is given to all the convey-
ors simultaneously to avoid chute blocking.
More than 90 % loading ‐ 96% speed
Empty Conveyor line - 55% speed III. Speed And Torque Control of
Conveyor
At the time of fresh start of line :
Whenever the line restarts without BWE, it starts with
the speed at which it had stopped earlier.
Operation with One BWE  :
After restaing the line, if one of the BWE starts, then com-
mand is isued to all DHS PLCs to change the speed of the con-
veyor line from the existing speed to 65%. In a sit-
uation, where both BWEs were running and one
of the BWE stops then the line speed is reduced
to 65% in phased manner. This ensures that the high-
er loads on the conveyor line are cleared before the speed Fig. 10. Speed ,Torque, Current Output

36
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Fig.10. shows that the initial switching on condition of

conveyor drive head systems with smooth starting and
stopping with controlled speed. Initial Torque was purily
dependent on Motor current which is almost same. Speed
Reference given from PLC and motor actaul speed senced
by speed inremental encoder [5] .

Table IV. Energy Consumption With Dynamic Speed Of Conveyor

ENERGY CONSUMPTION WITH DYNAMIC LOADING

OF CONVEYOR
Total Energy
Motor Belt Belt Belt NO.Hr's Cumulative
Energy Consumed
Rating Loading speed Load in Run Energy(K-
consumed per 20
(KW) (%ge) (%ge) KW (Hr's) WH)
per 14 Hr's Hr's(KWH)

B C D E F G H
Fig. 11. Online motitoring of overburden conveyors
I

1250 20 55 0-1000 5 4159.375

All drive head stations and Bucket wheel excavators data
was transferred using Ethernet based wireless modems to a
1000-
1250 60 65
1800
7 9611.875 common control room.All individual machines data were
18743.0415 tranferred using GSM Cloud based RTU system.The above
1800-
1250 60-75 75
2800
1 2109.375 system it is very easy to identify faults, real time monitoring
2800- of electrical,machanicalparameters from control room.
1250 75-90 85 0.5 1535.3125
3500 Energy consumption and reports also generated from
1250 >90 96 >3500 0.3 1327.104 26775.77357
control room using siemens WINCC V7.2 software.
From above table states that the average conveyor running
per day around 20 Hr’s and Energy consumption per day is
26775 units at a cost of Rs.1,33,875.[3] IV. Advantages of VVVF Drive System
1. Adustable conveyor speed will do Flexible operation
The detailed comparision of all methods considering
according to the requirements of beneficiation
energy consumption,cost reduction and energy saving
plants.
report as shown in Table.V.
2. Creep speed operation and Noise level Reduction.
Table V. Energy Saving Comparision 3. Variable speed at the motor shaft maintaining torque
producing capability of the motor .
ENERGY SAVING WITH VARIABLE SPEED METHOD
4. Controlled acceleration & deceleration
Energy Energy Energy 5. Protection against abnormal conditions
consumption Saving Saving Energy Cost Approximate Payback
Method Per Day Units per Units per @ Rs. 5.0 Drive Cost time 6. Speed control and torque control
(20 Hr's per day(KWH) Year(KWH) (F=E*5) (Rs) (Months)
Day) KWH (D=C1-C3) (E=365*D)) 7. Controlled Starting and stopping points prevents
overflow at discharge points
B C D E F G H
8. Power factor improved from 0.3 to 0.974 .
Resistance starting 33400.00
VVVF Starting 27440.00 6625.00 2418125.00 120906125.00 20000000 19.00
9. Energy saving
VVVF Controlled
Speed
26775.00 10. Easy to troubleshoot or commissioning of drives.
11. Improves conveyor life
Above Table shows that the energy saving achieved per 12. Improves the mechanical gear box performance.
day @ 6625 Units of energy. The energy saved per year
13. Belt life increases which is directly impact on Profit of
@ 2418125 Units,cost saved per year @ Rs.5.0/unit is
the plant.
Rs.12090625.00
14. Easy to simulate and trace the all function of motors
ONLINE monitoring system for Mines conveyor.

37

i.e Torque,current, DC link voltage,Motor output
voltage,Reference Speed , Actual Speed and slip etc.
15. Cost reduction of process system.
V. Conclusions
Based on above study the following conclusions are drawn:
In NLC mines all overburden conveyors are almost
1.5 to 2.0 Km long and most of the times the conveyors
damages,degradation of conveyor life because of smooth
starting and stopping analysis not included and all
conveyors are running with rotor resistance control only.
As we know that Energy conservation is a very important
in mining activities and most of the power consumed by
conveyor drive heads only. In this paper to avoid sudden
starting of conveyor with jerk and conservation of energy
achieved with a new art of technology drives namely
variable voltage variable frequency (VVVF) control with
chnaging of conveyor speed based on Bucket Wheel
Exacavators (BWE) loading capacity.
As energy conservation in conveyor drive heads
A slip ring induction motor starting with rotor resistance
has consumed energy per day 33400 KWH and amount
utilised @Rs.5.0/Unit=167000.
By using a VVVF drive configurred with full speed without
changing of speed,torque to a slip ring induction motor
has consumed energy per day 27440 KWH and amount
utilised @Rs.5.0/Unit=137200.
By using VVVF drive with closed loop speed and torque
control configurred based on dynamic loading of conveyor
with speed variation of conveyor system. Enegy consumed
with this method per day 26775 KWH and amount utilised
@Rs.5.0/Unit= 133875.
By commissioning VVVF method, the system performance
improved, wear and tear of mechanical equipments due to
smooth starting of conveyer system and reduced strain in
38
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
belts, thus Belt life also increased.
Energy conservation achived by installing VVVF Drive
per year 2418125 KWH, Cost saved @ Rs. 5.0/Unit=
Rs.12090625 and the pay back period for the system is 19
months.
Apart from energy conservation a wireless link established
in respective drive head stations to monitor the system
from control room.
References
[1] Vaibhav Gupta” Speed control of induction motor
using PLC/SCADA” IRJET,Vol.5,issue:03,march-2016.
[2] Gourambika, M. S. Aspalli “Speed Control of Three
Phase Induction Motor by VVVF method using
G7/A-1000 Drive ” International Journal of Recent
Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) ISSN: 2277-
3878, Volume-3 Issue-4, September 2014 .
[3] Neetha John, Mohandas , Suja C Rajappan “ Energy
Saving Mechanism Using Variable Frequency Drives
” International Journal of Emerging Technology and
Advanced Engineering, Volume 3, Issue 3, March
2013.
[4] Tawanda. Mushiri Member, IAENG and Charles.
Mbohwa” Design of a Power Saving Industrial
Conveyor System” world congress on engineering
and computer science,2016 vol-II,october
19-21,sanfranscisco,USA.
[5] Stephen Prachyl, Variable Frequency Drives and
Energy Savings.
[6] Conveyor Design documents of NLC India limited’s
Mines-II.
[7] PLC,Drives maintenance documents of NLCIL
Mines.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
To Extract Inter Mine Boundary (IMB) of Pureva Top,
Pureva Bottom & Turra Seam by Highwall Continuous
Miner (Hcm) – Exploring Possibility
A K Tiwari*
AMIE (MINING), M.TECH. (Part-time Student)
Dy Mgr (M), Dudichua Project, NCL, CIL
Singrauli, India
anantk.tiwari@gmail.com
S K Jha
Project Officer, Dudichua Project, NCL, CIL
Singrauli, India
Skjha.7309@coalindia.in
Abstract — This paper aims on exploring possibility of
recovering inter mine boundary (IMB) by using Highwall
mining Technology using ADDCAR equipped with remotely
operated Highwall Continuous Miner (HCM) followed by
a series of material transfer cars. Due to technical param-
eters and taking into consideration of safety parameters, a
lot of coal are being left which may have impact on profit,
production and productivity (PPP). This research paper also
concentrates to develop an organic link within the stringent
regulation by DGMS, provisions of Environmental Clearanc-
es & Forest Clearances and other statutory provisions with
PPP. The area selected for this study falls in Sonbhadra/Sin-
grauli district of Uttar Pradesh/ Madhya Pradesh (Latitude
24007’15.55”N to 24010’23.37”N & Longitude 82039’49.19”E
to 82042’41.08”E). 192.383 MT of coal comprising of 114.66
MT of Dudhichua-Khadia IMB and 77.723 MT of Dudhich-
ua-Jayant IMB are estimated to be locked in the study area.
The coal deposits are of Barakar formation of Pureva Top,
Pureva Bottom & Turra seams.
The swotting reveals that this model pf extraction IMB
coal is an economical (+ Rs 2510.60 Cr to revenue, 3980.308
Cr to State Exchequer), low carbon and climate resilient.
Contribution of HM in GHG emission in the extraction pro-
cess of coal will be only 7% of total GHG emission which feign
to be environmental friendly. This study puts on fact of sav-
ing Greenhouse gas emission in the tune of 890 to 8800 tes
of CO2e per cut and 0.044 to 0.439 Million tes of CO2e in
totality compared to normal extraction. This model will help
the mine managers in enhancing their PPP, reducing safety
risk but also help in conserving natural resources for the na-
Bipin Kumar
Area GM, Dudichua Project, NCL, CIL
Singrauli, India
gmdch.ncl@coalindia.in
Dr Manoj Kumar
PhD, B Tech, MTech, MBA, LLB, APGDRE,
PGDELP, Manager(M), E&F Deptt , CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
manoj.kumar2@students.teriuniversity.ac.in
tion alongwith restricting GHG emission in achieving nation
intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) under
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
Keywords— HCM, IMB, Extraction, GHG, PPP
I. Introduction
High wall mining (HCM) is a proven technology in USA &
Australia to extract the blocked coal in non-workable seam and
the coal blocked in the high wall of Open Cast Mine (OCP). In
USA, HCM contribute 04% share of total coal production. In
India the HCM is nascent stage. So far only three HCM are being
worked; first by South Eastern Coalfields Limited at Sharda open
cast mine (OCM), second by Singreni Collieries Ltd. At RG II OCP
and third by Tata Steel Ltd. at West Bokaro OCP. Existing method
of extraction of coal includes developing contours, trenches,
highwall and benches and named accordingly as Contouring
method, Trenching method, Highwalling method and benching
method. In present study a extraction of coal is proposed through
a new methodology namely “Inter mine boundary” method (Self
Concept). Presently two numbers of HCM are working in
study area.
II. Objective & Study Area
A. Objective
To Develop a model for exploring possibility of recovering inter
mine boundary (IMB) by using Highwall mining Technology
using ADDCAR equipped with remotely operated Highwall
39
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Continuous Miner (HCM) followed by a series of material

transfer cars.

B. Study Area
This research paper is limited to Pureva Top, Pureva
Bottom & Turra seams (Fig. 1) of Barakar formation
Dudhichua-Khadia IMB and Dudhichua-Jayant IMB..
The study area is located in Sonbhadra/Singrauli district of
Uttar Pradesh/ Madhya Pradesh (Latitude 24007’15.55”N
to 24010’23.37”N & Longitude 82039’49.19”E to
82042’41.08”E) (Fig. 2).

Fig. 3 : HCM

A.2 ADDCAR (Fig. 2) : ADDCAR are used for

transportation of coal & movement of cutting head.

Fig. 4 : ADD CAR

Not to Scale

Fig. 1 : Section showing the (a) IMB DUDHICHUA – KHADIA,

(b) DUCHICHUA – JAYANT

Fig. 5 : Layout
B. IMB (Fig 5) – Layout of IMB method is shown at fig. 5.
C. Methodology
The methodology for this study are -
1. Defining Physical & System boundary boundary.
Fig. 2 :Location of Study Area 2. Data Collection
3. Data Analysis
III. Material & Methodology
4. Calculation of PPP
A. Equipment under Study 5. Calculation of Carbon footprint
A.1 HCM – The present study revolves round HCM (Fig. 6. Result
1). 2 numbers of equipment are presently deployed in the
study Area. 7. Interpretation
8. Conclusion

40
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

D. Equation Used April 2019 for two different HCM deployed at study
For calculating GHG emission for individual equipment Dudhichua of NCL. The electric consumption were
following empirical relation developed by Manoj & tabulated at Table 2.
Sangeeta et. al. 2015 were used.
TABLE II. Electricity Consumption for equipment under study.
(1)
Where, Equipment Electricity Consumption in KWH

TE = Total emission in kg HCM -1 79481.4

ES = Emission due to various activity level HCM-2 89250.0

----------------- (2) Total 168731.4

Production of coal in tons were collected for both the

Profitability can be calculated using
equipment under study and tabulated at table 3. The exact
Pr = P x SP x Ғ1 -------------------------------- (3)
consumption of lubricants used were not available as such
Where, a figure of 200 liters/ 60000 tes of coal production was
Pr = Profitabilty in Rs. Cr. assumed for this research work and equipment wise as
P = Production of coal in MT estimated are tabulated at Table 3.
MT = Million Tonns TABLE III. Coal Production and estimated Lubricant Consumption
SP=Selling price of Coal in Tes for equipment under study.

Ғ1 = Multiplying factor = 102 Estimated Lubricant

Equipment Coal Production in Tes
Consumption in liters

Exchequers to government can be calculated as HCM -1 60000 300

HCM-2 60000 300
Ę = Pr x Ғ2 ----------------------------------------(4)
Total 120000 600
Where,
Pr = Profitabilty in Rs. Cr. Sale price of coal were collected from website of northern
Ғ1 = Multiplying factor = 40% (Assumed) coalfield and tabulated at Table 4

IV. Data Collection TABLE IV. Sale price of Coal for study Area.
Coal locked in different IMB wise were estimated and
Grade of Coal Sale Price in Rs/te
complied at Table 1.
HCM -1 1061
TABLE I. Estimated Reserves at Study Area HCM-2 1061

Estimated Reserves Total 1061

Location Name of Seam
in MT
Purva Top Seam 15
V. Data Analysis
Khadia IMB

By using information compiled at table 1, coal extraction

Dudhichua

Purva Bottom Seam 26

Turra Seam 74
per cut were estimated seamwise and tabulated at table 5.

Sub Total (A) 115 TABLE V. Estimated Coal per Cut at Study Area
Purva Top Seam 3
Location Name of Seam Estimated Reserves in MT
Jayant IMB
Dudhichua

Purva Bottom Seam 8

Turra Seam 66 Purva Top Seam 0.3
Khadia IMB
Dudhichua

Purva Bottom Seam 0.54

Sub Total (B) 78
Turra Seam 1.512
Grand Toal (A+B) 193
Sub Total (A) 2.352

Electricity Consumption were collected for month of

41
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

TABLE VII. Scope wise Classification of emission inventory of Study Area.

Purva Top Seam 0.06
Jayant IMB
Dudhichua

Purva Bottom Seam 0.162 Scope Classifi-

Emission inventory Type of emission
Turra Seam 1.296 cation
Usages of lubricants Scope 3 Indirect
Sub Total (B) 1.518 Electricity Consumption Scope 2 Indirect
Source: Kumar Manoj & Sangeeta et. al (2015)
Grand Toal (A+B) 3.87
Ref : TABLE 1
For calculating GHG emission equation (1) and equation
(2) at Section III (D) were used. Emission factor were ap-
VI. Calculation of PPP proximated at tabulated at table 8.
TABLE VIII. Measured Emission in Study Area
A. Productivity
(As per measured set of Data)
Productivity was calculated using equation (3) as
mentioned at section III(D). It comes to Rs. 2510.60 Cr to Equipment HCM-1 HCM-2 Total
revenue. (Table 6).
Electricity 79481.4 89250 168731.4
TABLE VI. Profit & Exchequers for model developed for study area
Lubricants 300 300 600
Estimat-
Prof- Production 60000 60000 120000
ed ex- Exche-
Loca- it in
Name of Seam traction quer in
tion Rs. EFNEWNEgrid 1.131 1.131 1.131
in in Rs. Cr
Cr
MT
CFNEWNEgrid 4.56 4.56 4.56
Purva Top Seam 15
ODULUB
Khadia IMB

0.2 0.2 0.2

Dudhichua

Purva Bottom Seam 26

Turra Seam 74 Carbon Content (kg C/GJ) 20 20 20

Sub Total (A) 115 NCV (TJ/Gg) 40.2 40.2 40.2

2510 Crs

3980 Crs

Purva Top Seam 3 NCV (GJ/kg) 0.0402 0.0402 0.0402

Jayant IMB
Dudhichua

Purva Bottom Seam 8 Lube oil Density (kg/liter) 0.9 0.9 0.9
Turra Seam 66 Carbon Content (kg C/kg) 0.804 0.804 0.804
Sub Total (B) 78 CCLlub in kg CO2/Litrs 0.7236 0.7236 0.7236

Grand Toal (A+B) 193 CO2 /C RATIO 3.667 3.667 3.667

GHG Emission due to Electric
89893 100942 190835
B. Exchequer consmption in kg
GHG emission due to power
Amount of Exchequer to the government include Royal 19713 22136 41850
loss in kg
for coal, Royalty for washing if any, District mining GHG Emission due to electrici-
fund, coal cess, stowing charges etc. To run this model it 109606 123078 232685
ty purchased in kg
has been assumed as 40%. For present study it comes to GHG emission due to Lubricant
159 159 318
Rs. 3980.308 Crs (Table 6). consumption in kg
Total GHG Emission due to
109765 123237 233003
Equipment Working
VII. Calculation of Carbon Footprint GHG Emission per ton of coal
1.829417 2.05395 1.941692
production (kg /ton)
Calculation of carbon footprint was limited to IMB of
Dudhichua as system boundary and HCM as physical
The result of table 8 were utilized for comparing GHG
boundary as per Intergovernmental Panel for Climate
Change (IPCC) and DEFRA guidelines. For this study emission with other excavating equipment. It were found
GHG emission were assumed and limited to CO2 emission. that emissions to be generated by using HCM is little more
The emission inventory used for this study were classified than surface miner and too less than different types of
into Scope 2 & Scope 3 as per IPCC (Table 7). The emission other conventional excavating equipment like shovel and
from other inventory is assumed to be nil for this study. payloader. The GHG emissions per cut and cumulative
basis are tabulated at table 9 & Table 10 respectively.

42
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TABLE IX. Estimated GHG emission per cu basis in tCO2e From result of table 9 & Table 10 the GHG emission of HCM and
other equipment and compiled at table 11.
Name
Location of FEL ES EoHS DoHS SM HM
Seam TABLE XI. Scopewise Classification of emission inventory of Study
Purva Area.
Top 879 651 987 1266 126 582
Comparision from HCM
Dudhichua Khadia IMB

Seam Emis-
Cumula- (+/-)
Purva Equip- sion
tive emis-
Bottom 1582 1172 1777 2279 227 1048 ment per cut Cumula-
sion Per cut
Seam Basis tive
Turra
4430 3281 4974 6381 635 2933 FEL 11339 563681 3831.3 190458.7
Seam
ES 8398 417470 890.1 44247.98
Sub To-
6891 5104 7738 9925 988 4563
tal (A) EoHS 12732 632938 5224.5 259716.4

Purva DoHS 16331 811854 8823.6 438632.1

Top 176 130 197 253 25 116
SM
Dudhichua Jayant IMB

Seam 1625 80801 -5882.4 -292421

Purva HM 7508 373222.1 -
Bottom 475 352 533 684 68 314
Seam All Figures in tCO2e
Turra
3797 2812 4264 5469 544 2514
Seam
The data calculated at table 11 reveals that this model will
Sub To-
4448 3294 4994 6406 638 2945 save GHG emission in the tune of 890 to 8800 tes of CO2e
tal (B)
per cut and 44247.98 to 438632.1 tes of CO2e in totality
Grand Toal (A+B) 11339 8398 12732 16331 1625 7508
compared to normal extraction. This model will prove to be
ecofriendly and climate resilient.
TABLE X. Estimated GHG emission per cu basis in ‘000 tCO2e

Location
Name
FEL ES EoHS DoHS SM HM IX. Conclusions
of Seam
Purva Based on the study, the following conclusions are drawn:
Top 43 32 48 62 6 28
Dudhichua Khadia IMB

Seam
• IMB method is best suitable to extract coal locked in
Purva the inter mine boundary.
Bottom 77 57 87 111 11 51 • This model is economical as well as climate resilient.
Seam
Turra • Revenue generation in tune of 2510 Crores.
216 160 243 311 31 143
Seam • Exchequer to State and Central government in the
Sub To-
tal (A)
336 249 377 484 48 222 tune of 3980 Crores.
Purva • Saving Greenhouse gas emission in the tune of 890 to 8800
Top 9 7 10 13 1 6 tes of CO2e per cut and 0.044 to 0.439 Million tes of CO2e in
Dudhichua Jayant IMB

Seam
totality compared to normal extraction.
Purva
Bottom 24 18 27 35 3 16 • This model will help the mine managers in enhancing
Seam their PPP, reducing safety risk and conserving natural
Turra
Seam
195 144 219 280 28 129 resources as well.
Sub To-
tal (B)
228 169 256 328 33 151 X. Acknowledgement
Grand Toal (A+B) 564 417 633 812 81 373 The authors would like to acknowledge the help rendered
by management of Dhudichua for extending their help and
VIII. Result & Interpretation.
coordination. The views presented by authors are solely
The swotting reveals that this model pf extraction IMB coal their interpretation. The authors are indebted to organizing
is an economical. It will earn a revenue of Rs 2510.60 Cr committee of ICOMS-2019 for accepting this paper.
(Approx) and in turn the state govt. and central government
will earn a revenue in tune of Rs. 3980.308 Cr as exchequer.

43

Factor of Safety (FoS) and Slope Design Acceptance – A
Case Study
M.A. Saharan
Student, Civil Engineering Department,
MEC, Hyderabad
D.M. Surana & S.K. Parihar
Professor Mining Engineering,
M.B.M. Engineering College,
Jodhpur (Raj)-342001
Abstract – FoS based slope design is widely accepted de-
sign criterion. The accepted FoS value, however, is dependent
on several parameters. The manuscript review some of those
parameters. A lignite mine case study is presented with pit
and dump slope interaction analysis. The mine had approved
FoS=1.3 for dump and pit slopes for long-term stability. The
acceptance criterion needed a revision for short-term FoS as
the mine switched to concurrent backfilling with the lignite
mining and no slope profile required stable beyond rough-
ly six months period. A thorough field-testing program was
undertaken prior to slope stability analysis. The field testing
involved a computerized shear test box. Limit Equilibrium
Code PCSTABL is used for obtaining FoS values of the criti-
cal failure profiles.
Keywords – Mine slopes; Factor of Safety; Direct shear test;
Lignite mine; in-situ strength parameters; Concurrent backfill-
ing.
I. Introduction
It is a hard choice between safety and economic mining for
a mining engineer in designing safe operative open pit mine
and dump profiles. The slope failures are unavoidable at one
end while an overly safe design results into uneconomic
operations with permanent loss of finite ore reserve / lignite
on the other hand. Deterministic FoS is an acceptable
design criterion in mining where safety level is determined
by a number calculated from the ratio of capacity (of the
slope to resist failure) to demand (placed on the slope by
driving forces such as gravity, seismic accelerations, water,
mining or material placement rate, etc.). FoS value is a
deterministic expression used for communication between
44
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
M.R. Saharan
Director, Safe Minetech Solutions (I) Pvt Ltd.,
Bikaner (Raj.)-334003
maniramsaharan@gmail.com
B.R. Bishnoi
The General Manager,
Barmer Lignite Mining Corporation Limited,
Barmer
designer, practitioner and law enforcing agency. There is
greater likelihood that a slope profile with higher FoS will
lasts longer. FoS doesn’t necessarily correlate life of a slope
profile though. An FoS value gives quick idea regarding
level of confidence upon safety margins in designs. Use of
probability of failure (PoF) is also not uncommon though
[1]. The FoS concept assumes that the capacity of the
designed mining structure will remain the same and it will
behave accordingly.
Initial idea for FoS as acceptance criterion for mining
structure designs perhaps evolved by [2] after disaster in
coal brooke colliery, S. Africa where 900 pillars collapsed
on 21st January 1960 engulfing lives of 437 miners. It was
stated that the acceptable compromise between safety and
economic mining is with the optimum FoS lying in the
range where 50 per cent of the stable cases are most densely
concentrated [2]. Ref. [2] demonstrated that at an FoS
of 1.0 there is a 50 per cent probability of having a stable
mining configuration and that beyond an FoS of 1.6 there
is no further significant improvement in the expectation
of stability. The updated database for the same mining
structure, however, revealed that at an FoS of 1.0 there is a
10 per cent probability of the structure failure and it is FoS
of 0.5 where 50 per cent probability of failure exists [3]. FoS
is, therefore, dependent not only the calculation of strength
and load but our understanding or experience at the time
of the design. Further, the modern slope monitoring and
management practices has linked the FoS with likelihood
of consequences, exposure and preparedness in monitoring
the change in slope conditions. Consequently, an FoS value
is selected based on which the mine operates.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

100 parameters are obtained from on-site shear test box set-
FoS values based on updated case studies by [3] up with automated data retrieval and analysis provisions.
90
Probability of Failure, PoF

Widely accepted Limit Equilibrium Method with Bishop

80 for the same mining structure
Circular Failure algorithm of PCSTABL software is
70
employed in designing the slopes [9].
60 FoS values based case studies by [2]
50 Table I. An example FoS-PoF Selection Matrix. [8]
40
30 Consequence Insignificant to
Moderate
Major to Cata-
Level Minor strophic
20
10 Level of Design
High Med Low High Med Low High Med Low
Confidence
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
Factor of Safety, FoS Perma- Min 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.4 1.5 1.5
nent cut, FoS 20% 20% 20% 20% 10% 5% 10% 5% 2%
Figure 1. FoS concept for mining structures fill/ natu- Max
ral slope PoF
(Design
Typical preliminary guideline for selecting an FoS value life >
10yrs) Level No monitoring and No monitoring and Minimal monitoring
for mining slope profiles is given by Ref. [4]. This FoS of Risk access restrictions access restrictions for defined time-
approach also takes little account of specific consequences Man- frame and/ or access
age- restrictions
and does not necessarily present a consistent level of risk ment
management. The acceptable FoS values range between
1.0-2.0 is reported for slopes depending on slope size, Te m p o - Min 1.2 1.25 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.36 1.25 1.35 1.4
rary cut/ FoS 30% 25% 20% 25% 20% 10% 25% 15% 10%
consequence, exposure, life and monitoring. An FoS fill slope Max
between 1.15-1.30 is acceptable when sliding mode of waste (Design PoF
life < 6
dump slope is circular sliding, plane sliding, or broken line months)
sliding as per the Chinese safety regulations [5]. Acceptable Level Basic GCMP in- Comprehensive Comprehensive
of Risk cluding periodic GCMP including GCMP including
FoS near to 1.0 for highwall coal mining with continuous Man- slope monitoring. slope monitoring slope monitoring
slope monitoring for few benches or inter-ramp section has age- Access dependent and TARPs. Access and TARPs. No ac-
ment of safety risks. dependent of safety cess to slope.
also been illustrated by Indian statutory body DGMS in a risks.
joint research [6]. Ref. [7] also reports a coal mine highwall
case study with acceptable FoS near to 1.0 as an acceptable Excava- Min 1.06 1.1 1.15 1.1 1.15 1.2 1.15 1.2 1.25
tion for FoS 45% 40% 35% 40% 35% 30% 35% 30% 25%
criterion for few benches and inter-ramp section. immedi- Max
ate back- PoF
Ref. [8] further extends the FoS concept by taking fill
consideration of Trigger Action Response Plan (TARP) (Design
Level Detailed risk man- Detailed risk man- Detailed risk man-
life <
with incorporation of historically accepted FoS values several of Risk agement and ro- agement and ro- agement and ro-
Man- bust operational bust operational bust operational
(Table 1). But Table 1 also does not take account of practice days)
age- controls, including controls, including controls, including
of modern mining management such as risks reductions ment continuous moni- continuous moni- continuous monitor-
toring and TARPs. toring and TARPs. ing and TARPs. No
As Low As Practicable (ALARP) in combination with No access to slopes. No access to slopes. access to slopes.
rock/ soil reinforcement measures and/ or continuous
monitoring based Ground Control Mining Plans (GCMP)
and site-specific Trigger Action Response Plans (TARPs). II. The Mine, Geology and The Mining
Thus, further scope exists in improvement of practices for The mining block covering an area of 3223.511 ha is limited
maximum mineral recovery using stable slope designs. by latitude 25° 54’ 30.6” to 25° 58’ 42.6” and longitude 71°
The FoS for slopes shall be selected based on slope size, 19’ 15.2” to 71° 22’ 21.7” of Northern-Western part of
consequence of failure, uncertainty in input parameters, India. The surface geology of the area studied is concealed
life of structure, expected change in design conditions, under a thick cover of windblown sand except for rocks
prepared in monitoring, etc. belonging to Upper Proterozoic Malani Igneous Suite
This paper adopts FoS criterion with historically accepted around Trisingri and south of Manjori ka Dhora and
different FoS values to design lignite mining slopes working Fatehgarh formation of Mesozoic age occurring south-
with concurrent backfilling practice. Requisite strength west of Bhadresh. Kapurdi, Mandai and Akli formations of

45
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Tertiary age are exposed at places near Kapurdi and east of standards, namely – IS-2720 of 2002, ASTM D4554 and
Bharka, west of Bothia and around Giral, respectively. The USBR suggested method for field shear tests [11; 12; 13].
mine has adopted offset highwall technology for operating
A standard operating procedure was implemented in the
active mining zone in the North of the property. The overall
field. The shear box allows <45 mm sized particles for
pit angle is maintained near to 80 with multiple offsets in
testing. A 45mm sieve was employed to filter the sample
such a manner that each operating block is not exceeding
material. A pre-determined mass was filled in the shear
with statutory approved pit angle of 250. The bottommost
box for remoulded samples based on the in-situ density.
active zone makes 110 overall slope angle involving 6m
The mass was properly consolidated using a 10kg ram. The
high benches for lignite and clay while fine grained sand
weight of the test material is kept constant for a material.
benches are of 3m high. The middle lift makes 180 slope
angle and it has 160m offset from the bottommost active Care has been taken to avoid over consolidation as it
section. The top lift makes 240 slope angle and it has 250m reduces the friction angle at least by 50 of its true value.
offset with the middle lift. Thus, the total pit depth is 118m Next, the top metal plate is placed on top of the levelled
which has 880m horizontal spread. Such a low pit angle soil block. Dead weight is used to apply the normal load
primarily doesn’t demand a stability analysis though. The which was incremented in repeat tests. The range of
East-West section of the pit which is standing on statutory normal stresses was lower than the overburden pressure to
approved ultimate pit angle of 250. In recent past the mine prevent over-consolidation of soil samples. A displacement
has adopted backfilling concurrent to the offset highwall transducer was used to measure shear displacement while
technique of lignite mining. This has changed the stability a pressure sensor used to measure the shear load. Shear
requirements from long-term to short-term as the slope load is applied using hand operated hydraulic cylinder
profiles are regularly changing positions. [10]. with a load rate <10kPa/minute. Shear stress and shear
displacement data wirelessly transmitted and recorded to
III. Soil Samples Testing and Testing Protocol a computer. Photographic images were taken before and
after each test. The samples and tests were conducted in
Prominent intrinsic factors affecting stability of slopes are such a manner that all variability in the material properties
shear strength and angle of internal fraction of the material are encompassed. Total 48 tests were conducted for 5 types
in which the failure planes develop. Shear strength is inter- of soil and lignite layers. The remoulded samples mostly
alia dependant on the angularity and size of the particles. failed along the preferred failure planes without disturbing
Generally, laboratory based triaxial and shear box tests are larger sized particles. The upper lithounits of the mine were
performed to obtain the requisite cohesion (C) and internal found to be moderately consolidated while the deeper units
angle of friction () values. These values are, however, are found to be over consolidated. Few samples were taken
affected by the ‘size effect’ and carries poor reliability. Test to the laboratory to identify density characteristics of the
results of in-situ shear box may also be influenced by pre- geologic layers. The summary of the test results is given in
existing weak plane and/or size of particles larger than the Table II.
permissible particle size by the shear box (generally particle
size shall not be greater than 1/7th to 1/8th the dimension Table II. Soil Testing Parameters And Results
of the test box). Large size in-situ shear test box (suggestive
1500mm x 1500mm in various codes) require larger Soil Properties
(Average Values)
value of shear load to apply and it is most likely that this
Sl.
shear force is not uniformly distributed on the preferred Soil Type
No ρin-situ ρsoaked
C φ
shear failure plane. Such testing is also labour and time (kN/ (kN/
(kPa) (deg.)
intensive. Therefore, a modified in-situ shear test apparatus m3) m 3)
was designed and fabricated which consists of two 30
1 Fuller’s Earth 23.7 25.8 11.6 19.0
cm square and 10cm high metal shear boxes, a metal top
plate, a hydraulic jack holding plate, shear dial gages, and Variegated green
2 15.1 18.7 29.4 14.1
one hydraulic jack. This test apparatus consists of two clay
boxes those move relative to each other like conventional
3 Variegated grey clay 20.7 23.0 35.7 33.5
laboratory shear box and in situ shear test apparatus. The
test apparatus allows easier and faster site preparation 4 Lignite 11.3 13.5 12.5 20.8
and testing for in-situ direct shear tests as well as tests on
remoulded samples. Shear box test set-up follows various 5 Fine grained sand 24.5 26.9 16.3 18.9

46
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
IV. Slope Models and Analysis
STABL FOR WINDOWS computer program is employed
for the stability analysis. It is a computer program based
on proven algorithms of limit equilibrium methods. SI
units of measurement has been considered for input
parameters (length-meter, cohesion- kPa, density – kN/
m3). The calculation of slope stability analysis used is
multiple circular slip surfaces based on the algorithms
for the Bishop Method. Initially, the verification of input
parameters was made to compare the model results and
ground truth of failed and stable profiles. The model results
were found consistent with the field behaviour. Thereafter,
models were prepared with possible upward revision of the
pit slope angles and dump profiles. The selected simulation
tool of Limit Equilibrium Method has some prerequisites
for model preparations and analyses. The models shall be
prepared in the first quadrant with slopes facing the left side
only and the initiation point for failure profiles can only be
left to the termination point with initiation points having
smaller heights. These peculiar requirements necessitated
some ingenuity in model preparation. Two models, DP1 and
DP2, are prepared for the stability analysis of the operating
pit profile adjacent to the backfill dump (Figure 2). First
type of the models DP1 involves dump with the full height
<175m is considered making 180 angle with operating
pit profile of 180. The 180 pit slope profile is considered
as maximum possible upward revision in pit slope model
for mineral conservation without sacrificing the safety
for operating conditions. The distance between toe of the
bottommost backfill lift and toe of the bottommost bench
is considered 50m and 100m respectively to ascertain the
safe operating pit bottom floor spread. The second model
DP2 involved change in ultimate pit slope angle for the pit
slope profiles in front of backfill dump profile with 180
angle having 175m height. Five variation in slope angles
(e.g. 290, 270, 250, 230 and 210) are considered for the
geological succession of the mine encountered at North-
South Section E-18550 where maximum depth of 126m is
encountered to meet this objective of mineral conservation
with safety. The backfill dump profile with 180 angle is also
kept in front of bench profile with pit bottom floor spread
variation of 100m and 50m. A typical model with 250 slope
angle is illustrated through Figure 3.
The mine has approval for operation with slopes FoS>1.3
for long-term stability. The acceptability criteria as per
Table 1 dictates that the overall profile can be maintained
with FoS>1.2 with GCMPs, TARPs and periodic slope
monitoring. The FoS>1.1 with GCMPs, TARPs and
continuous slope monitoring for benches and inter-ramp
sections are also acceptable as these places carry minor to
insignificant consequence after slope failure and in many
a case unavoidable too. Also, the stability analysis were
conducted in a manner that the dump and pit profiles
interaction are evaluated from the same model. The above
models are prepared accordingly.
It was observed from modelling results that the dump profile
with 180 dump slope angle with a combination of 180 pit
slope angle will maintain long-term stability of FoS above
1.5 for the critical failure profile. This FoS is involving only
the bottommost lignite extraction lift irrespective of the pit
floor space of 100m or 50m. The overall pit section carries
FoS value greater than 2.2 though. The dump profile in
each case carries the long-term FoS value of 1.7 for critical
failure profile. The key information of the analyses is that
the backfill dump profile of 180 angle and total height of
175m from pit bottom (18m each lift, 27m berm for each
lift, 50m offset at original ground level) in combination of
pit profile operating at 180 angle (involving three lignite
extraction lifts with floor spread of 100m/ 50m and bench
height of 6m with 6m berm and every third bench as 21m
haul road) is a safe profile having long-term FoS value more
than 1.5 against the desired FoS value near to 1.2 for short-
term stability High FoS for the analysed profiles will require
routine GCMPs, TARPs and periodic slope movement
measurements.
Imaginary profile of the mining conditions to satisfy the modelling need
Possible actual profile of the mining conditions
Pit Section to analyze pit-dump
slope interaction analysis
Backfill dump section to analyze pit-
dump slope interaction analysis
100m
100m 100m
100m
Figure 2. 175m high backfill dump DP1 model with 100m offset
at pit bottom level with 180 overall pit angle
(X-Axis and Y-Axis scales are different to visually illustrate
individual lift)
47
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

management practices has linked the FoS with likelihood

of consequences, exposure and preparedness in monitoring
the change in slope conditions.
Imaginary profile of the mining conditions to satisfy the
modelling need Possible actual profile of the mining conditions
A case study of lignite mine is presented which had
approved slope profiles with FoS=1.3 for long-term stability.
Backfill dump section to
Pit Section to
analyze pit-dump slope The mine has switched to concurrent backfilling with offset
analyze pit-dump
slope interaction
interaction analysis highwall technology. Therefore, short-term stability along
analysis
with dump-pit slope interaction analysis are carried out.
The revised analysis indicated that the mine can safely
operate with upward revision in pit slope angle of 180 with
dump slope angle of 160 irrespective for floor spread at pit
bottom of 100m or 50m. The ultimate pit slope angle can
Figure 3. DP2 Model to analyze ultimate pit and dump profile also be of 270 after upward revision without compromise
for short-term stability analysis with 250 pit slope angle and 180
on the stability. There is a scope of further upward revision
Backfill dump angle
(X-Axis and Y-Axis scales are different to visually illustrate in slope angles with continuous slope monitoring and a
individual lift) robust GCMP for the mine.

The results for ultimate pit profiles requirement are

summarised in Table 3 and typical result outputs are in
Figure 4 and 5. The Table 3 indicate that the mine can safely
create an ultimate pit profile with 270 angle with backfilling
practice with an FoS≥1.2. The failure even if it triggers, it
will involve only the bottommost working section. The
dump profile will maintain a much higher safety factor
value for the critical failure profile.

Table III. Summary Of Backfill Dump And Pit Slope Profile Stability
Analysis For Ultimate Profile

FoS Values
S.
Simulation Conditions
No. Pit Profile
Section
Dump Profile Figure 4 - Critical Failure Profile for Backfill Dump
(X-Axis and Y-Axis scales are different to visually illustrate
individual lift)
1. Ultimate pit angle 210 1.5 1.7

2. Ultimate pit angle 230 1.3 1.7

3. Ultimate pit angle 250 1.2 1.7

4. Ultimate pit angle 270 1.2 1.7

5. Ultimate pit angle 290 1.1 1.7

V. Conclusions
Deterministic FoS is an acceptable design criterion. The
accepted FoS value shall represent 50 per cent stable cases
for compromise between safety and economic mining. The
FoS is dependent not only on the calculation of strength and
load but on our understanding or experience at the time Figure 5 – Critical safety factor profile limited to ultimate pit
of the design. Further, the modern slope monitoring and slope angle of 270

48
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Acknowledgment
The study presented has financial support from Barmer
Lignite Mining Corporation Limited, Barmer (Rajasthan,
India). Authors sincerely acknowledge the financial support
and local hospitality extended during the study.
References
[1] Sazid, M., Singh, T.N. and Saharan, M.R. ‘Risk Analysis of Mine
Dump Slope Stability-A Case Study’, in Proc. Int. Conf. Advanced
Technology in Exploration and Exploitation of Minerals. MEAI,
Jodhpur. 14-16 February, 2009, pp. 321-326.
[2] Salamon, M. D. G. and Munro, A. H. ’A study of strength of coal
pillars’, Journal of the South African Institute of Mining and
Metallurgy, 68(2), pp. 55-67, 1967.
[3] Van der Merwe, J. N. and Mathey, M. ‘Probability of failure of
South African coal pillars’, Journal of the Southern African Institute
of Mining and Metallurgy, 113(11), pp. 849–857. 2013.
[4] Wesseloo, J. and Read, J., ‘Chapter 9 - Acceptance Criteria. In:
Guidelines for Open Pit Slope Design’, J. Read and P. Stacey (eds),
pp 221-236. CSIRO publishing. 496p.
[5] Zou, P., Zhao, X, Meng, Z., Li, A., Liu, Z. and Hu, W., ‘Sample
Rocks Tests and Slope Stability Analysis of a Mine Waste Dump’,
Advances in Civil Engineering, Volume 2018, vol. 2018, Article ID
6835709, 17p, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/6835709.
[6] Satyanarayana, I., Budi, G., Sen, P., Sinha, A.K., ‘Stability Evaluation
of Highwall Slope in an Opencast Coal Mine-A Case Study’, AMSE
JOURNALS-AMSE IIETA publication-2017-Series: Modelling C;
Vol. 78; N°3; pp 253-273, 2018.
[7] Jayantu, S. and Reddy, C.V, ‘Design of Optimum Slopes for
Safety and Conservation in Opencast Mines – An Appraisal’.
Mintech-2011: Mining Technology for sustainable development;
18-19 Nov, 2011.
[8] Adams, B.M., ‘Slope Stability Acceptance Criteria for Opencast
Mine Design’, In 12th Australia New Zealand Conference on
Geomechanics, Wellington, New Zealand, February, 2015, Volume:
Paper No. 120.
[9] PCSTABL for Windows, 2018. Purdue university, USA.
[10] Parihar, S.K., Surana, D.M., Saharan, M.R., Choudhary, R.,
‘Scientific Study and Designing of Pit and Dumps Slope Stability
for Kapurdi Lignite Mine, M/s BLMCL, Barmer’, Internal report.
MBM Collab/Slope Stability/2019-20/BLMCL/Kapurdi, July 2019,
212p.
[11] ASTM 4554: Standard Test Method for In Situ Determination of
Direct Shear Strength of Rock Discontinuities. 7p.
[12] IS: 2720 (Part 13)-1986: Indian standard methods of test for soils:
Direct shear test, BSI, New Delhi.
[13] USBR 6255: Procedure for Performing Direct Shear and Sliding
Friction Testing Using a Portable Direct Shear Device. 24p.
49

A Performance Study on a Four Stroke Diesel Engine
Using Methyl Esters of Pongamia Pinnata and Waste
Cooking Oil
Balaji Rao K 1
Department of Mining Engineering, National
Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal -1
Mangalore, India
balajiada@gmail.com
B.M.Kunar 2
Department of Mining Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal -1
Mangalore, India
b@nitk.edu.in
Abstract — Biodiesels are considered as the next gen-
eration fuels for diesel engines. Several researchers have
contributed their efforts in developing biodiesels of various
kinds, also in different ways, Subjected to various processes
for productions. Their properties, performance, emissions
were also studied. Very small cases are identified, where not
much of work is done by using, a combination of the bio-die-
sel. Though there may not be much difference with perfor-
mance, and emissions still, it can contribute in different ways
such as sustainability and fuel property. In this point of view,
this study provides the introduction to combining two methyl
esters of oils derived from different sources i.e., waste cooking
oil (WCO) and Pongamia Piñata oil (PPO). The performance
study was carried on a 4-s diesel engine using waste cooking
oil, combined methyl esters of WCO and PPO. A comparison
study in terms of performance using combination biodiesel,
waste cooking oil, and diesel is made it was found that with
15% blending brake thermal efficiency of the mixture is in-
creasing, with markable specific fuel consumption. Regres-
sion studies were also carried out for SFC and BTE and found
that the influence of using the mixtures better compared to
using WCO esters only.
Keywords— biodiesel, regression, statistics, transesterifica-
tion, performance, diesel engine, combination
I. Introduction
Increasing population, frequently using, sustaining the
green environment and industrial growths, have resulted
in the exhaustion of fossil fuels. It is now, a challenge for
both developed and developing countries, to search for the
best alternatives which can replace mineral-based fuels.
50
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Ch. S. N.Murthy 3
Department of Mining Engineering, National
Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal -1
Mangalore, India
chsn58@gmail.com
The contribution of researchers, in the way of finding the
best alternative towards mineral-based diesel, gave rise to
Biodiesel. Research on Biodiesels had four stages. Under
the first stage
production of biodiesel was carried out using both edible
and non-edibles oils which included seeds from different
plants/trees such as Pongamia pinata, neem, cotton seeds
etc. Edible oils included oils from coconut, sunflower,
mustard etc. During the second stage, oils from a different
animal (fish oil, oils from dead animals, etc.) and during
the third stage, waste cooking oils were used to produce
biodiesels. The fourth stage included the production of
biodiesels from algae Wan Ghazali
[1]. With the increasing demands for fuels, it is in need
for every country in the world to develop biofuels Joshi
[2].
Because of the higher viscosity of vegetable oils,
combustion of vegetable oils is difficult. There are
different processes available for reducing the viscosity of
oils, the result of which biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced
using various methods. Transesterification is one such
processes of converting oil into biodiesel, which yields
max biodiesel Balat [3].
Transesterification converts oil to biodiesel by treating
the oil with an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol in the
presence of an acid or base catalyst and subjected to the
temperature.
With the use of a single type of biodiesel produced from
various vegetable oils, the economy of food supplies is
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

disturbed. Hence, the use of biodiesels from various [6] through significance of input parameters on output. In
sources can provide a better solution Gui [4]. the present study the of fuel consumption, BP and calorific
values are tested on significance against SFC and BTE.
Keeping this in view, the present study is carried by mixing
two biodiesels which are mixtures of methyl esters derived
from WCO and Pongamia pinata. II. Experimental studies
The advantage of preparing this mixture is that the raw Methyl esters of waste cooking oil and Pongamia pinata
material cost of waste cooking oil is very less when were prepared by transesterification process. Thermal
compared to the yield cost of vegetable oils. Also, the Properties of methyl esters of waste cooking oil and its
advantage of using Pongamia is that it may not disturb the combination, for calorific value and specific gravity, were
economy of food supply to a large extent as it is nonedible estimated using density meter/hydrometer. The mixtureof
by nature. The other advantages of using Pongamia pinata WCO+PP was done in the ratio of 50:50 by volume. The
also are that the derived waste after the collection of oil may blends selected for testing included 4%, 8%, 12% and 15%.
be used in many ways such as fertilisers, animal feeds, The performance study was carried out using a multi-
cylinder engine, water-cooled with rope brake drum
A. Specifications of the engine dynamometer shown in Figure 1. The engine performance
was tested; the time taken for 10cc of fuel consumption
Brake Horse Power : 6 BHP was noted, with this SFC and BTE were estimated and
Orifice diameter : 0.025m
compared. The test was performed keeping, speed constant
RPM: 1500rpm at 1500 rpm with loads ranging from 9.81N-58.86N. With
Fuel: Diesel oil incremental of 19.62N
Cylinder: multi
Bore diameter: 85mm
Stroke length: 80mm
Working cylinder: 4 stroke
Compression ratio : 18:1
Starting: Centrifugal Governor
Dynamometer: Mechanical/Rope
Cooling: water cooled
medicines for skins, the kernels of Pongamia pinata also
can be used for the production of fertilisers.
Though, studies are made using methyl esters derived
from different kinds of oils. It is suggested that the use
of biodiesel around 15%-20% as a blend with diesel
considering emission and performance. Hence the study Fig 1: Multi cylinder diesel engine set up
on the performance of the engine in this study is limited to
15% blending. Also, it is commonly observed that with the
use of methyl esters, the common emissions included an B. Fuel properties:
The various properties of WCO, Mixture of WCO and PPO
increase in NOx, a decrease in unburnt hydrocarbons and
ester along with blending, was found to be as below.
carbon monoxide Wan Ghazali
Table 4.1 fuel properties for various blends of mixed biodiesel
[1]. Hence, the emission studies at present were thus not (WCO+PP) are as shown below.
considered for the present study. And further studies will
be carried out on emission with changes found in the Sample B4 B8 B12 B15
performance of the engine.
ANOVA tests replicate the influence of parameters on the Specific
0.836 0.837 0.837 0.838
responses of the output variable; the test indicates whether gravity
a particular input has significance on output or not. Some
Calorific
of the authors like and have used RSM (response surface 44183 43654 42263 41003
value(KJ/Kg)
methodology) approaches to find optimum results Rajesh

51
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Table 4.2 fuel properties for various blends of WCO ester is as shown
below.

Sample B4 B8 B12 B15

Specific
0.838 .837 0.836 0.835
gravity

Calorific 43523
43766 43692 43574
value(KJ/Kg)

C. Specific fuel consumption

Following graph (Figure 2) shows the comparison of SFC, Fig 3: Comparison of BTE using WCO only and Mixture of
it was found that during earlier blends of 4% and 8% was WCO and PPO esters.
almost same but, started increasing with 15%(but not
Table 3. Sample nos. its blend and loads
a markable increase), this may be due to the increasing
viscosity influenced by the esters of Pongamia, which is Sample no blends Respective Loads
more than WCO. The following Table 3 can be used to read
the graphs 1-4 4% 9.81, 19.62, 39.62 and 58.86N

D. Brake thermal efficiency: 4-8 8% 9.81, 19.62, 39.62 and 58.86N

Following graph (Figure 3) shows the comparison of BTE,
it was found that during earlier blends of 4% and 8% BTE 8-12 12% 9.81, 19.62, 39.62 and 58.86N
was better with WCO esters only , but BTE for the mixture
12-16 15% 9.81, 19.62, 39.62 and 58.86N
started increasing with 15%(but not a markable increase),
this may be due to the higher oxygen contents of methyl
esters of Pongamia. Table 4.3 may be used as a supplement E. Anova Results:
ANOVA test was carried out using Minitab 17.0; the
for reading the figure.
response items considered were SFC and BTE. With variable
parameters as fuel consumption (TFC), calorific value and
BP It is clear that the use of mixture had a positive response
both in terms of SFC and BTE, as their R-squared values
are higher.ANOVA tables for SFC and BTE is tabulated in
tables 4-7 respectively for both mixture of WCO+PP and
WCO esters respectively.

ANOVA Analysis For The Mixture of Ppo

and Wco Esters
Table 4 ANOVA analysis of SFC

R-Square: 81.34%

Source F-Value P-value

Fig 2: Comparison of SFC using WCO only and Mixture of WCO and
PPO esters.
Regression 37.05 0.000
BP in KW 27.44 0.000
TFC kg/hr 5.48 0.032

52
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

III. Conclusions
Table 5 ANOVA analysis of BTE, Considering the outputs and other factors discussed so far
following derivations can be made:
R-Square: 98.36%
1) By combining Methyl esters of WCO and PPO, the
Source F-Value P-value mixture can be used as a blend of diesel in the engine.
2) The contribution of Pongamia Pinata esters enhances
Regression 324.72 0.000 the properties of WCO esters, in terms of BTE with
BP in KW 172.12 0.000 higher blend percentages.
3) The sustainability of biodiesel can be attained by
TFC kg/hr 31.06 0.000 combining two or more methyl esters.
4) With lower mixtures, Pongamia pinata esters have no
ANOVA analysis for Esters of WCO only effects on the properties of WCO esters.
Table 6 ANOVA analysis of SFC 5) With an increase in the blend percentage, the SFC
increases relatively.
R-Square: 80.34% 6) The mixture of biodiesels can greatly contribute to the
economy of the fuel.
Source F-Value P-value
References
Regression 35.88 0.000 [1] G. W. N. M. Wan., R.Mamat, , H. H. Masjuki, and G. Najafi, “Effects
of biodiesel from different feedstocks on engine performance and
BP in KW 35.79 0.000 emissions: A review,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews,
vol. 51, pp. 585–602 2015.
TFC kg/hr 4.61 0.046 [2] G. Joshi, J. K. Pandey, S. Rana, and D. S. Rawat, “Challenges and
opportunities for the application of biofuels,” Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol.79, pp. 850-866, 2017.

Table 7 ANOVA analysis of BTE, [3] M.Balat, and H. Balat, “Progress in biodiesel processing,” Appl.
Energy, vol. 87(6), pp. 1815–1835, 2010.
R-Square: 98.06% [4] M. M. Gui, K. T. Lee, and S. Bhatia, “Feasibility of edible oil vs. non-
edible oil vs. waste edible oil as biodiesel feedstock,” vol.33(11), pp.
1646–1653, 2008.
Source F-Value P-value [5] B. R. Kumar, B, and S. Saravanan, “Effects of iso-butanol/diesel and
n-pentanol/diesel blends on performance and emissions of a di
Regression 374.62 0.000 diesel engine under premixed LTC (low temperature combustion)
mode,” Fuel. vol. 170, pp. 49–59, 2016.
BP in KW 493.93 0.000

TFC kg/hr 84.81 0.000

53

Innovative Slope Stability Monitoring
Instrument for O/C
S.P.Singh
Chief Manager Wani Area
Nagpur (India)
rsp.spsingh@gmail.com
Abstract: Open cast mining is the integral part of future
mining system. Open cast mine are going wider and deeper
with a serious problem of stability of benches and overbur-
den dumps. Despite of several attempts many dump and high
wall failure occurred in past in different subsidiaries of CIL
causing loss of life and property. There are several methods
that are in vogue for slope monitoring, these include Survey
Methods, Laser Based Technique, and Radar Technique for
Slope Monitoring in open cast. Each method has its own merit
and demerit. Slope domain involve detailed analysis of their
stability, real time monitoring with best possible equipment.
This paper deals with the smart sensor technology, which has
been developed to solve the slope monitoring problem and
give the real time information for the mode of failure of slope
for the safety of men and machine working in open cast, and
this instrument provide safe working environment in open
cast which is the need of hour.
Keywords: Slope stability; monitoring instrument; Opencast
I. Introduction
Fig. 1. System Block Diagram
54
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
The Real Time Slope Monitoring Device is a system
designed in view to analyze strata displacement typically
on the level of open cast mines. Real Time monitoring
system designed on the virtue of digital embedded system
with ease to handle and tough to environment. Generalized
System topology can be viewed as follow.
II. Methodology
Real Time Monitoring Device works in three tier system
with its data flow as Sensor Transmitter Unit to Remote
monitoring Unit (RMU) and then Remote monitoring
Unit (RMU) to Remote Terminating Unit (RTU). In this
system primary focus has given to precise measurement of
soil displacement in particular level of open cast mine. To
measure this level, a unique motorized mechanism will in
move corresponds to metal detector sensor under ABS
Chamber.
This microcontroller based high time- resolute circuit will
monitor the position of sensor and decode this value for
further wireless transmission. As viewed in figure below
sensor displacement will be measure of soil displacement.
System has been develop in order to measure upward
as well as downward movement below the soil, however
degree of displacement can be customized and calibrated
by programming software as per requirement. This
displacement measure can further be decoded in wireless
frame format for transferring its value to single point
receiver wireless or Remote Monitoring Unit (RMU).
Localized wireless used for this system will work in
license free ISM band with highly secured data encrypted
system. All this system has made compatible to work with
DC power supply in composed with solar system with
appropriate back up.
In this Real Time Monitoring system multi-transmission
can be put on single level of opencast mine data of which.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Figure 2: Generalize Mechanism Sensor
Figure 3: Developed sensor mechanism with transmitter system
All these transmitter receiver pairs are able to work in
following network topology as shown in figure In these
topologies, ID will be assigned to each wireless transmitter
which will be decoded by receiver in “teach and learn”
genetic algorithm pattern with parental orphan hypothesis,
thus devices can be added or reduced at any time with
attachment to single receiver.
Fig.4- Multi Sensor Network Topologies
Next to then this data of single receiver can be further
restored with temporarily assigned stack-hip management
pattern in microcontroller, due to which controller system
makes it feasible to transfer data in another data gateways.
Data obtained from this gateway can be further processed
with GSM/GPRS for RTU (Remote Terminal Unit) which
will be located in central monitoring system.
Again this total system with bilateral data processing unit
can be work solar back-up.
Fig.5. RMU with RF-GSM Gateway
Data transferred by RMU will be received by RTU which
will be received by Remote PC with serial data transfer
methods with proper data transfer rates. A single USB based
connection can be used for this. This RTU will transfer all
data received from multiple RMU to server with serial data
interface.
Again this server can be customized with and as per client
requirement for further data acquisitions. Currently this
server will be compatible to all window based system for
delivering SMS to mobile numbers as mention in system.
This data acquisition also able to show trend in soil dis-
placement which can further be used for any safety ana-
lytics.
Fig.6. RTU with GUI for advance Data Acquisition
III. Environmental Protection
A customize robust enclosure with ABS Chamber has
been used for all field based system which will be look as
follows, As display above this enclosure may be equipped
with battery in coal/mining fields. This this Real Time
Monitoring device embedding with all digital features can
55

be suitably used with its entire technical enhancement for
open cast mining to meet its some safety requirements.
Fig.7- ABS Chamber Compatible for Solar Mountings
IV. Interpretation
There are various instruments available over the counter for
slope monitoring of dumps. Some are contact based, and
some are laser based and some are radar based. Each one
has its own limitations. Contact based instruments are time
56
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
consuming and prone to human errors. The laser-based
instruments are quite reliable but have a distance limitation
and have limited capability to scan. The radar-based system
is very popular but very costly both in operation and
maintenance. The continuous slope monitoring device is
very cheaper with respect to cost and easy in installation as
well as low maintenance cost.
V. Usefulness
An immediate warning when movement occurs greatly
increasing the safety of men and reducing costly damage
to equipment. Real time slope monitoring system is very
much useful, cheaper, reliable and efficient self-powered
with solar panel arrangement fitted with adequate warning
system, self-diagnosis, self-calibration, self-identification
and self-adaption function.
VI. Conclusion
In nutshell such real time slope monitoring system can
be installed in open cast which will give warning in case
of slope failure for safety of men and machine working in
open cast. This device will be a real tool, very cheaper for
Real time monitoring of slope in open cast.
References
[1]. Logan, Kenneth Scott. “Analysis of wireless tilt meters
for ground stability monitoring.” (2008)
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Role of Earthing System to Improve Performance And

Safety of Man and Machinery in a Mine
Anup Kumar Upadhyay
Deputy Manager (Excv) Amlohri Project, Ncl
anupkmits@gmail.com

Abstract — The paper depicts the role of a correctly in- short-circuit current to pass the earth by the help of wire.
stalled earthing system of a HEMM and Mine Electrical Sup- Thus, protect the system from damage.
ply system in improving their performance and Safety. Elec-
trical energy is most important part of our daily life because II. Importance Of Earthing
we are dependant on it at our homes, work place, during trav-
elling, for maintaining health and Safety etc. The magnitude
The earthing is essential because of the following reasons
with which it support our lives ,in the same magnitude it may
be deadly to our lives also if not handled properly. Earthing • The earthing protects the personnel from the short
system helps to nullify the deadly nature of electrical energy. circuit current.
Hence knowledge of a Good earthing system is essential to • The earthing provides the easiest path to the flow
take full advantage of Electrical Energy. of short circuit current even after the failure of the
insulation.
Key words:- earthing system, HEMM, grounding, electrical
• The earthing protects the apparatus and personnel
energy,
from the high voltage surges and lightning discharge.
Earthing can be done by electrically connecting the
I. What Is Earthing ? respective parts in the installation to some system of
The process of transferring the immediate discharge of the electrical conductors or electrodes placed near the soil or
electrical energy directly to the earth by the help of the below the ground level. The earthing mat or electrode under
low resistance wire is known as the electrical earthing. The the ground level have flat iron riser through which all the
electrical earthing is done by connecting the non-current non-current-carrying metallic parts of the equipment are
carrying part of the equipment or neutral of supply system connected.
to the ground..
The electrical equipment mainly consists of two non-
current carrying parts. These parts are neutral of the system
or frame of the electrical equipment. From the earthing
of these two non-current carrying parts of the electrical
system earthing system can be either neutral earthing
system or equipment earthing system
In neutral earthing, the neutral of the system is directly
connected to earth by the help of the GI wire. The neutral
earthing is also called the system earthing. Such type of
earthing is mostly provided to the system which has star
winding. For example, the neutral earthing is provided in When the fault occurs the fault current from the equipment
the generator, transformer, motor etc. In case of equipment flows through the earthing system to the earth and thereby
earthing earthing is provided to the electrical equipment. protect the equipment from the fault current. At the time
of the fault, the earth mat conductors rise to the voltage
The non-current carrying part of the equipment like their which is equal to the resistance of the earth mat multiplied
metallic frame is connected to the earth by the help of the by a ground fault.
conducting wire. If any fault occurs in the apparatus, the

57
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

TN-C and IT systems are both very uncommon in the UK.

The contacting assembly is called earthing. The metallic Fig 1: TN-S system
conductors connecting the parts of the installation with
the earthing are called electrical connection. The earthing
and the earthing connection together called the earthing
system.

III. Types Of Earthing

BS 7671 lists five types of earthing system: TN-S, TN-C-S,
TT, TN-C, and IT.
T = Earth (from the French word Terre) ,N = Neutral, S
= Separate C =Combined I =Isolated (The source of an IT
system is either connected to earth through a deliberately
introduced earthing impedance or is isolated from Earth. Fig 2. Cable sheath earth (TN-S system). Schematic of earthing and
All exposed-conductive-parts of an installation are main equipotential bonding arrangements. Based on 25 mm2 tails and
connected to an earth electrode.) selection from Table 54G.

Note: An isolator is not always installed by the electricity

distributor.

A. TN-S system earthing

A TN-S system, shown in fig 1, has the neutral of the source
of energy connected with earth at one point only, at or as
near as is reasonably practicable to the source, and the
consumer’s earthing terminal is typically connected to the
metallic sheath or armour of the distributor’s service cable
into the premises.

When designing an electrical installation, one of the first

things to determine is the type of earthing system. The
distributor will be able to provide this information.
The system will either be TN-S, TN-C-S (PME) or TT for a
low voltage supply given in accordance with the Electricity
Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations 2002. This is
because TN-C requires an exemption from the Electricity
Safety, Quality and Continuity Regulations, and an IT
system is not permitted for a low voltage public supply in
the UK because the source is not directly earthed. Therefore Fig 3: TN-C-S system

58
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
B. TN-C-S system earthing
A TN-C-S system, shown in fig 3, has the supply neutral
conductor of a distribution main connected with earth
at source and at intervals along its run. This is usually
referred to as protective multiple earthing (PME). With
this arrangement the distributor’s neutral conductor is
also used to return earth fault currents arising in the
consumer’s installation safely to the source. To achieve this,
the distributor will provide a consumer’s earthing terminal
which is linked to the incoming neutral conducto
Fig. 4. TT system
Fig. 5. No earth provided (TT system). Based on 25 mm2 tails
and selection from Table 54G.
Note: An isolator is not always installed by the electricity
distributor. Manufacturers recommendations should be
sought with regards to connections to earth electrodes.
C. TT system earthing
A TT system, shown above, has the neutral of the source of
energy connected as for TN-S, but no facility is provided by
the distributor for the consumer’s earthing. With TT, the
consumer must provide their own connection to earth, i.e. by
installing a suitable earth electrode local to the installation.
IV. Earth Electrodes
BS 7671 recognises a wide variety of types of earth
electrode. Regulation 542-02-01 lists the types recognised
which include earth rods, earth plates and underground
structural metal work.
The soil resistivity of the ground is probably the single most
important factor in the determination of the type of earth
electrode. Rods can only be as effective as the contact they
make with the surrounding material. Thus, they should
be driven into virgin ground, not disturbed (backfilled)
ground. Where it is necessary to drive two or more rods
and connect them together to achieve a satisfactory result,
the separation between rods should be at least equal to their
combined driven depth to obtain maximum advantage from
each rod. In some locations low soil resistivity is found to be
concentrated in the topsoil layer, beneath which there may
be rock or other impervious strata which prevents the deep
driving of rods, or a deep layer of high resistivity. Only a test
or known information about the ground can reveal this kind
of information. In such circumstances, the installation of
copper earth tapes, or pipes or plates, would be most likely to
provide a satisfactory earth electrode resistance value.
Whatever form an earth electrode takes, the possibility of
soil drying and freezing, and of corrosion, must be taken
into account. Preferably, testing of an earth electrode
should be carried out under the least favourable conditions,
i.e. after prolonged dry weather. Further information on
earthing principles and practice can be found in BS 7430 :
1998 ‘Code of Practice for Earthing’.
V. Earthing Conductors
Earthing conductors which are defined in BS 7671 as a
protective conductor connecting the main earthing terminal
of an installation to an earth electrode or other means
of earthing must be adequately sized particularly where
buried partly in the ground, and be of suitable material and
adequately protected against corrosion and mechanical
damage. The size of an earthing conductor is arrived at in
basically the same way as for a circuit protective conductor,
except that Table 54A of BS 7671 must be applied to any
buried earthing conductor. For a TN-C-S (PME) supply, it
should be no smaller than the main bonding conductors.
VI. Sizing of Circuit Protective
Conductors
The Earthing conductor and main protective bonding
conductor sizes (copper equivalent) for TN-S and TN-C-S
supplies are determined as follows:
Line Conductor or
mm
Neutral Conductor of
2 4 6 10 16 25 35 50 70
PME supplied
Earthing Conductor
not buried or buried
and protected against
mm
corrosion and me-
2 6 6 10 16 16 16 25 35
chanical damage
Main Protective mm
Bonding Conductor 2 6 6 6 10 10 10 16 25
Main Protective Bond-
ing Conductor for PME mm
supplies (TN- C-S) 2 10 10 10 10 10 10 16 25
59

VII. Grounding In Mining Industry
Since the 1970s, grounded systems have been implemented
across the mining industry to protect workers from shock
hazards and lightning. These incidents are associated with
the use of powered equipment in extreme environmental
conditions.
In the mining industry, protection from electrical faults is a
key part of mine safety. In an industry that uses a great deal of
electrical power, guarding against fault hazards is necessary
to prevent everything from minor accidents to workplace
disasters. Approximately 14 percent of all electrical fatalities
occur from improper or inadequate grounding.
The most common type of fault is typically a line-to-ground
fault. These types of faults make up 98 percent of all failures
and are incidents that can increase costs and production
time due to damaged material. Even worse, they can lead to
employee injuries and fatalities.
To ensure the safety of mine personnel, metal/nonmetal
plants require proper grounding. Power systems can
come in several designs, but there are four main types:
the ungrounded system, the solidly grounded system, the
low- resistance grounded system, and the high-resistance
grounded system.
Here, we’ll discuss each grounding system in more detail:
Ungrounded Systems
When a system is ungrounded, no intentional grounding
system (with the exception of ground-fault monitoring)
is used. Though they can offer a low current flow value
for line-to-line ground faults and have no flash hazard for
accidental line-to-ground faults, they are prone to insulation
failures and shock hazards from transient and steady-state
overvoltage conditions. Monitoring phase unbalance is
typically used for ungrounded systems. This requires a very
good maintenance program to ensure service reliability.
Solidly Grounded System
Solidly grounded systems have no intentional added
impedance in the circuit. A major advantage is that over-
voltages are controlled because the system is referenced
to the ground. In addition to the standard over-current
protection provided by a circuit breaker, sensitive protection
relays can be used to detect high-impedance ground faults.
Low-Resistance Grounded System
In high-voltage systems with a significant capital investment,
or where loss of service could have a major impact, use
low-resistance grounding. These systems typically limit the
maximum ground-fault current from 100– 1000 amps. While
over-voltages are still controlled, it is not recommended for
60
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
low-voltage systems because of the limited ground fault
current. They are sized to limit current based on a specific
value. It also reduces electric shock hazards in mines where
preventing unplanned outages is paramount. As these
systems are not suitable for four-wire (3 phase with neutral)
loads, they are not used in the commercial market.
High-Resistance Grounding
High-resistance grounding is used in plants and mills where
a fault should not normally disrupt the flow of a critical
process. By limiting the ground fault current to a lower level
through the resistor greater than or equal to the capacitive
charging current of the system, it can control over-voltages
and limit ground currents based on relay limitations or
coordination requirements.
While this simplifies process maintenance, it can reduce
the stress in circuits and equipment. Alarm indicators
and lights are primary indicators when a fault does occur,
allowing the operator to fix the issue or coordinate a
shutdown while maintaining operations
VIII. Conclusion
Earthing is very important factor in mine as well as in
home for ensuring electrical safety. We should give same
importance to grounding or earthing system as given to
other electrical system.
Earthing System or Grounding System in an electrical
network work as a safety measure to protect human life
as well as equipment, the main objective of the Earthing
system is to provide an alternative path for dangerous
currents to flow so that accidents due to electric shock and
damage to the equipment can be avoided.
Metallic parts of equipment are grounded or connected to
the earth and if the equipment insulation fails for any reason,
then the high voltages that can be present in the equipment
covering or outer box need some path to get discharged.
If the equipment is not earthed, these dangerous voltages
can be transferred to anyone who touches it resulting in an
electric shock.
The circuit gets shorted and the fuse will blow immediately,
in case a live wire touches the earthed case.
References
1. Hand book on earthing and surge protection devices- Indian
railways – RSDO
2. Grounds for grounding -by:-EIya B Joffe and Kai Sang Lock
3. Wikipedia
4. Earthing system in electrical supply by- Peter Witt
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Truck And Shovel – Side By Side –

Coordinated Training
K P Khaitan Graham Upton
Director Director of Business Development
Khaitan Exim & Services Private Ltd. Doron Precision Systems Inc.
5-B Judges Court Road, Penn Court, 150 Corporate Drive, Binghamton,
Kolkata - 700 027 NY, 13904, USA
mobile : +919433012723 Tel: 001-607-772-1610 Ext 311
kpkhaitan@gmail.com gupton@doronprecision.com

Abstract--With the advent of high capacity expensive I. Introduction

earth-movers, mining operations have to achieve higher pro-
As an introduction to this topic the following subjects
ductivity in order to justify big investment. It has thus be-
are going to be reviewed. This will enable the reader
comes necessary that machine operations should be the hands
that is not familiar with simulator training to get a good
of skilled and well trained operators who can perform opti-
understanding of the concepts and developments involving
mally and safely. This paper will discuss a unique approach to
simulator training prior to the more advanced topics are
mine equipment operator training.Equipment training using
discussed in this paper. This paper will discuss topics from
simulators greatly improves safety by reducing the accident
the following headings.
rate in the mines.Additionally, training simulators improves
efficiency for the mine operations, thereby increasing the pro- 1) What is Simulation Training?
ductivity and cost savings for mining companies.Typically, 2) The History of Simulation
mining simulators can train one operator at a time for par- 3) Advantages of Simulation Training
ticular operations, whether it be training Dumper Truck op-
4) Simulation Training in the Mining Industry
erators, Excavator operators, or other equipment operators.
These simulators are traditionally stand-alone devices and 5) Simulator Applications in the Mining Industry
various driving/operator positions can be installed into the 6) Traditional Approach
simulator, one at a time.This paper will describe a new con- 7) Coordinated Training Approach
cept of side-by-side coordinated training - for example sim-
8) Results
ulator position 1 can be an excavator and simulator position
2 a dump truck. This approach allows the operators of two
9) Conclusion
or more earth-movers to be fully integrated, immerrsed, and
II. What is Simulator Training?
coordinated within a training scenario.Multiple drivers and/
or operators would train exactly as they would in the actual Training using simulators is a very efficient and safe method
mine within the same scenario with a common visual terrain of providing both a virtual environment and equipment
database. Technology is now available that allows the data- layout to immerse the trainee with a training platform that
base to be deformed and manipulated in realtime as digging, will transfer to the actual operating equipment. Generic
dumping and other operations are performed. As a shovel or or specific controls, tactile feedback, instrumentation and
excavator operator removes coal or other products, or over- motion systems provide added realism. Simulator training
burden from the highwall and loads a truck both volumes and is used for military and commercial aircraft, all types of
weights are depicted and measured. Both realism and accura- ground transport, marine and underwater equipment as
cy are greatly improved, enhancing the training of the opera- well as industrial and research equipment. Some examples
tor. Just one Instructor is required to train up to four trainees, are shown below:
operating up to four fully integrated simulators, using this
side-by-side coordinated training approach.

61

Fig. 1 – Commercial Flight Simulation
Fig. 2 – Military Flight Simulation
Fig. 3 – Military Ground Vehicle Simulation
Fig. 4 – Commercial Snowplow Truck Simulator
These pictures represent a small cross section of the many
62
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
types of simulators that are used in training from the very
basic operator training to very sophisticated training of
military personal.
III. The History of Simulation
Edwin A. Link was considered the Father of Simulation.
In 1928, Edwin A. Link left his father's organ building
business in Binghamton, NY to begin work on a "pilot
trainer." In 1931 he received a patent on his "pilot maker"
training device.
Fig. 5 – Edwin A. Link
Fig. 6 –Training Simulator Circa 1930
These simulators provided much needed training of pilots
prior to the 2nd World War and were attributed to the success
of the American war pilots in the early 1940 periods.
The development of this devices continued until the 1950’s
when 10’s of thousands were sold throughout the world.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Fig. 7 – Training Simulator 1950’s
IV. The Development of Driving
Simulators
It took over twenty years from the initial development
of flight simulators to the concept and design of the first
driving simulator. The primary reason for this delay was the
cost versus risk factor. Airplanes are more expensive than
road vehicles and operate with greater risk, especially with
untrained operators, (pilots). As road vehicles, (cars/trucks
etc.) became more widespread so the need for training
became apparent, from the young person in high school to
an advanced operator of military vehicles.
Fig. 8 – Driving Simulator from 1950
Driving schools were formed to prepare large numbers of
drivers for driving tests and consistent training.
Fig. 9 – Driving School Training circa 1950
Fig. 10 – Projector based System, circa 1970
V. Advantages of Simulator Training
The advantages of simulator training can be summarized
under the following headings. The list is quite large and can
vary a little based on the type of equipment being simulated.
1) Screening New Employees – A simulator can
be used to test potential new employees before
they are hired. Even employees not hired for
driving or operator positions can be screen
for basic driving skills, reaction times and
accident avoidance testing.
2) Basic Training–Drivers and operators with no
prior experience can take a basis driving and
skills test to determine if they are suitable for
more advanced training.
3) Refresher Training–regular schedule refresher
training is done according to company policies
and procedures.
4) Evaluation and Record Keeping–students
can be evaluated and scored according to
company procedures and records held by
supervisor and/or the HR departments.
5) Familiarization with equipment–Students
and general company employees can use
the simulators for familiarization and
configuration whether or not they will become
skilled operators and drivers.
6) Transfer to new type of Equipment - skilled
operators that operate equipment that
becomes obsolete can be retrained for the
current equipment by taking refresher
training.
7) Practicing skills–general skills and advanced
or special skills can be developed and trained.
8) Reducing Risks–Simulators have a long
63

history of reducing risks during training.
9) Learning Rules–General driving rules,
equipment manufacturer rules and company
rules are easily learned safely on a simulator.
10) Compliance to Standards–safety and other
standards can be enforced on a simulator
11) Accident evaluation–this is a very important
aspect and use of simulator training. Accidents
can be reproduced from real live accidents to
create details and reports and learn methods
for future avoidance.
12) Research and Development–simulators are
extensively used as part of an R & D program
where additional hardware and software can
conveniently be added to aid the research
13) Reducing wear and damage to actual
equipment–Simulator training greatly
reducing the wear and tear of actual equipment
14) Saving Money–All the points above along
with the saving of fuel and insurance costs
lead to an overall savings to the company
operating simulators for training.
VI. Simulation Training in the Mining
Industry
Simulation training in the mining industry is quite new.
The earliest mining simulators were developed less than 25
years ago, and the majority of mining simulators are less
than 15 years old. Simulators exist for both surface and
underground mining for all types of mining commodities.
Fig. 11 – Mining Simulator
VII. Simulator Applications in the Mining
Industry
There are three key applications where simulators are used
in the mining industry. These are similar to the general
64
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
simulation usage but focused on mining operations
specifically.
A. Safety
In any mine safety is always and must always be the number
one concern. Human life is extremely valuable and no price
tag should and can be placed on it. Every person working in
a mine must be properly trained to operate in a completely
safe environment and any accident from a minor collision
to a major fatality should be treated with utmost priority
and concern. Every mining company’s goal should be zero
accidents. Safety training on a simulator starts with basic
skills training and emergency training and procedures.
This increases safety awareness. Emergency responses
can be practiced in a safe environment with no risk to the
operator or damage to the machine.
Fig. 12 – Typical Truck Accident
B. Productivity
A mining company will not exist too long if it is not
profitable. To be profitable the company must have a
high productivity rate whilst maintaining a safe operating
environment. To be fully productive the vehicle driver and
equipment operator must undergo new operator training,
(if he/she is a new employee), or refresher training on
a regular basis. This will ensure that they are completely
familiar with the operation and use of the equipment. It
will also ensure that each and every task is performed in
the most efficient manner. New candidates can be properly
screened, evaluated and selected. The simulators can
quantify and evaluate performance. Problems can easily be
identified. Additionally best practices can be enforced in
the workplace and the employee can be motivated.
C. Cost Management
Heavy use of simulation in training has a huge role in
the overall cost management of the mining company. By
using simulation the use of the actual mine equipment is
maximized by not having down-time for training therefore
improving productivity and cost efficiencies. This also
reduces the wear and tear on equipment, improving
maintenance costs and reducing fuel costs. Misuse on the
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
actual equipment is also minimized. These factors amount
to increased profit margins for the mining companies.
D. Traditional Simulator Training Approach
In traditional commercial training, particularly in the
mining industry most users have one simulator with
perhaps two or more modules for various types of trucks
or equipment operator positions. Typically one Instructor
manages and training each driver or operator. Up to two
simulators are occasionally linked to one Instructor but
these simulators are independently controlled and not
integrated to each other.
E. Coordinated Training Approach
With this approach I am proposing up to six simulators,
using one Instructor can be either independently operated
or fully integrated. These could be comprised of two or
more Haul/Dumper trucks, a Shovel, a scraper or other
vehicles used in typical mining operations. These vehicles
can all be integrated into one scenario and each vehicles
position and operation can be seen by the others, as in the
real world situation. The Instructor would have multiple
views and communicate with each trainee operator/driver.
F. Advantages of Coordinated Training
• Operators can properly communicate with
each other as in the real world
• Integrated exercises accurately replicate
normal mine operations
• The same digging/excavating operations can
be observed by two or more operators/drivers
• Positioning and Loading Operations can be
made easier
• Dual Side Loading Operations can be trained
• Emergencies can be handled as a team
Fig. 13 – Shovel and Truck – Side-by-Side Coordinated Training
New Technology is available and by using the latest
technology simulators can now provide both the very high
resolution synthetic visual scene and advanced physics
model
The synthetic visual scene or database can be created
with a very tight mesh and overlaid with extremely high
resolution texture
Using an advanced physical model, the mesh can be
tessellated in real time to create deformations or changes in
the rock or other material
Gravitational and rotational forces are computed
Tires and vehicle suspension is modeled
Rock and Soil Deformations
Enable the Excavator or Shovel operator to dig and remove
product
• These products have physical volumes,
weights and masses – hence can be measured
• Can be moved into a truck or dumped onto
ground
• The properties of the product is known and
effected by the operation
• As a shovel load is placed in the truck the
volume and weight is transferred
• Any spillage outside the truck is formed on
the ground and is not computed as weight in
the truck
Fig. 14 - Accurate Truck Loading
• Previous methods of “visual effects” and
animations are now replaced by a physics
models computing accurate loading
• The loading closely represents real-world
operations
• Accurate “particle simulation” provides
65

random particles of different sizes/weights
being moved
• Spotting Times are improved
• Efficient loading cycles and managed loading
is achieved
• Improperly and unbalanced loads can be
simulated
• Affects truck driving and performance
• Affects wear on tires etc.
G. Accurate Shovel Operation
• Dig areas and Loading zones can now have real-world
looking formations that change with operations
• As the shovel bucket enters the rock face the forces
change based on rock/soil type and density
• Rocks can spill and move as the shovel operator digs
the face
• Weights and volumes in the bucket affect the shovel
handling
• Bucket fill factors are properly computed
• Proper computation of the rock/soil is made to
provide pouring, settling and accurate forming
H. Dig Face Operations
• Very realistic training can be provided at the dig face
for both the shovel operator, haul truck driver and
other support vehicles such as the scraper and grader
• Proper Positioning of the shovel in the dig face
• Accurate positioning of the Haul Truck(s), either
side, or both sides of the shovel
• Maximum use of the scraper to remove spillage and
rocks form the area that can cause tire damage etc.
• All fully coordinated for maximum efficiency
Fig. 15 – A large mine with multiple dig faces
66
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Efficient Truck Driving and accurate Dumping
• A correctly loaded truck provides a safe and efficient
trip to the dump or the Crusher area
• Lowers fuel usage
• Imbalanced loads and overloading are
accurately simulated
• Dumping weights, volume and effects are computed
Fig. 17 – Unloading at Dump Station
I. The Technology of Terrain Deformation
New technology that allows for the real-time, dynamic
deformation of the terrain, both the horizontal and some
vertical surfaces provides incredible realism for the driver
and operators of the mining equipment. Millions of
processes can now be computed in the Graphics Processing
Unit (GPU) of a computer that provides thousands of
graphic “pipelines” to the rendering engine. This in turn
provides scenes in the display that are affected by, for
example the weight of a truck or the removal of rock from
a vertical surface or mine face.
The mesh of these surfaces can be adjusted based on
computing power, (hardware resources) and a tighter
mesh, overlaid with high resolution textures will provide
both the look and feel exactly as in real world operations.
Fig. 18 – A haul road mesh
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

J. Future Technology
Gaming engines are improving both the software and
hardware of the simulation product
• Improved Graphic Card Technology
• Lower Costs
• Higher Performance
• Improved software physics models
• Greater performance
• More complex algorithms
• Advanced hand held devices and wireless protocols
are improving the GUI, (Graphical User Interfaces),
enabling the Instructor/Trainer to handle a heavier
work load in training
Fig. 19 – A tight surface mesh

As can be seen from the Fig.s 18 and 19 above the mesh

resolution can be adjusted when building the surface to
provide the most realistic look and feel for the particular
training required.
When textures are added the result of a weight bearing
wheel is shown below.
Fig. 21 – Advanced PC based Graphic Card

Coordinated Training – What are the Results?

Primary Results

• Improved Safety at the Mine Site – MSHA (in

the USA) expects ZERO accidents
• Improved Productivity - Efficiency in all
operations
• Increase the profitability of the Mine
Company
Secondary Results
• Enhanced development skills for the operator
• Shorter, but more intense training periods
Fig. 20 – Tire on dynamic terrain
• Malfunctions and Emergency Training are
In addition to the deformable terrain the soil is also modeled Coordinated
to provide multiple types of surfaces and conditions that • Better use of the Instructor’s time
are “overlaid” on the terrain. Examples vary from very soft
• Improved Machine Health – Reduced
soil as in sand, wet clay and loose gravel to harder surfaces
Maintenance cost related to operator abuse
similar to hard dirt, concrete and rock.
As the haul truck and other mining vehicles traverse over
these surfaces the effect of slippage and sinking into the
surface becomes very apparent especially when the same
location is traversed multiple times in a short duration.

67

Surface Coal Mine Haul Road Dust Suppression Using
Hydrolysed Amylopectin Grafted Polyacrylamide
Vivek Kumar Kashi
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT(BHU),
Varanasi, India.
vivekkk.rs.min15@itbhu.ac.in
N C Karmakar
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT(BHU),
Varanasi, India.
Karmakarnc.min@itbhu.ac.in
Abstract — Minerals excavate from the earth is carried
out through underground coal mining (UGM) Method and
opencast coal mining (OCM) method. To full fill the aspira-
tions of Indians, there is huge amount of energy required. The
production of coal through OCM technology is very high as
compare to UGM technology. However, OCM is extremely
risky and affects the environment adversely. Out of all source
of dust emission, haul road transportation system produces
a huge amount of fugitive dust. It’s causing nuisances and
health related problems to miners as well as around mining
area residents. Generally, water spraying technique is used
for the controlling of fugitive dust generation in the haul road
system. In current scenario, water is a scarce commodity and
its resource level going down near to mining area particu-
larly during summer time. Application of water along with
wetting agents and chemical surfactants give more effective
dust emission control, and thus, also reduce regular mainte-
nance activities.A laboratory work has been carried out at
controlled environment to measure the moisture content of
dust sample with the application of hydrolysed amylopectin
grafted polyacrylamide (H-AP-g-PAM) at 35 °C. H-AP-PAM
of 0.1 weight percentage of polymer is mixed with water and
sprayed over dust and the petri dishes is kept in an oven. The
retention of moisture content in chemically treated samples
at different time intervals are measured. Experimental read-
ing has been taken up to 8 hours at one-hour intervals. When
H-AP-g-PAM solution is observed that after 8 h, moisture re-
tained in the dust sample is 15.87% more as compare to tap
water application.
Keywords: - Haul road, Fugitive dust, Dust generation, Hy-
drolysed-Polyacrylamide and Moisture content
68
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Penchala Abhishek
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT(BHU),
Varanasi, India.
penchalaabhishek.min18@itbhu.ac.in
S.Krishnamoorthi
Department of Chemistry, BHU,
Varanasi, India.
dr.smoorthi@gmail.com
I. Introduction
Dust emitted due to hauling of trucks on unpaved haul
roads has adverse effect on environment causing air
pollution in mines area and is carried to surrounding
localities with action of air currents [1] [2] (Figure 1). It
also has adverse effect on human health causing diseases
like lung cancer, abnormal kidney function, rheumatoid
arthritis [3]. Dust size of >30μm are not entertained in
atmosphere for a noticeable length of time and do not have
impact on human health as they are blocked by nostrils
in nose [4]. Particulate matter of size up to 10μm (PM1
to PM10) are easily inhaled in to the lungs and effects the
normal functioning of lungs. Particulate matter emitted
from coal mines effects respiratory system and causes
respiratory diseases like black lung, asthma, cardiovascular
diseases and infract formation. Other diseases include
pneumoconiosis, silicosis, bronchitis, and tuberculosis
depending on nature of dust [5]. Emission of particulate
matter as dust from unpaved haul roads results in loss of
fines which gradually decreases cohesion between fines and
gravel material. Loss of fines causes soil erosion exposing
gravel material. This causes the deterioration of unpaved
haul roads and effects the vehicle and road maintenance,
inducing vibrations in operator, increasing travel times and
a decline in production rate.
Many preventive measures are taken to control the dust
emission from haul roads but they cannot completely
reduce the emission [6].
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Fig. 1. Typical dust emission from haul road
Water spraying has been used from many years as primitive
method to control dust. As this method is temporary, time
taking, requires intense man power and is not reliable
in severe conditions such as high evaporation rates, so
limits to its use [7]. Other chemical suppressants may be
spray on type or mix in type include Hygroscopic salts,
Lignosulphonates, Petroleum Resins, Tar and Bitumen,
Polymers [8]. Polymers or Water-Soluble Polymers are
effective in controlling dust emission compared to other
dust palliatives [9]. Water soluble polymers are hydrophilic
and has the properties to easily dissolve, disperse or swell
in water. The concept of dust suppression by polymers
is that they bind the surface particles with the help of
moisture content or adhesive properties forming a thin
layer on haul road surface. Tailor made Polymers are
environment friendly, bio degradable, and are easy to apply.
Moreover, they don’t suffer embrittlement, leaching or UV
degradation and have good adhesive properties, making
them potentially successful as dust suppressants [10].
In Indian context very few studies are available regrading
polymers and its application in mining industry. But
research shows that polymers give better performance
and greater longevity. With the use of polymers as dust
suppressant there can be chance to optimum utilisation of
water and man power. There by saving the water resource
with less frequent application and there is no interruption
to haul trucks which enhances the production rate. In this
project, an attempt is made for developing novel water-
soluble polymers for effective dust suppression in haul
roads.
II. Experimental Method
A. Mine description
Sample collected for this project is from Unpaved Haul
Road of Jamunnia opencast mine, Bharat Coking Coal
Limited (BCCL), Dhanbad.
B. Synthesis of polymer
Hydrolysed amylopectin grafted polyacrylamide (H-AP-g-
PAM) is synthesized by NaOH hydrolysing of amylopectin
grafted polyacrylamide which is through free radical
polymerization reaction mechanism in the laboratory.
Free radical polymerization is a type of chain growth
polymerization. It is a process of polymer synthesis
in which polymer grows by sequential addition of the
monomer units. Free radical propagates at double bond of
monomer units by successive braking of monomer double
bond (Figure 3). 2 g of acrylamide and 2g of amylopectin is
dissolved in 10 ml of distilled water in a conical flask. This
solution is stirred for 20 min in the nitrogen atmosphere.
20 mg of ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) is mixed with a
solution as initiator and N2 purging is done for the next
30 min at 50 0C. It gets viscous and left for cooling at
room temperature. The reaction is terminated by adding
2ml of a saturated solution of hydroquinone. The product
is precipitated by using acetone as a non-solvent. The
resultant polymer is broken into small pieces and then
pulverized. Then this AP-g-PAM is hydrolised by 20 ml
of soldium hydroxide. Further product is precipitated by
using acetone. The polymer is broken into small pieces and
then pulverized. H-AP-g-PAM is dried it into oven for 24 h
at 70 0C and preserved in a desiccator.
III. Methodology
The experiment is carried out in an oven. The sample
collected from the surface mine is undergone to screening
for 10, 12, 20, 35, 50, 100 and 200 of size meshes as per
ASTM standard. Initially sample is dried fully. Water and
H-AP-g-PAM solution of 10ml is added initially to the
dust sample and is placed in the oven for duration of 8 h
with an interval of 1 h at a constant temperature of 350C.
The weight of the dust sample weight is measured with
inherent moisture content. W3 & W4 stand for weight of
Petri dish and dust sample and with solution respectively.
W5 is the weight of petri dish after each 1 hour interval
passes. Wm stand for weight of moisture. Where W & M
stand for loss of the moisture and moisture loss percentage.
Whereas Mr denote the moisture retention efficiency. The
experiment is allowed to progress for 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8
hours (maximum). Then the sample is removed from the
oven and its moisture retention efficiency is calculated. The
procedure is repeated for a time duration of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
and 8 hours an see that for each experiment a fresh sample
of known weight is taken.
IV. Results and discussion
A. Performance of water
69
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Collected haul road dust sample is tested under the action
of water and analysed its moisture retention efficiency over
the period of 8 hours at the temperature of 35 °C (Table I).
Initially, water showed 100% moisture retention at starting
of experiment (i.e., at 0 hours). After a duration of 1 hour
the sample in the chamber showed the moisture retention
efficiency of 88.6% and gradually held on 76.99% up to 2
hours of experiment.
is analysed through H-AP-g-PAM solution of concentration
of 0.1% by weight added as a dust suppressant at the
temperature 35 °C (Table 2). Initially, polymer solution
showed 100% moisture at zero hour. After passing of 1
hour duration in oven, dust sample showed 90.6% moisture
retention efficiency. Later as time passes, moisture retention
is 81.09%, 71.44%, 60.73%, 49.99%, 38.32%, 26.42%
and 16.79% after 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 hours of duration at
constant temperature of 35 °C (Fig. 3).

Table 2: Moisture Retention Efficiency Of Dust Sample When H-AP-

G-PAM Is Applied

Time W3 (g) W4 (g) W5 (g) Wm W M Mr

(h) (g) (g) (%) (%)
0 61.42 71.28 71.28 9.86 0.00 0 100
1 61.42 71.28 70.36 9.86 0.92 9.38 90.62
2 61.42 71.28 69.42 9.86 1.86 18.91 81.09
3 61.42 71.28 68.46 9.86 2.82 28.56 71.44
4 61.42 71.28 67.41 9.86 3.87 39.27 60.73
5 61.42 71.28 66.34 9.86 4.94 50.09 49.91
6 61.42 71.28 65.20 9.86 6.08 61.68 38.32
7 61.42 71.28 64.03 9.86 7.25 73.58 26.42
8 61.42 71.28 63.08 9.86 8.20 83.21 16.79
Fig. 3. Performance of H-AP-g-PAM as a dust suppressant

Later it went on to show 63.83%, 51.62%, 39.98%, 26.22%,

C. Comparison between water and H-AP-g-PAM
12.32%,0.92% retention after 3,4,5,6,7 and 8 hours of duration at Water and H-AP-g-PAM polymer solution as a dust
constant temperature of 35 °C (Fig. 2). suppressant is tested to find moisture retention efficiency
Fig. 2. Performance of water as a dust suppressant of haul road dust sample (Figure 4). A comparative study
between water and polymer solution can give a better idea
Table I. Moisture Retention Efficiency Of Dust Sample When Water regarding the application of dust suppressant as polymer
Is Applied in place of water. From Figure 4, it is clear that polymer
Time W3 W4 (g) W5 (g) Wm W M (%) Mr
solution can retain more moisture that water. Initially,
(h) (g) (g) (g) (%)
moisture retention in case of polymer solution is only
2.02% at 1 hour. But after 8 hour, moisture retention by
0 59.3 69.03 69.03 9.73 0.00 0.00 100
polymer solution is increased up to 15.87% than water.
1 59.3 69.03 67.92 9.73 1.11 11.40 88.6

2 59.3 69.03 66.79 9.73 2.24 23.01 76.99

3 59.3 69.03 65.51 9.73 3.52 36.17 63.83

4 59.3 69.03 64.32 9.73 4.71 48.38 51.62

5 59.3 69.03 63.19 9.73 5.84 60.02 39.98

6 59.3 69.03 61.85 9.73 7.18 73.78 26.22

7 59.3 69.03 60.50 9.73 8.53 87.68 12.32

8 59.3 69.03 59.39 9.73 9.64 99.08 0.92

B. Performance of H-AP-g-PAM
Fig. 5. Comparison between performance of water and H-AP-g-
The moisture retention efficiency of haul road dust sample
PAM as a dust suppressant

70
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
V. Conclusions
From the experiment we come to a conclusion that H-AP-g-
PAM gives good performance over water, which is the most
common dust suppression technique used in the surface
mines. After 8 hour, H-AP-g-PAM solution is observed
that moisture retained in the dust sample is 15.87% more
as compare to water application. More the moisture present
in the haul road, lesser will be the dust generation. Also, it is
bio degradable, easy to use and mainly environment friendly
with on other ill effects. With this attempt a note can be made
that polymers can be used or introduced in mining industry
for various purpose like dust suppression, fire quenching,
mine gas control. Research shows that polymers can be
used for mine road way support in underground mines.
References
[1] Reed, John A. Organiscak and W.M. Randolph,
“Characteristics of Fugitive Dust Generated from
Unpaved Mine Haulage roads,” International Jounral
of Surface Mining, Reclaimation, and Environment.,
vol. 18, pp. 236-252, 2004.
[2] Majee, Ghose M K and S R, “Assesment of Dust
Generation due to Opencast Coal Mining - An
Indian Case Study.,” Kluwer Academic Publisher,
Netherlands, 2000.
[3] Cecala, A.B,et.al, Dust Control Handbook for
Industrial Minerals Mining and Processing,
Department of Health and Human Services, 2012.
[4] R J Thompson, A T Visser, Mine Haul Road Fugitive
Dust Emission and Exposure Characterisation,
Pretoria, 2001.
[5] MSHA, “Dust — What You Can’t See CAN Hurt
You!,” MSHA’s Technical Information Center and
Library, USA, 1999.
[6] “A New Technique for Characterizing the Efficacy
of Fugitive Dust Suppressants,” Journal of the Air &
Waste Management Association, 2009.
[7] Foley, G Cropley, S Giummarra, G, “Road dust control
techniques: evaluation of chemical dust suppressants’
performance,” The National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine, p. 143, 1996.
[8] R J Thompson A T Visser, “ Selection, performance
and economic evaluation of dust o palliatives on
Surface Mine Haul Roads,” Journal of the South
African Institute of mining and Metallurgy , vol. 107,
no. 7, pp. 435 - 450, july 2007.
[9] Peter Bolander,Alan yamada, “Dust Palliatives
Selection an Application Guide,” U S Department of
Agriculture and Forest Service, California , November
1999.
[10] R J Thompson A T Visser, “The reduction of the
safety and health risk associated with the generation
of dust on strip coal mine haul roads,” Safety in Mines
Research Advisory ommittee, Pretoria, January 2000.
71

Macro and Micro Level Operational Requirements
for Safe and Productive Dragline Working in a Large
Opencast Coal Mine
Bipin Kumar
General Manager, Dudhichua Area, NCL
Sonebhadra, India
gmdch@coalindia.in
Kusumakar
Senior Manager (Planning), Dudhichua Area, NCL
Sonebhadra, India
kusumakar.3585@coalindia.in
Abstract —
A Large Opencast Coal Mine deploying High Capacity
Dragline always requires a very systematic operational
planning and very strict operational controls for its
strict implementation. Proper and timely advance of
all the Overburden benches above the dragline bench
is the first and foremost requirement for ensuring a
safe and productive dragline operation. Lack of desired
advance of any of the above benches will badly affect the
desired progress of Dragline cut and ultimately result
into unsafe and unproductive Dragline Operation.
In order to achieve the Safe and Productive Dragline
Working various macro and micro level operational
requirements have to be fulfilled. Macro level
operational requirements which address all the desired
conditions and environment not directly related to the
direct operation of dragline but prerequisites to direct
operation of Dragline whereas Micro level operational
requirements which address all the conditions and
environment for safe and productive dragline operation,
that is, directly related with the operation of dragline.
Macro level operational requirements includes desired
advance of Dragline Formation Level bench and benches
above it , Sufficient wide Dragline formation level
Corridor, Favorable de-coaled cut, proper drilling and
blasting of Dragline bench as well as good fragmented
blasted material etc. whereas the Micro level operational
requirements includes safe and productive Dragline
operation as per dig plan, cut parameters and selection
of cut parameters.
I. Introduction
The problem of large volume of Overburden handling and
72
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
P. C. Singh
SO(Mining), Dudhichua Area, NCL
Sonebhadra, India
pc.singh@coalindia.in
disposal in opencast coal mine has become very complex
now a days due to higher depth of opencast mines with
increasing stripping ratio. So efficient operations of large
size Heavy Earth Moving Machineries (HEMM) have
become the only solution for getting the desired progress of
mine including required rate of coal production. Economic
as well as geo-mining aspects are also addressed with
efficient operations.
In a large size Opencast Coal Mine Dragline remains the
favorite choice ith favorable geo mining condition for its
deployment despite of very high initial capital investment
but less running cost. Dragline is equipment having an
advantage of large reach/dumping radius and eliminates
the use of any auxiliary haulage system. In comparison
to other contemporary system it has thus gained a greater
significance. Moreover Dragline has the dual advantage
of reclamation clubbed with its primary operation of
stripping.
As dragline provides the significant advantage for
Overburden removal but it remains the HEMM with
highest capital investment. Hence Large Opencast Coal
Mine with Dragline deployment needs a very high Capacity
Utilization & Productivity of Dragline for achieving the
desired rate of Coal Exposure. In order to achieve the
above objective proper deployment of dragline, proper
operational planning of complete mine in addition to
dragline pit planning is of immense importance. It has
been revealed that dragline pit planning affects the dragline
productivity to the tune of 50 to 60 percent. Efficient mine
planning and production, supervision along with strict
adherence to short range as well as long range plan are
necessary for obtaining high productivity and efficiency in
Dragline operations.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Keeping this viewpoint this paper discusses the various
macro and micro level operational requirements in order
to achieve the Safe and Productive Dragline Working in a
large opencast coal mine.
II. Macro Level Operational Requirements
Macro level operational requirements are those
requirements which are very much important for providing
the desired conditions and environment for a safe and
productive face for dragline. These requirements are not
directly related to dragline operations but very much
important prerequisites for safe and productive direct
operation of Dragline.
Macro level operational requirements include the following:
1. Planned advance of all the benches above the Dragline
Bench including Dragline Formation level.
2. Planned Advance of Dragline Formation level.
3. Favorable De-coaled cut (Previous cut) for stable
dumps.
4. Favorable blasting of Dragline bench which ensure
the required fragmentation as well as strong, stable
and aligned highwall.
5. Dragline cut corridor of sufficient width for
deployment of dragline in Key cut along highwall.
Detailed description about the Macro level Operational
Requirements:
1. Planned Advance of all the Benches above the
Dragline Formation level bench
This is the first and the foremost requirement for Dragline
working in a large opencast Coal Mine. The advance of
all the Overburden and Coal Benches should be as per the
operational planning of the mine. During the mine advance
following principle must be adhered:
a) The Rate of advance of different benches should be
in harmony with each other.
This is required so that working benches have required
width for Haul road, power corridor etc. This will eliminate
the problem of higher height high wall resulting from the
merger of two or more than two benches as well as problem
of high gradient ramps for transportation machineries.
b) The Rate of advance of mine that is, combined
advance of all the benches should be in
commensuration with the rate of void/De coaled
area created by Dragline.
The advance of mine should be such that the working slope
of mine should be between 15° to 18° whereas the overall
slope of the internal dump never exceeds 28° if the slope
of floor of the mine is between 2° to 4°. This is required
as the overburden removal quantity should match with the
dumping space available for its disposal.
It is interesting to know that more than the desired
advance of above benches will adversely affect the Internal
Overburden Dump management. In order to achieve the
desired rate of Annual Coal Production the rate of advance
of mine must commensurate with the rate of advance
of void/de-coaled area created otherwise the space for
accommodation of OB in internal dump will be insufficient
and a compromise has to be made with the stability of
dump. Shortage of dump accommodation space result into
merger of Dump benches. This creates problems of higher
height unstable dump benches due to merger of OB dump
benches as well as less width of OB dump benches.
If the desired advance of above benches is less then there
will be merger of excavation benches which in turn results
into lesser haul road width in working benches as well as
high gradient ramp for transportation machineries. The
dragline formation level bench advance is also affected.
Proper width of working benches will be reduced causing
problems for loading as well as transporting equipments.
Both more as well as less than the desired advance of the
different mine benches is not acceptable for the smooth
working of the Opencast Coal mine.
2. Planned Advance of Dragline Formation Level
Bench
It is the secondary requirement for dragline deployment in
a highly productive dragline face. The Dragline Formation
level bench advance must fulfill following conditions:
It should be advanced at least 700 m from dragline sitting
position.
73

• This 700 m advance comprises of 200 m of blasted
material for dragline, 100 m for dragline formation
level bench for Drilling & Charging for advance
blasting of Dragline Bench.
• At least 400 m advance of Dragline Formation
level bench beyond drilling & blasting patch should
be maintained all the time. This will ensure safe,
productive and independent operation of excavators
and transporting equipment deployed for the
preparation of dragline Formation level.
• This advance will ensure the independent operation
of Dragline, independent Drilling, Charging and
blasting operation at Dragline bench ahead of
blasted material, independent operation of excavators
and transporting equipment deployed at Dragline
Formation level bench for the preparation of Dragline
formation level.
• The Dragline productivity will be high as it will not
be facing crisis due to shortage of blasted material.
Less advance of dragline formation level bench will
interfere with the drilling and blasting operation of
dragline bench, operation of excavators and transportation
equipments and adversely affect the productivity of
dragline as well as safety of different Heavy Earth Moving
Machineries working in the dragline bench including the
safety of dragline.
3. Favorable De-coaled cut (Previous Dragline cut)
for stable dumps
De-coaled Cut or the previous dragline cut should fulfill
the requirements for the creation of stable Dragline dump
in addition to sufficient space for accommodation of
required Overburden to be side casted by Dragline. The
dump created by dragline is the first stage dump of the
internal dump over which the dumps by dumper/tipper
dumping is formed in benches/layers.
The requirements for stable dragline dumps are followings:
74
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
A. Dragline Dump foundation:-
a) The floor of the dump is freed from coal dust/debris as
far as practicable as coal debris often exhibits a much
lower strength than in its original state due to changes
in particle size and shape, and moisture content. It
affects stability of a dump by allowing deformation of
the toe material.
b) Low bearing capacity material like top soil, clay,
alluvium etc. are not dumped at the base of dump as
no dumping by dumper is allowed in the void or de-
coaled cut as it affects stability of a dump by allowing
deformation of the toe material.
c) The base of the dump is ripped by dozer or blasted
to a depth of 2 m to increase the frictional resistance
at the base of the dump, otherwise the base of dump
itself become the cause of dump instability as the
weak base becomes plane of dump failure in case of
loading of dump by dumping material.
d) The water at the de-coaled area or void is pumped
out before the side-casting by dragline as far as
practicable.
e) The extraction of rib or rib puncturing is done in
order to drain the rain water accumulated behind the
coal rib in the active cut and then the water is allowed
to gravitate towards the central sump for final removal
of water by pumping it outside the mine. This is done
to eliminate the hydrostatic pressure exert by water.
Stable previous cut Dragline dump is ensured so that it
does not endanger the current Dragline dump stability and
volume accommodation of current dump.
B. Shovel Dumper Dump:
a) The major consideration in Overburden transport
is lift (load elevation) rather than lead (distance
between the place of excavation to place of dumping)
so it is important to locate the dump as close to the
excavation as possible and ideally, maximize the
lateral extent of the dump.
b) Thus most Overburden dumps are constructed in a
series of lifts by end dumping where each successive
lift/dump level is placed on the previous layer. Height
of each lift depends on Dump extent, width and
optimum grade (6-8%). The OB form a continuously
renewed veneer on the face or dump slope. The dump
progresses outward horizontally, as successive layers
are added to the face.
c) Dumps are usually constructed in a series of
lifts following ascending sequence. Ascending
construction is advantageous, as toe of each lift is
supported on the preceding lift in this case.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Shovel Dumper Dump in Lifts
. Dump Stability can be enhanced by judicious use of wrap-
arounds, terracing, restricting lift heights to limit shear
stresses on the foundations and the length of potential
runout, and dumping in the direction of valley contours
rather than downslope.
Shovel – Dumper dumps and Dragline Dumps
The toe of lowermost lift of Shovel Dumper Dump should
be maintained at a safe distance from the Toe of Dragline
Dump (say 160 to 180 m away) in order to ensure the
stability of the dragline dump by avoiding dynamic loading
on Dragline Dump by Shovel Dumper Dump.
4. Well fragmented Blasting Material
It is one of the most important requirements for highly
productive dragline operation. Well fragmented blasted
material improves the Bucket fill factor and reduces the
Bucket filling time to a large extent. Well fragmented
blasted material also reduces the bucket line breakdown
including wear and tear of Dragline bucket to a large extent.
For dragline bench blasting well fragmented blasting
material is ensured by the use of electronic detonators. Here
hole to hole delays along with inter row delays are used.
Even each hole is blasted separately at two time intervals,
that is, first the lower half is blasted and secondly the upper
half of the hole is blasted. Maximum charge per delay is
restricted to 1200Kg for minimizing PPV and Ground
vibrations as per the requirement of Controlled Blasting.
5. Dragline Formation level Corridor.
Presence of sufficient wide dragline formation level corridor
is very important requirement for high productivity of
Dragline. Sufficient width of this corridor ensures the
deployment of dragline at for Key cut operation by sitting
along highwall. This give the dragline the advantage
to operate for key cut at a swing angle of less than 90°.
Highwall dressing is also done very well from this sitting
position of Dragline. Absence of sufficient wide dragline
formation level corridor compels the Dragline sitting at
Lowwall side (Dump side) which results into across Key
cut removal at a swing angle more than 90°. Here the
productivity of Dragline is reduced as well as higwall
dressing also becomes difficult. The Dragline deadheading
to new cut after finishing the operation in the previous cut
also becomes a difficult task.
III. Micro Level Operational
Requirements
Micro level operational requirements are those
requirements which are very much important a safe and
productive Dragline Operation. These requirements are
directly related to dragline operations and ensure the high
productivity, safe operation, stable dragline dump.
Micro level operational requirements include
the following:
1. Selection of most productive Dragline Cut
parameters -
The success of Dragline operation is decided by dragline
cut planning and execution. The choice of dragline
Cut parameters is largely decided by Dragline design
parameters.
a) Dragline Bench Height –
The complex relationship of bench height (which could
be equal to overburden depth), panel width, dragline
dumping reach and dumping height, as well as material
characteristics such as swell and angle of repose, influence
greatly the dragline’s capability to dispose of burden off
the coal. The dragline’s digging depth, while related to
overburden depth, rarely becomes a factor in dragline
performance.
Selection of the bench height is based on numerous
operational factors and topographic restraints. The bench
height must be selected primarily on the basis of fitting
the dragline’s specific characteristics to the required pit
75

geometry. In general, the bench height should be as high as
possible within the limit of required dragline reach.
The limiting dragline bench height is equal to the
maximum permissible digging depth. As the bench height
increases there are issues with the visibility during spotting
the bucket as well as difficulty in placement of swinging
bucket at bench toe level. The minimum bench height
should not be less than one third of the boom length of
the dragline. Both maximum as well as minimum bench
height of dragline is important for dragline operation.
The optimum bench height should be determined with
due consideration of volume of material available for
the formation of the extended bench for dragline sitting
, economic considerations like cost per Cubic meter of
overburden handling by dragline in comparison with the
shovel dumper or HOE also among other factors.
b) Dragline Cut width or panel width –
It is defined as the width of the cut taken by the dragline,
as it progresses from digout to digout, along the highwall
from one end of the pit to the other. It is the measurement
across the pit at right angles to the line of advance.
Dragline Cut width, one of the most important parameters
affecting dragline productivity, is influenced by following
factors:-
1. Safety – Wider Cut width minimises the quantum of
work to be done below the Highwall.
2. Requirement of rate of Coal Production - This also
dictates the choice of coal excavating and hauling
equipment.
3. Operational requirements of coal excavating and
hauling equipment - The minimum practical cut width
is dictated by the safe operational width required for
safe & easy manoeuvrability of coal excavating and
hauling equipment. The deployment of type of coal
excavating and hauling equipment is again dependent
on the requirement of rate of coal production. For
deploying two shovels (10 Cum.) the minimum width
of cut should be kept at 60 m.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
4. While digging Deeper Overburden cycle time is
largely governed by the hoisting time and the swing
angle become unimportant. The advantage realised
due to wider cut width more than compensate the
disadvantages. So optimum pit width should be
selected.
5. Available spoil area -If the available space for
placement of spoil is critical, this might occur when
crowding spoil to open haul roads through the spoil,
narrow panels permit greater flexibility to deal with
such problems.
6. Reach/Dragline boom length (radius of loading and
unloading)- It dictates the Maximum Cut width as the
Key Cut material should be directly side-casted to the
previous de-coaled cut without any requirement of
re-handling of dumped material.
7. Wider cut width will give advantage of less Handling
of Key Cut material (Since digging key cut is slowest
operation as bucket must be hoisted up/lifted to clear
the surface, that is, Dragline Sitting level, before the
machine can start swinging.
8. Hoist and swing time -Productivity variations,
because of panel width, are directly related to whether
or not the dragline is swing critical. Small draglines
can become swing critical at panel widths less than
the width required for practical coal operations in
the pit. Their cycle time also increases dramatically.
Larger draglines may not become swing critical until
the panel width exceeds 50 m (150 ft).Wider pits
increases the swing angle.
9. System of working (vertical tandem or horizontal
tandem).
10. Wider cut width will reduce dragline walking time as
deadheading frequency will be reduced.
11. Coal Recovery Percentage – High width reduces
percentage loss of Coal in Coal Ribs.
12. Cut scheduling becomes easier due to increase in
time for cut completion in case of wider cuts.
c) Dragline Cut length Strip length – Dragline Cut length
is distance between the starting point of the dragline
cut to the end point of the dragline cut. It is mainly
dependent on the strike length, pit layout etc. Greater
dragline cut length increases the Dragline productive
period as the period of deadheading or walking to
new cut after finishing the previous cut is reduced.
The increase in rehandling volume at the cut start due
to central entry/ entry for bottom most coal seam is
also reduced.
d) Block Length/Digout Length: The selection of digout
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
length, the length between major digging cycles, is
based on the relationship of the dragline’s operating
characteristics with respect to pit geometry. In
general, the digout should be as long as possible.
However, dragline size may greatly influence digout
length for specific pit geometry. For example, digout
length is sensitive when using a dragline with slow
hoist speed working in deep overburden. Spoil critical
pits may utilize a less than desirable digout length in
order to pack the maximum material onto the spoil
bank.
Block length is inversely proportional to the Dig depth.
Block length is directly proportional to the Dragline
face slope angle.
Advantages of Long Digout :-
1. In general, a long digout with respect to dragline size
reduces cycle time and increases productivity because
more material is loaded under the outer end of the
boom than near the fairleads of the dragline. A good
dragline operator will try to fill the bucket within two
and a half to three times the bucket length.
2. Cycle components of retrieving for bucket loading,
bucket dragging, payout for dumping, and swing
angle all are decreased as the digout length increases.
3. Longer digout lengths also reduce the non-productive
time required for repositioning the dragline on the
succeeding digout.
4. The greater the digout length, the less walking time
will be required per panel.
Obviously, digout length should not be so long as to require
the dragline operator to cast the bucket beyond the limit of
the boom.
e) Dragline Face Slope angle -
Dragline slope angle should not be too small as the dragline
bucket will not be able to reach the toe of the face. It also
leads to poor visibility of the bucket by the operator which
affects the cycle time and productivity. By maintaining
face angle of 45° the dragline designed reach can be utilized
and higher block length can be excavated. This increases
the volume removal as well as the coal exposure in the best
digging zone.
f) Highwall slope –
It is the angle which the highwall slope makes with the
horizontal. Highwall slope is dependent on the angle of
drilling holes. For vertical blast hole highwall slope angle
is higher compared to the inclined holes. Higher highwall
slope results into lesser rehandling and reduced dragline
reach. But flatter slopes are safer prom the point of view of
Highwall stability. The highwall slope selection is decided
on the basis of safety, stability as well as operational
requirements.
Fig.1. Dragline Highwall
g) Aligned Highwall -
The dragline productivity during key cut operation
is affected by the type of highwall it has to encounter.
A uniform, strong and aligned Highwall reduces the
excavation time during highwall exposure as well as the
Highwall dressing time to a large extent. Better highwall
also reduces the Dragline Bucket line breakdowns as well as
maintenance and repair cost of bucket and its accessories. In
order to achieve the desired Highwall in line drilling is done
at cut line at a close spacing so that a well defined fracture
line is ensured after blasting at Dragline bench. Chances of
over break, Overhang, undercut, non alignment, fracture
etc. of Highwall are eliminated.
Uniform Dragline Cut width or Panel width is also ensured
by good highwall. Slope of highwall should fulfill the
operational requirements as well as stability requirements.
A good highwall also eliminates the chances of failures
of highwall as well as any unsafe condition to men and
machinery working beneath the highwall in the coal bench
below the Dragline bench as well as on exposed coal top
surface.
2. Preparation and Implementation of Dig Plan –
One of the main objective of developing and reviewing
77

operational plan is to optimize dig methodology to achieve
safe removal of the required volume of overburden from
the desired location and dumping in the desired location
in the shortest possible time at lowest unit cost. The safe
and efficient means of achieving this objective requires
detailed planning and scheduling and relies on good
communication and co-ordination between the technical
services department (planning), the operational Engineers,
supervisors and the dragline operators.
The operational Engineers, supervisors and the dragline
operators play an important role in the process of achieving
the operational objectives by their knowledge of the
equipment capabilities and their ability to anticipate and
identify/manage problems as these have a direct influence
on idling, dig times and overall efficiency. So they play an
active role in the development of Dig Plan.
The timely, accurate and achievable plans is prepared needs
following:
i) For every pit or bench the Planning engineer,
operation engineer and supervisor should meet to
discuss the excavation a minimum of a month ahead
of planned work.
ii) Previous strip or block or bench in the same pit
is reviewed along with other relevant, subsequent
issues. Common understanding of the approach to be
employed is developed.
iii). Engineer develops the draft plans for the pit using
3D (and maybe 2D as well) planning tools. The plans
should include identification of Dragline sequencing
in the pit. Pit, strip, blocks. Digging locations are
provided in detail.
iv) Meetings are held amongst Planning engineer,
operation engineers, supervisors & operators to
discuss the draft plan.
v) Modifications are made to plans and final plans
issued.
vi) Sign off by all concerned for an agreement that plan
won’t be changed without specified procedure being
followed.
The plans which are required for execution:
• Strip or bench plan/s (plan view and cross sections)
showing blocks and spoil movement with key
information marked. Plans should include dates
planned to be at points down the pit for reconciliation
purposes.
• 3D plans showing digging sequence.
• Block plans showing planned digging and dumping
locations.
78
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
• 3D animation of strip / bench excavation on
designated Computer.
Successful implementation of dig plan is possible when the
operators are made accountable for following plans and
have systems in place to respond when an operator thinks a
plan should be changed. Key actions required are :
I. Operators’ record digging location and details on
their shift report. Every time the operator changes
digging location /position of machine the change
should be identified and consistent with the approach
specified on plans. Alternatively, GPS systems can be
used to provide a record of the movements and R.L
(Reduced Level) information.
II. Operators do their very best to follow plans, including,
digging and machine locations. Bench/floor levels
may be set using a hand held or a machine mounted
GPS device.
III. Markers / survey pegs should indicate all key positions
in the pit, e.g. high wall, low-wall, end-walls, and
block locations as well as provide support for locating
the loading unit and getting R.L heights correct.
IV. Supervisor checks pit layout, digging, machine
positioning and recording of operations every shift to
ensure compliance with plan.
V. Operators are not authorized to change operations
away from plans except for immediate safety issues,
e.g. geotechnical issues, physical blockages, etc.
VI. Any other change in plan should be authorized by the
supervisor and should be agreed to by the operator,
supervisor, Operation engineer and Planning
engineer.
VII. Where feasible, the Planning engineer should produce
revised plans as soon as possible.
VIII. Revised plans should be communicated to all crews.
IX. The Planning engineer, Operation engineer and
supervisor should visit each machine daily to discuss
any issues with execution of the plan.
Reconciliation of fleet performance is also essential. Ideally
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
it should be done based on volume moved and advance
in the pit. The Planning engineer should prepare a plan
showing the dates when certain points are reached in the
strip or bench. Actual progress is then marked.
Dragline operators should be provided simulator training
by OEM trainer for following the safe operating practices of
dragline operation. The training should also include all the
operations such as, Highwall dressing, Key cut removal and
formation of extended bench etc. as per Dig plan.
Operation engineers, supervisors should also be trained for
understanding Dig plan.
3. Formation of Stable Dragline Dump
A strong and stable Dragline Dump foundation & complete
rib less mining or coal rib extraction, as far as practicable,
is ensured. The OB casted in the void due to blasting forms
the bottommost first layer over the foundation or base of
the dump. The large size boulders are normally found in the
bottommost first layer.
Safe practices should be adopted for Strong and Stable
Dragline Dump as detailed below –
1. Dragline dumping on the clean and ripped blasted
floor surface of coal seam is done.
2. Dragline dump height is maintained below the
permissible dump height.
3. The dragline Dump is constructed as per the stable
dragline dump profile with due consideration of FOS
in excess of 1.2.
Dragline dump monitoring should be done for ensuring
Safe dragline dump profile as per statutory requirement.
This should be ensured by routine Dragline dump survey
at every 50 m by target less total station and by 3D Laser
scanner once in a fortnight.
IV. Conclusion
Dragline under favorable Geo mining conditions offers
significant advantage of overburden excavation, side-
casting and reclamation in one go. Due to this it has gained
wide acceptance in Indian coalfields. Its deployment
necessitates efficient planning of complete mine operations,
better time scheduling of all the mine benches activities. The
pit planning and design requirements must be considered
with due adherence to both long term as well as short term
planning. The advance of the benches above the dragline
working must synchronize with the dragline working. The
Dragline cut parameters and mine dump parameters also
exert influence on the planning and design of dragline
pits. Hence machine parameters, Dragline cut parameters
and dump parameters (both dragline and dumpers/tippers
dumps) are to be carefully chosen keeping in view the
overall mine requirements. In order to successfully operate
the dragline with very high productivity throughout the life
of the mine the macro and micro requirements for safe and
productive dragline working has to be fulfilled.
References
[1] Chaoji, S.v. & Dey, B.C.,2000,”Dragline Operation in Mines- an
Overview”, Journal of Mines, Metals & Fuels, Vol.XL VIII, No. 5,
May, p. 4-93.
[2] Atkinson,T.,1992, “Surface Mining-past, present and future,
Journal of Mines, Metals & Fuels, Vol-30,June, p- 241-254
[3] Dragline Dictionary PwC – Mining Intelligence and Benchmarking
[4] Huddart,H & Runga, I.C.,!979, Pit design optimised for Dragline
productivity, IMM, Sec A, Vol-88, pg.A-6 & 12.
[5] Goodman , V.R. & Page.J,1989,”Mention of detail boosts Dragline
Work”, Coal Age,Sept.
[6] Jonah,K. 1988,”Syncrude mine production planning”, Procs,
ICMPES, Balkema.
[7] Neil O.E., August1976 “ Machine efficiency in mine application:.
IM&EJ
[8] Chironis,N.P.,1986”An approach to tandem operation(in vertical)
of draglines with due considerations for safety and conservation”,
Mine Tech. Vol 11, No. 6, Nov- Dec.
[9] Seymour C.A, Dragline stripping extended bench method , World
Coal, April 1979.
[10] Rai V K, Balancing diagram—a basic planning tool for dragline
operation, In: Proceedings of the national seminar on emerging
technology in surface mines and environmental challenges, 1997,
Mangalore, India, pp 85–89.
79

Issues of Overburden Handling and Backfilling
Capacity with respect to Various Depth and Stripping
Ratio in High Depth Opencast Mining
G.K. Mishra
GM, HOD (Planning & Design),
CMPDI, RI-VII, Bhubaneswar,
Odisha, Pin: 751013, India.
gkmishra_mcl@yahoo.co.in
Abstract- Coal continues to play a pivotal role in com-
mercial energy production in our country. Large scale mech-
anized opencast mining is one of the most common technol-
ogy to extract power grade coal at a low cost. However, this
cost-effective technology of opencast mining involves the de-
struction of huge precious virgin land and ecology. We are
under tremendous pressure to enhance coal production at a
minimal cost to fulfill our growing energy needs, but major
hurdles while mine planning is the technical, environmental
and social issues due to increasing depth and cost of mining.
Initially, the depth of opencast mines is low with less stripping
ratio, with the advancement of time existing opencast mines
are going to higher depth cater to the demand of coal and to
reduce import. However, with increase in depth and stripping
ratio, overburden handling becomes the major issue with an
emphasis on land restoration at its original state. It is most-
ly believed that after initial years of mining external dump-
ing can be stopped and total overburden can be backfilled.
Although, it can be observed that there may be a situation
when there will be a longer period of external dumping and
availability of internal dumping capacity varies with vary-
ing geo-mining conditions and mine planning techniques.
This paper deals with these factors such as mine geometry,
haul road design, depth, stripping ratio, the dip of quarry
floor which decide the backfilling and reclamation process
of a mine and also highlights the rational and sustainable
approach of improving restoration of the mined-out land at
an early date and the limitations of the same. Block model of
the deposit through mine planning software has been used to
assess the void availability at different geo-mining conditions
and these different techniques and innovations have also been
summarized to maximize the backfilling capacity.
Keywords - Overburden; stripping ratio; mine planning
software; block model; opencast mine
80
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
S.K. Bhar
GM, Planning & Design Dept.,
CMPDI, RI-VII, Bhubaneswar,
Odisha, Pin: 751013, India.
skbhar66@gmail.com
I. Introduction
In opencast mining, overburden (OB) handling is one of
the major aspects to be carefully planned considering
both mining activities and site rehabilitation while doing
the mine design process (Galera et al. 2009). So it is the
aim of a mine planner to minimize external dumping and
maximizing internal dumping from an early date. This
paper deals with the above-mentioned issues, highlighting
the rational approach of overburden handling in an
opencast mine with different geo-mining conditions which
varies due to the depth and stripping ratio. To demonstrate
the overburden dumping problem here we have used the
block model through Minex (mine planning software)
showing mine profile at different depth and stripping ratio
to assess the available void in a working opencast coal mine.
Different alternate techniques to maximize the internal
dump capacity have also been summarised.
There is a number of opencast mines that are now being
planned with more than 200m depth. In a low stripping
ratio mine, it is presumed that all the overburden in the
mine can be accommodated within its own void. However,
with an increase in depth and stripping ratio, it becomes
extremely difficult to accommodate all the overburden
inside a mine. It is mostly believed that after a few years
of mining operation external dumping can be stopped
and total overburden can be backfilled. Site topography
and morphology, as well as geological and geotechnical
properties of natural and remolded materials, are the most
important factors affecting the disposal phase. Economic
and environmental requirements must be followed in
order to achieve the best reclamation results, keeping into
account site constraints such as slope stability, hauling and
dumping issues, and interactions with groundwater (Ogerri
et al., 2018).
With time and demand, there is a huge change in size and
the stripping ratio of the opencast mines, the amount of
overburden generation has also increased considerably.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Overburden dumps can be external dumps created at a site
away from the coal-bearing area or it can be internal- dumps
created by in-pit dumping (IPD) concurrent to the creation
of voids by extraction of coal. (Verma et al., 2013). Coal
India Limited (CIL) is the world's largest coal-producing
company and it has removed 21, 160, 462, 695, 886, 1162
million cubic meters of overburden during 1976, 1986-87,
1999-2000 and 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019 respectively. Now, in
context with the current and future scenario, the availability
of land is one of the major concerns for producing
and fulfill the growing demand of coal simultaneously
with addressing the huge overburden generation. The
requirement of dumping overburden in the external dumps
has some serious issues (Upadhyay et. al, 1990), foremost
amongst them is the requirement of additional land, which
involves very high transport and rehandling cost which will
increase the cost of coal production substantially, stability
and reclamation at the site. It is not possible to eliminate
the external dumps concept completely, even if we adopt
internal dumping practices.
Quine (1993) and Gomez (2003) both have suggested that
among the two ways of internal and external dumping, in-
ternal dumping is the most economical and environmen-
tally friendly waste management and it is being adopted
globally. But it has certain limitations and inherent dan-
ger of dump slides posing operational and safety threats.
The presence of water reduces the frictional strength of the
slope material, and the geo-mechanical properties are re-
duced further due to the presence of pore water pressure.
The migration of water may augment the seepage, lead-
ing to the formation of tension cracks parallel to the in-
ternal dump slopes. Tension cracks are also generated due
to shocks and vibration caused by poor blasting in slopes
(Singh et al. 1992).
Fig. 1. Final Reclamation plan of a large opencast coal mine of depth up
to 400m using Minex
In 1974, According to the National Academy of Science
Study Committee((NASSC) definition, Restoration is the
re-creation of the original site conditions prior to distur-
bance; Reclamation potrays a site habitable to indigenous
pre-mining condition organisms. Rehabilitation elucidates
that deformed land will be returned to its original state or in
such a form, where its efficiency shall be at par and it does
not contribute substantially to environmental deterioration
compared with a prior land-use plan including a stable eco-
logical state and that should be in tune with its surrounding
aesthetic values (Harthill and McKell, 1978).
Also, biological reclamation was brought out to keep
the long term stability of the overburden dump slope,
with the numerical modeling analyzed to be feasible
(Chaulya, 1999). Peng and Zhang (2018) have established
an optimized mathematical model that proves that if
two adjacent surface mines mined simultaneously in the
same direction a minimum cost objective function can
be achieved by both the mines in terms of dumping and
transportation cost, especially the in-pit dumping and the
properly covered height of end-slope will reduce mining
cost and transportation cost greatly. Whether, to keep the
inner dump slope covered or not is the main issue, which
will bring tremendous economic and research value in
terms of future aspects. It necessitates the mining experts
to be innovative and futuristic for the safe, stable and
economic disposal of the dump material with the available
land with proper reclamation for the site rehabilitation
shown in Fig. 1.
ii. Criteria for Opencast mine planning
in terms of backfilling
Successful planning of opencast mining often depends
mainly on major two aspects:
• Economics of operations and profitability
• To minimize environmental degradation, the objective
of the mine planar is to minimize external overburden
dumping and to accommodate the major quantity of
overburden generated from the mine in the excavated
void.
2.1 Factors to design and determine the Backfilling
capacity of a mine
• Block Geometry: Block width should be optimum
to construct sufficient dump tiers and the top tier of
the dump should have adequate space for the safe
movement of hauling equipment.
• Stripping Ratio: With the increase in stripping ratio
overburden generated will be more and there will be
difficulty in accommodation within the internal void.
• Depth: With increased depth along with higher
stripping ratio accommodation capacity will not
match with overburden generated.
• Transport Layout: In case of mine planned with
81

central haul road, a lot of dump space will have to
be reduced on both sides of the haul road. In low
stripping ratio mines central haul road can be planned
to accommodate overburden, but in high depth and
high stripping ratio mines central haul road may not
be advised for non-accommodation of OB, often
main haul road has to be planned along one side or
along one flank of the quarry to maximize the internal
dump capacity.
• Gradient: In case of moderately steeping deposit haul
road on the floor cannot be aligned in a straight line
and may have to be aligned in a curvilinear way but
the same will result in the reduction of dumping space.
In case of moderate to highly dipping deposit, as the
excavation advances, the ratio of vertical dimension
to horizontal dimension increases; consequently,
effective space decreases as compared to a flat or
near flat deposit excavation of similar quantity. As
such, while mining moderately high dipping deposits,
effective space for overburden accommodation is less.
• Working Slope: In multi seam deposits working angle
will be relatively flat with the maintenance of bench
for each strata with adequate bench width as per safety
requirement. Optimizing the working slope will reduce
overburden generation and dumping requirements in a
stage however compromising with safety should not
be done. As per the planning standard, this slope varies
from 18⁰-20⁰. However, in actual practice, the same is
much steeper to reduce OB generation.
• Dump Slope: There is generally very little scope in
the modification of this overall dump slope, as per
safety and statutory standard this angle should be
around 26⁰-28⁰. Each dump tier is restricted up to a
height of 30m with an angle at 37⁰ or at an angle of
repose of the dump material, 30 m horizontal berm
is generally left between each dump tier. The space
between working dump slope and the mine working
slope cannot be filled up in a running mine and this
space increases with an increase in depth.
iii. Method For Overburden Handling
And Backfilling Capacity During Mine
Operation
There is a common belief that in opencast mining internal
dumping can be started after few years of inception of
mining and all the overburden generated from the mine
can be accommodated in the mined out void, in case of
low depth and low stripping ratio opencast mines it may
be true. But it can be observed that in many cases void
generated within the mine is not adequate to accommodate
82
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
the overburden generated and external dumping has to
be continued in later periods of mining. Simultaneous
backfilling and external dumping have to be carried out
for several years until the void generated within the mine
is able to accommodate all the overburden. The height of
internal dumps may also have to be increased much above
the original ground level to maximize backfilling capacity.
Backfilling methodology depends mainly on deposit
mineralization and it’s geometry, method of working, the
sequence of mining, available machinery, topography and
also the availability of overburden materials and soil. The
designer should also consider geologic, groundwater and
surface water conditions while developing the methodology.
The backfilling methodology for each mine is unique and
typical. Our progressive mine closure plans describe the
mine operation and ways of concurrent filling, it is often
observed that during mine operations, part of the mine
void can be backfilled with overburden generated from the
mine, so part of the mined-out land is partially restored.
However, it is extremely difficult to restore it completely as
often the filled up dumps have to be raised above ground
level.
Each coal mine has a limited life span due to the finite
nature of the resource being extracted. Eventually, the
resource is exhausted, or the point is reached at which it is
no longer profitable to extract for any number of reasons,
such as increasing mine depth, increasing strip ratios,
changing regulations, or market pressures. At the end of
mining operations, final reclamation and restoration will
be taken up to bring the land to it’s near about the original
state or to a better stage. Reclamation is also an expensive
endeavor. As the mine will not continue producing saleable
material in the post-closure period, no additional income
will be brought in after operations cease. Therefore, most
regulatory agencies require some form of a financial safety
net, or bonding, to ensure sufficient funds are available for
reclamation even if bankruptcy occurs.
At the end of mining operations generally following three
areas are observed in the mined-out area:
• The major part of the mined-out land has been
backfilled, however often these internal dumps have
to be elevated much above the original ground level
to minimize external dump especially during initial
years. The requirement of increasing internal dump
height generally varies with the stripping ratio.
These internal dumps are generally technically and
biologically reclaimed with the progress of mining,
plantation on internal dumps are generally taken up
concurrently.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

• Unfilled dipside slope. Planning and implementing rehabilitation measures for the
• Unfilled final void: at the end of mine life there will final pit cannot be considered in isolation from the rest of the
not be material to fill this void immediately. For most void because they are intimately interlinked, hydrologically
pits, end in a permanent void which, if mined below and hydro geologically. Knowledge of aspects of backfill
the water table, will fill as groundwater rebounds spoil hydrogeology and pit void wall geotechnical stability
and surface run-off inflows to form a pit lake. The are inadequate to provide confidence about post-closure
depth of the final void will vary according to the final residual risks to the environment and safety.
mining depth.
V. Case Study
IV. Suggestive Measures for Final Mine A case study of an opencast coal mine has been taken
Closure here, its geo-mining characteristics have been summarized
Restoration, reclamation and rehabilitation are the three below in Table 1.
keywords for successful final closure of any surface Table I: Geo-Mining Characteristics Of The Opencast Coal Mine
mine. Our key is concern is to maximize internal filling Sl. Geo – mining Characteristics Details
and minimize destruction of virgin land for external
1. Block Width 3.5-4 km
dumping, however, depending on the geometry of deposit
characteristics and technology external dumping cannot be 2. Mineable Reserve Around 600 Mt

avoided altogether for high stripping ratio and high depth 3. Stripping Ratio 2.75 cum/t
deposits. Often backfilling much above ground level is 4. Number of seams 14 (around 24 seam horizon)
required to minimize the external dumping. 5. Mine depth 10 to 410m

 Filling of the unfilled void of the post-mining period: 6. Seam Gradient 60-80

• The final void will have to be filled by overburden

The development of the mine from shallow depth to mod-
from surrounding mining if possible. Generally,
erate to higher working depth has been shown using dif-
sequential mining should be adopted, one quarry
ferent cross-sections in Fig.2. Mine working slope and
should be started only after exhaustion of others, so
dump slope have also been shown on the cross-section at
the overburden of the second mine can be filled in the various depth, it can be observed from that cross-section
void of the first mine. that an area between these slopes cannot be filled up at any
• Rehandling of the external dump and upper tiers of stage and this unfilled area will increase with an increase
internal dump into the unfilled void; in this process in depth.
already technically and biologically reclaimed land
has to be disturbed and plantation has to be cut down
for rehandling. Cost and time factors for this post-
closure activity are very important, rehandling of
these huge quantities involves huge financial burden
and may take a long time which seems very difficult
to be implemented. This rehandling also restricts
plantation with big trees on top of the leveled internal
dump, the top tier of dump may be reclaimed with
grass carpeting.
• Another alternative approach is to rehandle part of
the top tiers which have been formed in later years
and partly fill the mined out void. In this option, the Fig.2. Cross-sections at different Mining stages with Pit and OB
top tier of the internal dump which has been formed dumping Scenario
in earlier days will be restored with bigger plantation The mine has been started from the incrop side of the
and the same will not be disturbed. However, the deposit at a shallow depth of around 10m, mine will be
newly-formed portion of the top tier will be rehandled advanced to dipside with an increase in depth up to 400m.
back to the final mine void, here the depth of the Initially, a central haul road has been planned on the floor
final void will be reduced and part of this void can be of the bottom-most seam to optimize the transport lead.
conserved as a water body. Pit and Dump schedule has to be made with the following

83
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

points given below:

1. There will be external dumping in the initial few
years,
2. After the initial 2-3 years, there will be mined
out voids and the same can accommodate part of
overburden generated from mine. So, simultaneous
backfilling and external dumping will be continued
up to a 6-7th year.
3. However, from the 7th year onwards major quantity
Table 2: Void capacity at various Stripping ratio (with Central Haul Road)
of overburden can be backfilled. However, internal
dumps may have to be raised above 60m above
ground level to accommodate mined out overburden
4. It has been observed that from a depth beyond 200-
250m void generation in the mine will again not
sufficient to accommodate the overburden generated
from the mine even if the backfilling is raised beyond
90m above ground level. So, some external dumping
will be necessary.

Stripping Internal Void/ Dump Internal dump/ External

Depth Pit Volume OB Volume
Ratio (60-90m above GL) total void Dump

(in m) (in Mcum) (in cum/t ) (in Mcum) (In Mcum) % (in Mcum)

50m 28.16 1 17.49 4.38 25.04 13.11

(year 3) 1.5 20.11 4.38 21.78 15.73

2 21.58 4.38 20.30 17.20

2.5 22.64 4.38 19.35 18.26

100 m 80.89 1 50.24 40.33 80.27 9.91

(year 5) 1.5 57.78 40.33 69.80 17.45

2 61.98 40.33 65.07 21.65

2.5 65.02 40.33 62.03 24.69

125 m 178.95 1 111.15 127.18 114.42

(year 10) 1.5 127.82 127.18 99.50 0.64

2 137.13 127.18 92.74 9.95

2.5 143.85 127.18 88.41 16.67

160 m 311.04 1 193.19 249.60 129.20

(year 15) 1.5 222.17 249.60 112.35

2 238.34 249.60 104.72

2.5 250.03 249.60 99.83 0.43

175 m 430.13 1 267.16 303.39 113.56

(year20) 1.5 307.24 303.39 98.75 3.85

2 329.6 303.39 92.05 26.21

2.5 345.76 303.39 87.75 42.37

200 m 704.82 1 437.78 436.37 99.68 1.41

(year30) 1.5 503.44 436.37 86.68 67.07

2 540.09 436.37 80.80 103.72

2.5 566.58 436.37 77.02 130.21

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

The variation of internal dumping capacity with depth and Beyond 200 m depth, central haul road is not suggested
stripping ratio in a running mine has been shown in Tables unless strike width on both sides of the internal dump is
2. Specific gravity assumed :1.65 cum/t sufficiently more to accommodate dump tiers above ground
level beyond a height of 90m.
Observations:
 Initially, at a lower depth of 50-100m (up to 5th year)
there will be less generation of void and there will be
a requirement of external dumping along with some
internal dumping irrespective of stripping ratio.
 Up to a depth of 125 m (up to 10th year) void
generation will be more, up to stripping ratio of
1.5 cum/t, overburden generated from the mine can
be accommodated internally, however for higher
stripping ratio deposit small amount of external
dumping may be required, quantity of which increases
with stripping ratio.
 At 150-170m depth (up to 15th year) there will be enough
void to accommodate mined out overburden however
for deposits having stripping ratio more than 2.5 cum/t,
there will be the requirement of external dumping.
 Again at 175-200 m depth, void generation will
be less with the increased unfilled area between
working slope and dump slope, so there will be a
requirement of external dumping. This quantity of
external dumping will be more with an increase in Dump Scheduling strategy with respective haul road
the stripping ratio. planning comprises of the central haul road and the flank
road has been shown in Fig. 3.
Fig.3 3-D display of Pit and OB dump with respective stage plan
(year wise) using Minex

Table iv: Void capacity at various Stripping ratio (with Flank Haul Road)
Internal Void/ Internal dump/total
Stripping Dump void External
Depth Pit Volume OB Volume
Ratio (60-90m above Dump
GL)
(in m) (in Mcum) (in cum/t ) (in Mcum) (In Mcum) % (in Mcum)
200 m 704.82 1 437.78 504.41 115.22
(year30)   1.5 503.44 504.41 100.19
2 540.09 504.41 93.39 35.68
2.5 566.58 504.41 89.03 62.17

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

300 m 956.04 1 593.81 757.61 127.58

(year40)   1.5 682.89 757.61 110.94
2 732.6 757.61 103.41
2.5 768.52 757.61 98.58 10.92
340 m 1239.56 1 769.91 851.64 110.62
(year50)   1.5 885.4 851.64 96.19 33.76
2 949.85 851.64 89.66 98.21
2.5 996.43 851.64 85.47 144.79
375 m 1639.52 1 1018.34 1019.59 100.12
(year60) 1.5 1171.09 1019.59 87.06 151.50
2 1256.34 1019.59 81.16 236.75
2.5 1317.94 1019.59 77.36 298.35
400 m 2042.57 1 1268.68 1269.42 100.06
(year70) 1.5 1458.98 1269.42 87.01 189.56
2 1565.19 1269.42 81.10 295.77
2.5 1641.94 1269.42 77.31 372.52

Specific gravity assumed :1.65 cum/t graph will goes up and reaches its maximum value and
Observations: then it will be decreasing with depth and time in both the
 With the adoption of the main haul road on one of dumping scenario as shown in Fig.4 and Fig. 5.
the side slope of the mine will increase internal dump
capacity as dump space will not be wasted on both
sides of haul road as in the case of the central haul
road. Internal dump height also can be increased in
this variant as available top width will be more in
case of the side haul road. External dumping will not
be required for deposits having a ratio up to around
2.5 cum/t.
 Up to a stripping ratio of 2.5 cum/t and up to a depth
of 300m, external dumping will not be required in
case of the side haul road. However, if stripping
ratio further increases there will be a requirement of Fig.4. Internal Void/OB volume percentage (%) with respect to various
depth and stripping ratio using central Haul road
external dumping at the same depth of 300m
 But for a depth of up to 400m, there will be a
requirement of external dumping at a stripping ratio
of 1.5 cum/t or more. Quantity of internal dump can
also be increased by further increasing the height
of the internal dump above the ground limit but it
is subject to permissions obtained from statutory
authority.
A graphical interpretation has been drawn between Internal
Void/OB volume percentage (%) with respect to various
depth and stripping ratio using central haul road and flank
road respectively, and it clearly shows that initially the Fig.5. Internal Void/OB volume percentage (%) with respect to various
depth and stripping ratio using Flank road

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
vi. Conclusion
From the above study, it can be observed that up to a quarry
depth of 200m with stripping ratio of 1.5 cum/t, planning
with central haul road can be done, but quarry with higher
depth and stripping ratio haul road on side of quarry slope
may be thought to maximize internal dumping. But no
proper mathematical expression can be derived as this void
capacity depends on block geometry and other geo-mining
conditions. However, the following are the techniques that
can be adopted for improving internal dump capacity.
Dynamic Quarry Scheduling :
1. Block width should be more, preferably for high
depth opencast mining. Mining should be planned
with the concept of two quarries, total quarry width
should be divided along strike into two parts, one
part should be taken up for mining at first stage and
external dumping should be done on another half of
the block. When the second half/ quarry will be taken
up for mining, an external dump on this part should
be re-handled and can be filled into the first quarry.
In this way, the first quarry can be reclaimed near to
surface level and no more external dumping will be
required.
2. If the block width is less and diprise length is more,
then the same above technique cannot be adopted.
However, during the initial mining operation
overburden generated from the mine can be placed
over dipside of the block. This overburden will
have to be rehandled in later years and same can
be accommodated internally if sufficient void is
available at that time in the running mine, but at this
later stage, available mine void in the running mine
should accommodate overburden from the mine
as well as re-handled overburden from the external
dump. Generally, this accommodation is possible in
low stripping ratio deposits, for higher stripping ratio
sufficient void may not be available to accommodate
all the above-mentioned overburden
3. In-pit conveying of coal or High angle conveyor from
the pit bottom to the surface may be planned on quarry
slope to avoid long haul road from the pit bottom to
the surface in case of mining beyond the depth of
200m. A lot of dumping space can be increased if
haul road space can be reduced to a certain extent.
References
[1]. Chaulya, S. K., Singh, R. S., M. K. Chakraborty, and B. B. Dhar,
1999, “Numerical modelling of stabilisation for a coal mine
overburden dump slope,” Ecological Modelling, vol. 114(2-3), pp.
275–286.
[2]. Galera, JM., Checa, M., Pérez, C. and Pozo, V., 2009, Enhanced
characterization of a soft marl formation using in situ and lab tests,
for the pre-stripping phase of Cobre Las Cruces open pit mine.
Slope Stability, Santiago de Chile.
[3]. Gomez, P., Diaz, M., and Lorig, L., 2003, Stability analysis of waste
dumps at Chuquicamata Mine, Chile: Gluckauf-Forschungshefte,
vol. 64(3), pp. 93-99.
[4]. Harthill, M. and McKell, C. M., 1978, Ecological Stability – is this
a Realistic Goal for Arid land Rehabilitation; Ecology and Coal
Resource Development [eds.] Wali, Mohan K., Vol. 2, pp 557-567.
[5]. Oggeri, C., Fenoglio, T.M., Godio, A., Vinai, R., 2018, Overburden
management in open pits: options and limits in large limestone
quarries, International Journal of Mining Science and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2018.06.011.
[6]. Peng, H. and Zhang, D., 2018, Research on Inpit Dumping Height
during Tracing Mining Period between Two Adjacent Surface
Coal Mines, Hindawi Advances in Civil Engineering, https://doi.
org/10.1155/2018/3450584.
[7]. Quine, R.L., 1993, Stability and deformation of mine waste dumps
in north-central Nevada: M.S.thesis, University of Nevada, Reno.
[8]. Singh, T.N. and Singh, D.P., 1992, Assessing Stability of voids in
a Multi-seam Opencast Mining Block, Int. J. of Colliery Guardian,
vol. 240 (4), pp. 159-164.
[9]. Upadhyay, O.P., Sharma, D.K., & Singh, D.P., 1990, Factors
affecting the stability of waste dumps in mines: International
Journal of Surface Mining and Reclamation, vol. 4, pp. 95-99.
[10]. Verma, D., Kainthola, A., Gupte, S.S., Singh, T.N., 2013, A Finite
Element Approach of Stability Analysis of Internal Dump Slope in
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1-1-1, http://pubs.sciepub.com/ajmm/1/1/1.
87

Implementation of Presplit drilling & blasting in
Dragline bench to improved the Safety and Productivity
of dragline at M&MAE OCP
Anup Kumar Roy
Sr. Manager, Drill & Blast,
Sasan Power Ltd, Singrauli, India.
anup.roy@relianceada.com
Sanjay Sengar
Dy. Gen. Manager, Drill & Blast,
Sasan Power Ltd, Singrauli, India.
sanjay.sengar@relianceada.com
Abstract - The Moher & Moher Amlohri Extension
Opencast Coal Mine Project(M&MAE OCP) a captive
coal block of Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (SUMPP)
has been proposed to be worked by a combined meth-
od of ‘Shovel-Dumper System’ and ‘Dragline System’ for
overburden excavation and ‘Front End Loader-Dumper
System’ for Coal winning. This paper deals with a sys-
tematic controlled blasting study of Dragline benches
(45 to 50 m) for stable and safe high wall with better
fragmentation and suitable muck profile with minimum
vibration level to ensure the safety of man & machinery
working at Turra Coal. This paper represents the results
of series of blast conducted to improve the quality of
pre-split blast. Reduction of over break or back break,
formation of protrudes at highwall has been eliminated
by varying decoupled charged quantity and position of
charge in a holes. Site specific blast design for two differ-
ent pits(NP & SP) gives an excellent results in terms of
dragline productivity with less dressing time of highwall
created after cast blasting and improved life of bucket
and its jewelry as well. Decoupled charge (60% of blast
hole dia.) is prepared at the blast site using bags filled
with SME through SME BMD. Chronological improve-
ment of blast design in terms of vertical to angular and
charge placement were analyzed to establish a site specif-
ic blast design . Real time data from Midas server of both
the dragline was recorded through TDS system to cal-
culate and monitor productivity data and delay analysis.
Productivity of dragline has been improved by approx.
15 % & bucket inspection time has been reduced con-
siderably from 2.4% to 0.5-0.8% of total operation time.
Coal recovery near the high wall has been improved con-
siderably. Both direct and indirect benefits of presplit
blast have been discussed in this paper.
88
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Avijit Bhunia
Manager, Geotechnical,
Sasan Power Ltd, Singrauli, India.
avijit.bhunia@relianceada.com
1. Introduction
Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (SUMPP) an Integrated
Power Project with dedicated captive coal blocks, Moher
& Moher-Amlohri Extension Opencast Coal Mine Project
(M&MAE OCP) is situated in Moher basin of the Singrauli
Coalfields, Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh. It is
the world’s largest integrated power generation and coal
mine project with 3960 MW power plant and 20 MT per
year coal mining capacity. The plant is operated by Sasan
Power Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Power which was
incorporated in February 2006. The project comprises of
six units of 660 MW each. The Sasan UMPP will provide
reliable and low cost power for 25 years to more than 42
crore people in seven Indian states.
The annual production from the Moher and Moher-
Amlohri Coal mines is the largest in the country on the basis
of total volume handled. Coal is produced by deploying the
latest and most advanced mining technology to exacting
international standards of operations.
A fleet of large capacity HEMM is deployed for OB & Coal
removal. There are two walking draglines of bucket capacity
62 cum deployed in the mine to expose the Turra coal
seam, both are working in two different pit namely north
pit & south pit. Interburden between Purewa & Turra coal
seams is of 52-69 m of which 10-15 m is blasted & excavated
by shovel –dumper & remaining portion (approx. 50m)
is handled by dragline. We have adopted cast blasting to
reduce the stripping costs as it utilizes the chemical energy
of explosives in place of mechanical energy to move large
volumes of overburden. The consequent increase in drilling
and blasting costs are offset by reduction in stripping costs.
Proper application of cast blasting not only reduces overall
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

mining costs but also increases coal production (Giltner,
1986).
As dragline exposes coal bench, a highwall of approx. 50
m created which exposes risk to men and machineries
working in the vicinity of highwall. Dressing of highwall
by dragline becomes very difficult and unhealthy for the
dragline machine. Life of bucket and overall productivity
of dragline reduced considerably. In this paper we have
addressed the above issues by adopting controlled blasting
technology called pre-split blasting . On an average size
of dragline blast is of 7-8 lakh BCM using approx. 500 MT
of AN based explosives. The impact energy produced by
blast casting is able to break and cast rocks, yet the strong
vibration effects caused at the same time would threaten
the safety of mines. It is well proven that presplit blasting
plays an important role in shock absorption of blast casting &
reduces amount of ground vibration considerably.
namely Turra ( 14-20 m) & Purewa (10-20m). The salient
geological features are as given below
2.1. Geological Formation
Occupied by exposures of Barakar formation with recent
soil or alluvium cover at places. Predominant rock type is
sandstone followed by occasional shale and lensoid clay
horizons.
2.2. General Geo-Mining Characteristics
Coal seams exhibit E-W strike in southern part of Moher
block & NW-SE Strike in Moher-Amlohri extension block
a) Seams have flat gradient (2°-3° in general, with
slightly 5° in some places)
b) Strike length of the quarry varies from 2.5 to 4.0 km
c) 11 faults with throw from 0 – 51 m in Moher part ,
remaining part is free from faults in general.

Moher & Moher

Particulars
Amlohri Coal Block
Top OB Range (m) 15 – 200 m
Purewa Merged Seam (m) 19 – 26 m
Parting (m) 52 – 69 m
Turra Seam (m) 12 – 19 m
Extractable Coal Reserves (Million Ton)
Purewa 231
Turra 239
Total 470
Volume of OB (m3) 1893
Percentage Extraction (%) 81
Mine life (in Yrs) 29
Avg Stripping Ratio (m3/t) 4.03

3. Mining Methods Adopted In M&Mae

Ocp
3.1. Mining Technology : Shovel - Dumper and Dragline
combination for OB removal & FEL - Dumper
combination for coal extraction
3.2. Method of Work : Shovel dumper combination with
Inclined slicing in top OB benches above Dragline
sitting level.
2. Salient Geological Features of
3.3. Haul road width & gradient as per permissible limits.
M&Mae Ocp
3.4. The draglines for inter parting between Turra and
There are two main workable coal seams in M&MAE OCP
Purewa seam for side casting into the de-coaled area

89

4. Dragline Working System - Extended
Bench Method
Equipment geometry, strip geometry and deposit
geology are some of the influencing factors that possess
greater significance towards the selection of a particular
dragline digging method. An ideal method is one where
the stripping operation results in highest coal exposure.
After careful forethought being placed on various factors,
standard Extended Bench method is selected for dragline
working at M&MAE OCP.
Extended bench method is one of the most widely used
stripping techniques in the world. When the strip width
exceeds a certain limit at which the reach of the dragline
is insufficient to shift the dirt beyond the coal, a temporary
bridge adjacent to the operating bench is developed.
This bridge acts as an extended bench where dragline
can sit & operate thereby effectively extending the reach
to side-cast the overburden. As the bridge is formed by
digging the actual operating bench, side-casting while
working on the extended side involves double handling of
overburden. Though this method contributes to a fair share
of re-handling, it is still considered to expose coal present
beneath the bench at a faster rate compared to some of the
other techniques. The strip width is optimized based on
the actual productivity figures, blast-cast percentage and
incurring re-handle volumes.
After cast blasting the inter-burden, dozer is deployed to
make a working pad of sufficient width for the machine
to sit and work on. The operating bench is brought up
to a depth of <40 m from seam roof. Upon deployment,
dragline initially takes up the key cut block, generally 55-65
m width and dumps it to the de-coaled area thus making
a bridge on the extended side. After the completion of
key cut blocks dragline moves over to extended bench.
The dragline moves to the second sitting position to dig
Exposure/Box cut casting overburden in to the spoil. Then,
the dragline moves to next position to dig no-coal cut,
thereby exposing the Turra coal. The width of the key-cut ,
Exposure/Box cut and No-coal cut are determined based
on effective dragline reach and minimum re-handling to
be done.
The Dragline operates in online, offline and Square chop
depending on the position of the machine from high wall.
At our mine site, we try to deploy the Dragline in offline or
square chop position in key cut. The Dragline sits at 60-70
m from high wall in offline and around 80-90 m from high
wall in Square chop. This position provides a stable, intact
and smooth high wall as far as possible.
90
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
5. Drilling & Blasting At Dragline
Bench
At M&MAE OCP, 311mm diameter electric drills are
used for drilling in dragline OB benches in general . Drill
capacity is to drill up to 72m with inclination 0-30 degree.
Drill design has been established after series of trial blasts
according to our requirement to optimize the OB re-
handling & optimum casting in de-coaled area. In general
production hole drill pattern is kept 13m X 10m (Spacing
X Burden) for 45m-50m hole depth. Vertical drilling is
done for production holes and inclined drilling is done for
front reliving holes to encounter toe burden . Pre-split hole
is done at an angle 10 degree up to coal touch. Between
production hole and presplit hole , there is buffer hole of
26 m depth . Each hole is marked in the field with X,Y&Z
co-ordinates by surveyor. Drill design & firing of holes is
simulated with the help of JKSim 2D- bench software.
A log sheet is maintained by the drill operator for noting
shale & coal touch , which help us in deciding sub-drilling
& Explosives distribution .
A standard blasting block size is 200m X 77m X50m
,with approx. 120 nos. of production hole, which requires
approx. 500 MT of SME explosive. We have our own in-
house SME & ANFO manufacturing facilities to meet our
total explosives requirements. We use detonating fuse,
cast booster & delay detonators as an initiating system.
0.2 % booster is used in each hole for proper initiation of
SME across the whole depth of the hole and generally the
V-firing pattern is adopted. Ground vibration of each and
every blast is measured at identified locations and readings
are analyzed for further improvement. On an average 2
blasts are carried per month at dragline bench.
5.1. Blast Design
The desired fragmentation, casting%, muck profile , fly
rocks, vibration, etc. are considered in blast design. Typical
dragline blasting and charging patterns adopted are given
below (Fig. 1 & 2)
Dia. Of hole : 311 mm;
Spacing x Burden : 13m x 10m;
Average depth : 50m.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
(a) Production hole (b) Buffer hole (c) Pre-split hole
Fig. 1 - Schematic diagram of explosives charge in production
hole, buffer hole & pre-split hole
Fig. 2 – Firing sequence of production holes
5.2. Pre-Split Blasting At M&Mae Ocp
In presplit blasting closed spaced holes are drilled along
the final desired highwall. These holes are lightly charged
using decoupled charge of explosives along the hole &
initiated instantaneously before production holes blasting .
After detonation a network of cracks propagation is caused
by both the blasting stress wave and blasting-induced gas
dissipation. These two waves induced stress distribution
surrounding the hole . These network of cracks generated
creates a plane of weakness from which shock waves
generated from production holes blasting reflected back
& utilized in further fragmentation of the broken rocks.
By this way utilization of explosives energy enhanced
considerably. Also, this plane of weakness( created by
network of cracks) helps to screen the surroundings from
ground vibrations during the firing of production holes.
After adoption of these technique ,we are getting a stable
highwall, which creates a safer working condition near
highwall & also enhancement in productivity of dragline.
5.2.1. Problems Faced Without Pre-Split
Improper drill & blast designs and its execution may result
in heavy back breaks and uneven highwall which in turn
lead to:
a) Unsafe working conditions
b) Decreased coal recovery and increased coal loss
c) Highwall failure leading to reduced safety during coal
mining
d) Inefficient dragline working leading to less
productivity and heavy highwall dressing time
e) Heavy vibration during main production blast
affecting the surrounding structures & villages
5.2.2. Benefits of Pre-Split
The technique earned results of:
a) Inclined, clean, safe high-wall for dragline benches
and for winning Turra coal benches
b) Improved safety in coal faces and drill deployment in
subsequent strips
c) Efficient dragline working with higher productivity
d) Increased coal recovery leading to improved stripping
ratio in adjacent strips
e) Better usage of explosive energy during main
production blast as shock waves are reflected away
from the line of break
f) Time spent on highwall dressing is reduced, hence
less wear and tear on buckets & jewelry
g) Better blast cast is achieved with reduced blast
induced ground vibration
5.2.3. Pres-Split Drill & Charging Patteren
The blast hole diameter for presplit hole is same as of
production hole i.e. 311 mm (fig3). Blast holes spacing
ranges from 3.5m to 4.0m as per the site condition. Site
specific formula has been established to determine the
approximate powder load per meter & spacing between
holes in presplit blast .
PL = D2/ (22-24); ---------------------( 1 )
Where PL = Explosive Load & D= Diameter of hole
91
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

For north pit dragline cut , denominator in the above

formula is taken as 24 & for South pit dragline cut it is 22.
Based on the above established formula , spacing between
the holes can be determined by
S= (11-13) D -------------------( 2)
Holes are drilled at an angle of 100 from the vertical up
to the coal touch. Drilling & blasting of presplit holes are
done prior to the production holes drilling & blasting.
Decoupled charge (60% of hole dia.) is placed inside the
hole at regular intervals keeping uncharged column of 8-10
m from the collar of the hole. Cartridge of SME of 15-18 kg
prepared at the site and hanged by detonating fuse inside
the hole at predetermined locations (Fig. 4). Firing of holes
is done instantaneously (Fig. 5). Fig. 6 showing the cracks Fig. 5 - Firing of pre-split holes
developed after the presplit blasting.

Fig. 3 –Pre-split hole drilling Fig. 6 - Post blast fracture created

Fig. 7 - Highwall created after production holes blasting ,

half barrel marks of pre-split blasts

Fig. 4 – Cartridge of SME

92
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
As dragline productivity largely hampered due to highwall
dressing and chopping of bench for sitting pad preparation,
blasting has the key role to enhance the overall effectiveness
of dragline. Highwall dressing not only kills the cycle
times of the dragline but also damages the bucket and
bucket jewelry. High wall dressing time has been reduced
significantly due to effective presplit blasting (Fig..8).
Earlier it was 9-10% of total operation time but after presplit
adoption it came down to 2%.
Fig. 6 - Post blast fracture created
Fig. 8 - Reduction in High wall dressing time
Since dressing time has been reduced significantly, it means
dragline bucket engagement in highwall is very less which
minimizes damages of bucket & its jewelry , specially
teeth. Earlier checking of buckets condition was done
very frequently. Bucket inspection time has been reduced
considerably from 2.4% to 0.5-0.8% of total operation
time(fig9).
Fig. 9 - Reduction in bucket check & maintenance time
Network of cracks generated after presplit blast creates
a plane of weakness from which shock waves generated
from production holes blasting reflected back & utilized
in further fragmentation of the broken rocks. By this way
utilization of explosives energy enhanced considerably.
Effect of pre-split in production blasting has been noticed in
respect of better fragmentation, muck profile & increment
in percentage of casting. Productivity of dragline has been
improved by approx. 15 %.
(Refer Fig. 10(a) & Fig. 10(b))
Fig. 10(a) - Improvement in dragline productivity
Fig. 10(b) - Improvement in dragline productivity
Since we have our own in-house SME & ANFO
manufacturing facilities , the quality of explosives is
ensured before its loading the hole with the help of our
quality control department. Blast performance in respect
of fragmentation ,muck profile &percentage of casting has
been improved significantly (fig.11). Role of Pre-split blast
could not be denied in creation of better trough along high
wall , an uniform free face for the next cut which helps in
free face movements after detonation.
93

Fig. 11 - Improvement in dragline productivity
Apart from the above benefits due to pre-split blasting,
recovery of coal along the highwall has been improved.
Now we able to drill & blast close to the highwall at Turra
bench due to stable & safe condition of highwall. FEL and
drills can be deployed near the highwall to excavate the coal.
Fig. 12(a) shows coal excavation near high wall previous
practice and Fig. 12(b) shows present coal recovery.
Fig. 12 (a) Coal recovery along the H/W
Fig. 12 (b) Coal recovery along the H/W
94
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
6. Conclusion
Deep opencast mines with high stripping ratios and
medium hard strata can be operated successfully only with
proper blasting practices on large scale. M&MAE OCP
demonstrated that mining with high stripping ratios can be
most profitable through proper technology selection and
implementation suitable to geo-mining conditions.
The success of M&MAE OCP in the field of production,
productivity & safety lies in the use of in-house manufactured
SME & ANFO & adopting updated technology & safe
blasting practices and deployment of high capacity HEMMs
suitable for its geo-mining conditions. Cast blasting along
with pre-split blasting is being used in dragline bench
for enhancing safety, increasing productivity matching
international levels and to meet the challenges of higher
volume handling and producing power at lower cost.
7. References
a. Chiappetta R F and Srihari H N, 1990, ‘ Design of overburden
casting by blasting- recent developments’, Journal of M M & F ,
Kolkata, sep’90,pp 194-208.
b. Sharma, P.D, 2004, ‘Cast blasting in south balanda OCP’, Minetch
V19(01), Jan-Feb, pp24-30.
c. K. S. Ge, Study on Parameter of Pre-Splitting Blasting, China
University of Geosciences, Beijing, China, 2009.
d. L. J. Cai and J. J. Ma, “The shock absorption mechanism and its
effect analysis of pre-splitting blasting,” China Mining Magazine,
vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 56–58, 2005.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
An Approach for Managing Infrastructure Projects
in Mining for Value and Resilience through Risk
Management
Susmit Roy
Ex. Senior Faculty MTI,
SAIL & Research Scholar,
ICFAI University, Jharkhand
Abstract-- Uncertainties are undeniable part of any
investment. Mining investments are also potentially ex-
posed to a variety of risks threatening the exploration,
development and closure of the mine. While efficiently
managing its production/ mining operation the man-
agement has to look for the risks or untoward events,
which may severely inhibit the profitable production.
Coal Mining projects are capital intensive and to build
infrastructure for mining needs a lot of construction
projects like CHP, Workshop, Washeries etc. which
are complex and risky endeavors. Several risks aris-
ing out of the project planning, resource availability &
utilization, project process have the potential to affect
the project adversely. There are several approaches
to respond to these risks like avoid, transfer, mitigate
and accept. However, selection of a particular response
option is influenced by a set of factors which has been
broadly classified as Human Response Factors and
Systemic Response Factors. The present study tries to
identify the major risks in capital intensive construc-
tion projects in big open cast mines and the choice of
response options adopted by the project owner group.
Further the study also endeavors to assess the level of
influence of the above response factors on the choice of
response options.
Keywords: Coal Mining, Risk, Probability of Occur-
rence, Severity of Impact, Risk Potential Score, Risk Re-
sponse Options, Human Response Factor, Systemic Re-
sponse Factor
I. Introduction
Risk isany event which can affect the outcome of the project
in terms of time, cost and quality.Construction projects
involve more risks than any other project due to its volume
of work, involvement of number of agencies and the
complicated process. Construction projects in coalfields
involve construction of large Coal Handling Plant (CHP),
Workshops for Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM)
and other allied facilities for the mining process.This study
is restricted to risks in construction projects in large open
Dr. Shishir Dutta
Senior Faculty, IICM,
Ranchi, India
sisirdutta.in@gmail.com
cast Coalfields with particular reference to construction of
CHP and Workshops for HEMM and ways and means to
address those risks.
II. Objectives of the Study
The risk events that affect the construction projects in open
cast coal mining project basically have negative impacts
in terms of budgeted cost, the time schedule and quality
of deliverables. The present study tries to address the
following objectives:
To identify major risks those, affect the coalfields
construction projects.
To study the relative choice of Risk Response Optionsfor
the project owner group which includes user department,
project manager / project team and the consulting agency
involved in the construction project .
To study the relative influence of Risk Response Factorson
the choice of risk response.
To recommend actions to strengthen these risk response
factors for effective response to risks.
III. Methodology of Study
While going through literatures and based on those
compiled the initial list of risks for this study (Chan
and Kumarswamy, 1997; Sambasivam and Soon, 2007;
Banaitiene & Banaitis, 2012; Doraiswamy et al., 2015;
Roy, 2018), the authors were motivated to think in terms
of risks in coalfields construction projects and the overall
framework is guided by the study made by Roy (2018).
The overall steps followed in this study have been shown in
the Figure -1 below:
95
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Delayed Supplyof
equipment/
2 3.05 3.65 11.14 0.89 2
equipment parts
causing delay
Poor Subcontractor
performance leading
3 3.11 3.44 10.69 0.83 3
to time and cost
overrun
Contractor having in
adequate workmen
4 3.02 3.5 10.55 0.81 4
and equipment
causing delay
Delay in approval of
design and drawings
5 3.14 3.36 10.54 0.81 5
causing delay in
project
• Based on analysis of Data Inadequate checking
or interfacing among
related packages
Figure 1. Framework of the research study 6 2.91 3.22 9.37 0.66 6
& other mining
The present paper is based on the 123 responses obtained activities leading to
from members of the project owner group defined above. delay

Based on the responses, 16 major risks are identified from Contractor

developed financial
the 36 risks taken up in the main survey questionnaire. 7
problems during the
2.7 3.26 8.82 0.59 7
project causing delay.
Inadequate Project
IV. Data Analysis Planning with poorly
8 2.65 3.13 8.29 0.53 8
defined tasks causing
From the responses each of the risk events were assessed in delay.
terms of its probability of occurrence (POi) and the severity Unforeseen ground
of impact (SEi). The author adopted a scale of 1 (very low) 9
condition causing
2.53 3.19 8.07 0.5 9
time and cost
to 5 (very high) to assess the probability of occurrence and overrun.
severity of impact respectively. A risk potential score (RPSi) Improper cost
is calculated for each risk as given below: estimates (due to
lack of knowledge/
(1≤ RPSi≤ 25) 10 2.58 3.04 7.86 0.47 10
information gap)
resulting in cost
overrun

The method of min-maxnormalization technique is applied Delay in arranging

for necessary
to identify the major risk events having the normalization 11 construction 2.55 3.05 7.78 0.46 11
score of 0.4 or more. The normal score was obtained based equipment/ cranes by
the contractor.
on the formula
Inadequate Safety
Normalisation score = 12
provisions leading
2.35 3.24 7.6 0.44 12
to accidents and
resulting in delay
Not adequate
The Table 1 below gives the risk events, their RPS, skilled manpower
normalization score and final ranks based on the survey 13
available for the
2.59 2.93 7.6 0.44 13
project manager for
data. supervision causing
delay.
Table 1. Critical Risks, Their Risk Potential Score And Ranking For Inexperienced
CHP& Workshop Projects 14 Contractor causing 2.48 3.05 7.55 0.43 14
delay
Sl. Avg. Normalisation Increase in scope
Risk Event Avg.SEi RPSi Rank
no. POi score due to additional
Unrealistic Time 15 requirement causing 2.54 2.91 7.39 0.41 15
estimate of activities cost and /or time
1 and duration of the 3.31 3.64 12.05 1 1 overrun.
project causing time Delay in payment to
overrun 16 Contractor leading to 2.5 2.94 7.37 0.41 16
delay in work

96
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

(Comments: Please check the RPS and Remove those risks which regarding their perception about the choice of risk response
have normalization score below 0.4) based on their experience/ perception in construction
projects in open cast mines and the magnitude of influence
Management of Risks involves response to the risk of these two factors on their choice. The magnitude of
events as well as monitoring and controlling the planned influence of these factors is measured in a scale of 1 (very
responses. According to the available literatures (PMBoK® low) to 5 (very high) and the mean rank score against each
2013;Kishan et al, 2014) the different risk response options factor taken. The table below indicates the choice of risk
as available are: response option by the respondents and the mean rank
i. Avoid – Project Owner group may act to eliminate score for each of these factors for a risk.
the threat or protect the project from its impact.
Table 3. Risk Events, Risk Response Options And Risk Response
ii. Transfer–Project Owner group may decide to shift Factors.
the impact of the risk event to a third party together
% of Human Systemic
with the ownership of the response. Transfer does Risk
Sl no Risk Event Total Response Response
not eliminate risk, it only shifts the responsibility. Response
Response Factor factor
iii. Mitigate– Project Owner group act to reduce the
1(Avoid) 13.6 2.6 2.9
probability of occurrence or impact of a risk event.
2 (Transfer) 14.6 2.3 2.4
iv. Accept – Project Owner group decide to acknowledge
Unrealistic 3( Mitigate) 35.5 3.6 3.3
the risk and not take any action unless the risk occurs.
1 Time 4(Accept-
This may be either through monitoring the risk as a 23.6 3.7 2.8
estimate Active)
passive measure or keeping some contingency reserve
5(Accept-
to address the risk as an active measure. 12.7 4.1 3.4
Passive)
However, the selection of these options against each of Delayed 1(Avoid) 19.3 2.8 3.4
the risks are influenced by several factors which can be Supply of 2 (Transfer) 10.1 2.9 3.5
broadly classified under two broad categories – Human 2 equipment/ 3( Mitigate) 50.5 3.4 3.5
Response Factors and Systemic Response Factors, which equipment 4(Accept-A) 14.7 3.1 3.1
are explained in Table - 2 below. parts 5(Accept-P) 5.5 2.5 3.2
1(Avoid) 18.2 2.4 2.5
Table 2. Explanation Of Human Response Factors And 2 (Transfer) 12.7 2.8 2.6
Poor Sub-
Systemic Response Factors
3 contractor 3( Mitigate) 41.8 3.2 3.0
Human - Competency of Project Owner helps to respond to performance 4(Accept-A) 15.5 3.4 2.9
Response the risk 5(Accept-P) 11.8 3.5 2.9
Factors
- Technical competency of project manager/ project Contractor 1(Avoid) 15.7 3.2 2.9
team e.g domain knowledge, experience having 2 (Transfer) 14.6 2.9 2.5
- anagerial competency of project manager e.g inadequate 3( Mitigate) 45.5 3.5 2.9
4
planning, organizing and controlling workmen 4(Accept-A) 19.1 3.3 3.4
-leadership competency of project manager e.g and 5(Accept-P)
decision making, communication, motivation etc. 3.6 4.3 3.8
equipment

Systemic Systems and processes/contractual provisions/ 1(Avoid) 14.6 2.7 2.8

Delay in
Response available project information data helps respond to 2 (Transfer) 24.3 3.2 2.6
Factors the risk approval of
5 3( Mitigate) 34.0 3.7 3.3
design and
– Proper systems for Monitoring, Vendor drawings
4(Accept-A) 19.4 3.8 3.4
selection, Changes, Approvals, Payments 5(Accept-P) 7.8 3.5 1.3
Inadequate 1(Avoid) 28.1 3.0 2.8
– Provisions in contract / specifications/
checking or 2 (Transfer) 9.4 1.6 2.9
terms and conditions.
interfacing 3( Mitigate) 49.0 3.4 3.1
- Availability of proper information 6
among 4(Accept-A) 9.4 3.4 3.3
system. different
5(Accept-P) 4.2 3.8 4.0
packages
The study also tries to identify from the respondents

97
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Contractor 1(Avoid) 19.8 2.3 2.3 V. Results and Discussion

developed 2 (Transfer) 8.1 2.3 2.1
financial The Table – 1 above has placed the risks in terms of their
7 3( Mitigate) 32.4 3.0 3.1
problems Risk Potential Scores. The risk of “Unrealistic estimate of
during the 4(Accept-A) 25.2 3.0 3.2
time for activities” turns out to be the most critical one
project 5(Accept-P) 14.4 3.2 2.6
among this list. It can be observed that risk nos. 3, 4, 8,
1(Avoid) 19.2 3.1 2.8
2 (Transfer) 26.9 2.5 3.1
15 and 16 are all attributable to contractor. The projects in
Inadequate
8 Project 3( Mitigate) 26.0 3.6 3.0 existing Collieries require lot of expertise and finesse which
Planning 4(Accept-A) 17.3 3.3 2.9 probably led to contractors failure in such projects. Another
5(Accept-P) 10.6 4.0 3.5 group of risks with significant share are the risks related to
1(Avoid) 16.4 2.5 2.3 resources and planning. Risk nos. 9, 15, 6, 11, 13 & 8 are
Unforeseen 2 (Transfer) 12.5 2.5 2.0 the risks that fall in this group. Risk nos. 5, & 11 contribute
9 ground 3( Mitigate) 37.5 2.9 3.1 substantially as Process and costing related risks. The risk
condition 4(Accept-A) 20.2 3.2 3.1 of improper cost estimate (11) originates from the lack of
5(Accept-P) 13.5 2.7 2.6 knowledge and experience as well as lack of information at
1(Avoid) 29.6 2.4 2.9
the initial stages of the project. The risk related to delayed
Improper 2 (Transfer) 13.9 2.1 2.8
supply of equipment or equipment parts can contribute
10 cost 3( Mitigate) 20.4 3.1 3.4
estimates adversely to the commissioning and stabilization of the
4(Accept-A) 24.1 3.3 3.0
5(Accept-P) 12.0 3.0 3.2
facility.
Delay in 1(Avoid) 19.8 2.4 2.7 The Table- 3 above puts forward some interesting
arranging 2 (Transfer) 19.8 2.9 2.5
for necessary 3( Mitigate) observations like for most of the major risks the “Mitigation”
11 43.4 3.4 3.1
construction or reduction of risk turns out to be the predominant mode
equipment/ 4(Accept-A) 12.3 3.2 2.5
of risk response.For risks like improper cost estimates
cranes 5(Accept-P) 4.7 3.4 3.0
(29.6%), inadequate safety provision (47.2%) and
1(Avoid) 47.2 3.7 3.4
inexperienced contractor (38.2%),the respondents chose
Inadequate 2 (Transfer) 12.0 2.9 2.8
12 Safety 3( Mitigate) 25.9 3.9 3.1
“Avoid” as the way to tackle these risks.The respondents
provisions 4(Accept-A) 12.0 3.8 3.5 have shown their inclination to “Accept (active)” for risks
5(Accept-P) 2.8 4.0 4.7 like “increase in scope (23.4%)”, “improper cost estimate
Not 1(Avoid) 21.7 3.2 2.5 (24.1%)”, “contractor developed financial problems
adequate 2 (Transfer) 17.0 2.8 2.6 (25.2%) and “unrealistic time estimates (23.6%)”. For
skilled
13 manpower
3( Mitigate) 41.5 3.4 3.2 large and complex projects in collieries making a good
available for 4(Accept-A) 13.2 3.7 2.8 enough estimation of time and cost becomes impossible at
the project 5(Accept-P) 6.6 3.3 3.0 initial stages. Considering this reason, a sizable portion of
manager
respondents(>20%) chose the “Accept (active)”for this risk
1(Avoid) 38.2 3.0 2.7 which indicates that there should be contingency monetary
2 (Transfer) 10.9 2.7 2.8 provisions against the occurrence of risk event.
Inexpe-
14 rienced 3( Mitigate) 31.8 3.5 3.1
Contractor It is quite evident from the table – 3 that for all the response
4(Accept-A) 10.9 3.8 3.3
choices, both the factors havemore or less equal level of
5(Accept-P) 8.2 3.9 3.1 influence except for the risk of delay in approval of design
1(Avoid) 18.7 2.3 2.3 and drawings where the respondents felt that it is much
2 (Transfer) 15.0 2.7 3.1 better to accept the risk actively than to accept it without
15
Increase in 3( Mitigate) 34.6 3.4 3.4 any action.
scope
4(Accept-A) 23.4 3.2 3.2
5(Accept-P) 8.4 3.6 3.2 VI. Conclusion
1(Avoid) 27.5 3.1 2.8 Technically, it is not possible to concentrate all risk factors
2 (Transfer) 18.4 2.9 2.7 in a single index. However the method adopted here as a
Delay in
3( Mitigate) 3.0 calculation can presentbea useful toolfor further evaluation.
16 payment to 36.7 3.4
Contractor Based on the study it is suggested that actions need to be
4(Accept-A) 12.8 3.2 3.5
taken to enhance the effect of these response factors. Some
5(Accept-P) 4.6 3.0 3.4 suggested actions can be

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

A. Human Response Factors References

The project manager should be selected from the technical
domain of the project. In case there is any dearth of
knowledge, the project manager /teamcan be trained.
Managerial and Leadership training is to be imparted to
the project manager before his inclusion in the project.
The managerial training can be imparted to the project
team members for the uniformity in their thinking and
managerial action.
Training and certification by professional body can go a
long way in making them competent in managing projects.
B. Systemic Response Factors
Systems and processes need to be developed with necessary
documentation for identification, assessment, planning of
response and review of risk events.
It is also advisable that a proper risk analysis by the bidder/
project ownertobe included in the contract.
Vendor selection shall be made on the basis of past
performance of vendors in similar projects.
Proper documentations of lessons learnt from previous
projects, maintenance of risk register and its periodic
review to be done.
[1] A.M. Best. (2012). Measuring Transfer and Convertibility Risk.
A.M. Best Company Inc. [online].Available from: http://www.
ambest.com/ambv/ratingmethodology
[2] BehreDolbear Group (2012), [online], Available from: http://
www.dolbear.com/_literature_125436/2012_Ranking_of_
Countries_for_Mining_Investment.
[3] Deng Peidi (2004), “Mining investment risk analysis,” Journal of
Anhui Vocational College of Metallurgy and Technology, 14: pp.
112-114.
[4] Ernst & Young (2012), “2012-2013 report Top 10 business risks
for mining and metals”, Ernst & Young’s Global Mining & Metals
Center, pp.:28-29.
[5] A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK
Guide), Fifth Edition, Project Management Institute, USA, 2013.
[6] Banaitiene, Nerija&Banaitis, Audrius, 2012, Risk Management
in Construction Projects, Chapter 19, available at http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
[7] Patel Kishan, Bhatt Dr Rajiv, Bhavsar J J, 2014, A Study of Risk
Factors Affecting Building Construction Projects, International
Journal of Engineering Research and Technology, Vol. 3, Issue 12,
December 2014
[8] Roy, S. , 2018,Managing Construction Project Risks in Steel Plants
–A remedial approach, Ajanta (ISSN 2277-5730), an international
multidisciplinary quarterly research journal, Vol.VII, Issue III,
July-Sept, 2018

VII. Recommendations
Mining investments are normally done in hinterland
which are highly exposed to political, social, infrastructure
bottleneck etc. So the recommendation could be
establishing a global mining reference to define certain
codes for mining infrastructure activities. This reference
can then rank geography/ location within a country due to
their performance for employing their best practices in risk
reduction.
Another recommendation could be defining certain
mitigation strategies for each risk events in a phase specific
framework. This mitigation strategy empowers mining
project managers to enforce the investment gradually
against risks.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Challenges In Surface Mining –

Some Technological Solutions
V.M.S.R. Murthy,
Professor & Head,
Centre of Rock Excavation Engineering, Department of Mining Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines),
Dhanbad-826004,
vmsrmurthy@iitism.ac.in

Abstract — Surface mining today contributes to a stag- I. Surface Mining

gering coal production of 600 + MT (about 94% of total coal
Surface mining contributes majority of coal produced
production) and brings many challenges in the fore front. In
view of the steep production requirements slated and growing
and the challenges of planning, design, operation and
environmental-safety concerns the mining methods and asso- management of large scale opencast projects involves
ciated issues need a fresh look. Mining Technology and man- adaptation of new mining technology, software and
agement needs to be revitalised with innovation and updation. management. Some of the key surface mining issues that
Advanced instrumentation and their seamless integration in require immediate attention along with possible directions
mine planning, design and operations is the only way to meet are discussed.
the current challenges. This paper highlights some of the key
challenges in surface mining and suggests the way forward
A. High Angled Conveyors vis a vis Land Acquisition
for realising productive and safe mining. The land acquisition problem to some extent can be solved
by the deployment of high angle conveyor in mines. This is
ideal for both mining and industrial applications, including
I. Introduction handling of wet or sticky materials and an ideal option for
Surface mining today contributes to a staggering coal steep angle applications in deep mines. In this, pressing
production of 600 + MT (about 94% of total coal production) components secure material toward center of belt, sealing
and brings many challenges in the fore front. In view of the belt edges together. This system uses standard idlers
the steep production requirements slated and growing and rollers for quick and easy component replacement.
environmental-safety concerns the mining methods and
associated issues need a fresh look. Mining Technology and
management needs to be revitalized with innovation and
updation. Advanced instrumentation and their seamless
integration in mine planning, design and operations, is
the only way to meet the current challenges. This paper
highlights some of the key challenges in surface mining
and suggests the way forward for realising productive and
safe mining. Global coal demand is expected to continue
majority coming from surface mining.

Fig.1 – Global coal demand(www.iea.org)

Fig.2 – High angled conveyor for deeper mines (www.bevconveors.com)

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

B. Mass Production using Surface Miner

Surface miner has a wide applicability in projects where
drilling and blasting is prohibited, thus improves coal
recovery in such areas which are sensitive to blasting
operations. It can be conveniently used for mining of coal
and overburden. This machine can cut the slices upto
10cm. It has a wide applicability in extracting coal seams
C. Dump Planning
having any number of intermittent dirt bands aiding clean
Dump planning has assumed critical proportion due to
mining. This machine can be worked in coal seams having
lesser space available for dumping particularly in case of
gradient upto 1 in 4. A DST funded R&D project is in
deep and large opencast projects. The height and width
progress at IIT(ISM) in collaboration with L&T for drum
of the dump shall be properly selected to ensure safety
design in varied geology as well as mining method design
in equipment operations and also keeping in view the
for selective mining and waste disposal.
production. Use of modern mine planning tools and
software with adequate training is the need of the hour.
Some of the Computer aided mine planning design
software relevant in this context is Minex, Haulsim,
Dragsim, etc. Height and width of dump depends on
following factors: 
 Cohesion of dump material 
 Angle of internal friction 
 Cohesion of foundation material
 Angle of internal friction in foundation material 
 Ground acceleration on dump generated due to
Fig.3 – Benefit of selective mining blasting
 Distance of toe of external dump from nearest surface
The key performance parameters and rock strength edge of quarry
dependency are explained in Fig.4 and Fig.5 respectively. A proper dump planning by keeping above factors in mind
can save space.

Demand of sized
Intact rock
parameters
Production
D. Water Management
product

SURFACE Development
One of the main reasons for excess of water in a surface
Rock mass Cuttability Diesel
MINER Planning of predictive
models parameters index consumption mine is rainfall. This excess of water will affect the
Demand for
accelerated Machine
productivity of mine and also affects the slope stability.
production
parameters Pick
consumption The mine management has to overcome the issues of mine
flood control, mine drainage, and the prevention of surface
Need for research
and ground water pollution. Mine water management is
dynamic and has to change as 4 conditions and mine plans
Fig.4 – Key performance parameters for optimization.
change. It is essential to understand this and provide the
resources throughout the life of a mine to deal with water
issues.

E. Stability of Slopes and Dumps

Slope stability is a critical safety and production
issue for coal mines. Designing stable bench and dump
slopes can be done using software namely Dip, Gale-
na, Slope etc. A common technique to determine slope
stability is to monitor the small precursory movements,
which occur prior to collapse. The real-time display of the
movement of mine walls has allowed continuous man-
Fig.5 – Influence of rock strength on cutting performance. agement of the risk of slope instability at a mine oper-

101

ations level. The ‘slope stability radar (SSR)’ has been
developed to remotely scan a rock slope to continuously
monitor the spatial deformation of the face. Broad area
coverage and almost real time scanning means that large
areas of slope (e.g. 500,000 m2 ) can be scanned and re-
sults are obtained in less than 10 minutes. Successful use
of this technique is already demonstrated in mines and
many large opencast mines are resorting to this.
F. Rock Fragmentation and Ground Vibration
Fragmentation control through effective blast design
and its effect on productivity are the challenging tasks for
practicing blasting engineer. Fragmentation will affect
all the other associated sub-systems, i.e. loading, trans-
port, crushing and milling operations. In opencast mining,
where blasting is employed for excavation, the overall
cost effectiveness of the production operations is compat-
ible with optimization of drilling and blasting parameters.
Key factors affecting fragmentation need to be identified
as equipment productivity is significantly influenced by
rock fragmentation. Vibration is also one of the main is-
sues during blasting in surface mines. The problem can
be controlled by the use of electronic detonators. Use of
software like Fragalyst and Wipfrag/Wipjoint for the anal-
ysis of fragmentation and other blast design software such
as JKSimblast, Shotplus, I Blast, for blast design can help
overcome the above stated issues.
G. Asset Management
The assets, ranging from smart drillers and loaders to
self-driving trucks, are becoming the bulk of the equipment
today. A few younger and trained workers are expected to
fill the gap thus making mining operations more reliant on
their machinery and technology management tools. Key
challenge here is how the huge data generated is handled.
Use of Big Data and AI applications is the need of the hour
and software firms like IBM have already mobilised the
required software and skill sets with use cases. The key
objective is to limit the downtime created when a key asset
is down.
H. Computerised Mine Planning
The computer has made a significant impact on mine
planning and design. Computer systems are now available
to emulate existing planning techniques and also to perform
what were once manually difficult tasks. Computerised
mine planning includes reserve estimation, layout evalua-
tion and equipment selection and scheduling. The software
which can be used is Minex, Surpac, Whittle, Vulcan, Data
Mine, etc. In contemporary practice the application of min-
ing computer program is significantly expanded and it can
be concluded that the computer aided design has become a
common way of developing mining projects.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
I. Technological Upgradation of Human Resources
Human resource management is an organizational
function that deals with the people and issues related
to people such as compensation, hiring, performance
management, and training. There is the need for effective
management of human resources irrespective of the
size and nature of the organization. Human resource
management relates to the total set of knowledge, skills
and attitudes that firms need to compete. It involves
concern for and action taken in the management of
people. This also deals with issues like recruitment and
selection, training and development, wage and salary
administration, performance appraisal etc.
II. Mining Instrumentation
A. Planning, Modelling, Rock/ Rockmass
Characterisation
This includes site characterization, laboratory testing, field
testing, deformability tests, In situ stress measurements,
Geophysical testing (shallow seismic refraction), bolting
and anchoring tests and monitoring. Slim borehole scanner,
refraction seismic tomography, cavity scanning, ground
probing radar have been successfully used for mapping the
competence of subsurface strata and designing efficient
excavations in rockmass.
Fig.6 – Slim borehole scanner (DMT)
B. VOD Measurement
Velocity of Detonation (VOD) is an important characteristic
parameter of explosive material. The performance of
explosive invariably depends on the velocity of detonation.
The power/ strength of explosive to cause fragmentation
of the solid rock determine the efficiency of the Blast
performed. It is an established fact that measuring velocity
of detonation gives a good indication of the strength and
hence the performance of the explosive. VOD measurement
techniques such as electric, nonelectric and fiber optic can
be used.
C. Near and Far-field Ground Vibration Analysis
Ground vibration control for reducing its impact on
surrounding structures as well as rock has been one of
the key areas of research since long. With the advent of
advanced instrumentation such as near-field sensors
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
(accelerometers, high-frequency sensors- seismic and
acoustic) it has become possible to undertake large scale
blasts in large opencast mines by control the same within
permissible limits of structures. Backbreak control in
blasting faces also has been possible for effective bench
stability and reduced loss of explosive energy.
Fig.7 – Near-field blast-vibration setup for rockmass and
structural response studies
D. Acoustic Emission to detect the Rock Fracture
Propagation
Acoustic emission (AE) is the phenomenon of radiation of
acoustic (elastic) waves in solids that occur when a material
undergoes irreversible changes in its internal structure. Its
application has grown extensively in assessing the rock
failures in deep settings. Fig. 8 – Acoustic emission for
crack detection (www.zoombd24.com)
E. Specific Energy Studies and Cutting Drum Design
Machine mining is going to takeover in many cases as the
rock cuttability is getting redefined. Today material upto
a UCS of 60MPa can be effectively and economically cut
my drum type rock cutting machines. Production in the
order of 1500 to 2000 tons per hour has become common
in soft rocks. This is another area of research. IIT(ISM) in
collaboration with L&T is undertaking a research project
funded by DST under clean mining technology initiative
(CCORD2017). This is based on already conducted
investigations for estimating cutting performance, diesel
and pick consumption while cutting in varied rock
settings.
III. New National Research And Training
Facilities
A . Equipment Simulators
Majority of equipment manufacturers have realised the
importance of equipment simulators and today almost
all equipment have their simulators for providing state-
of-the-art immersive 7 training to help increase learning
curve. This is also the need of the hour considering the
need of trained operators for meeting the production and
consequent mechanization requirement.
B. Virtual Reality Mine Simulators
Use of virtual reality and augmented reality has a
great potential to give a true immersion in the mining
environment thus enabling the technology seeker and
provider an excellent tool to effectively communicate the
challenges and also prepare the incumbent with needful skill
sets in different scenarios. Though equipment simulators
are being used in different mines and establishments still
there is no mine simulator where in the entire mine setting
can be captured alongwith equipment, and people involved
in different operational environment. One such setup with
a 3600 Theatre is in the process of development at IIT(ISM)
Dhanbad with the funding from CIL R&D.
Fig.8 - Virtual reality mine simulator (in making at IIT(ISM) Dhanbad)
IV. Emerging Areas
The following emerging areas deserve a special mention:
A. Mass Production Technology: Mega Mine/Deep
Mine
 Mine Planning Strategies for Mass Production
 Mining Methods
 Design of Excavation Systems: Specialized Blasting/
Mechanical Cutting
 Automated Environmental tele-Monitoring System
 Ground Control Management System for Deep Mine/
Slope Stability
 Design of Sustainable Logistic Support
 Mine to Siding
B. Intelligent Mining
 Automated Mining Systems (Future smart mine)
 Mine Simulation and Digital Data Analytics
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

 AR and VR based Mine Planning and Operational V. Conclusion

Processes
Mining in today’s scenario has become much more
 AI and ML application in Mining Areas complex and demanding. Solution lies in interdisciplinary
C. Sustainable Mining research engagement with academia. Skilled and Trained
 Asset Management System (Equipment Efficiency manpower is the need. Many issues require to be resolved
Systems): Ensuring Maxiumum Availability and at the mine level by embracing new technology (i.e.,
Utilization mining equipment, IT and OT integration) addressing
 Operational Efficiency (OR, Reliability Engg.): the entire mining value chain. For routine problems,
CMMS suitable tech-cells should be developed at mine/area level.
 Digital Risk Assessment and Safety Management Joint capacity building can be done for bridging the skill
System gaps. While the academia must scale up the curriculum
to include latest innovations, the industry also must
 Energy Efficient Mining
provide required ambience, training facilities, support,
 SDF: Progressive Mine Closure & Social License to proactive discussion forums and workshops for arriving
Operate Mines at suitable solutions. Paid summer training under joint
D. Geospatial Technologies mentorship of academic-Industry should be thought of
 Precise Monitoring: Global Navigation Satellite seriously to encourage budding engineers and scientists.
System (GNSS) and Underground Positioning Different challenges can be converted into suitable UG,
System (UPS) PG and Ph.D projects and can be offloaded to academic
 3D Point Cloud Mapping: Airborne Technology institutions under active mentorship. Adequate software
(Drone & LIDAR) and instrumentation capacity must be built at subsidiary
 Microwave Remote Sensing level with dedicated manpower as this is the only way to
address the rising problems. Indian mining industry has
 3D GIS The goal is to achieve a mega, smart, safe and
miles to go before we realise atleast a few state-of-theart
intelligent mine.
mines, ambience, technology and management to make
mining profession attractive.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Optimization of Capacity in an existing Opencast
Coal Mine with Operating Draglines
Umakant Yadav
Regional Institute-6, CMPDI Ltd.
Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India
Raj Kapoor Meena
Regional Institute-6, CMPDI Ltd.
Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India
Abstract- In India, draglines are in operation in large
opencast coal mines having favourable geo-mining condi-
tions. Dragline as an excavator is very useful to strip out
overburden due to its capability to remove and sidecast vol-
ume of overburden without any use of transport equipment
at relatively low operating cost. However, dragline is the
most capital intensive equipment and maximization of coal
exposure by dragline is imperative to achieve maximum/
optimum capacity of mine. Present exercise aims at maxi-
mization of annual capacity of a dragline mine considering
operation of draglines in horizontal tandem (HT) mode in
an existing coal mine of NCL in Moher sub-basin of Sin-
grauli Coalfield.
Keywords - Tandem operation · Dragline balancing dia-
gram · Bench Height· Horizontal Tandem· Capacity of Mine.
I. Introduction
The increased demand of coal, as a source of fuel and as
a source of power, owing to rapid industrialization and
population explosion, has forced the opencast coal mine to
turn towards higher mechanization for extraction of coal
and removal of overburden (OB) as well. To cope up with
the higher demands, deeper opencast mines involving the
handling of bulk of overburden at higher stripping ratio are
currently being planned.1
Presently, in opencast coal mines, large number of heavy
earth moving equipment are being used to achieve required
target. The system of overburden removal must be sufficient
and economical. The choice of machine for overburden
removal is usually governed by geo-mining conditions like
thickness of overburden layer and coal seam, gradient of
seam, pit geometry, strike length, the rate of overburden
removal, life of mine, geological disturbances and capital
availability. Draglines are commonly deployed to remove
the overburden material that is dug, conveyed and unloaded
Chaudhary Shivraj Singh
Corporate Planning Department,
Northern Coalfields Ltd.
Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India
Nikhil Narain
Regional Institute-6, CMPDI Ltd.
Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India
in relatively long and narrow open pit excavated as a part of
series of adjacent and parallel pits.2
Owing to its long reach and absence of auxiliary haulage
equipment, dragline has gained tremendous significance.
In India, massive opencast mines are being planned,
with dragline as an excavator, to strip out large volume of
overburden at a high stripping ratio. However, at the same
time it must be distinctly borne in mind that the dragline
is the single most expensive equipment to be procured by
a mine.3
The walking draglines offer several merits in open pit
mining project where long reach, deep digging and
high output are essential requisites and the volume of
overburden to be handled is many times in comparison
to the volume of mineable mineral. Further, absence of
auxiliary haulage units, higher mineral recovery, easy
maneuverability, low maintenance costs and operational
advantages under adverse pit conditions are also cited as
the merits of deploying draglines.4
II. Moher-Sub Basin, Singrauli Coalfield
Moher sub-basin of Singrauli coalfield, due to its favourable
geo-mining conditions such as, flatter gradients 2-4o,
seams free from faults and other geological disturbances,
sufficient strike length is most suitable for deployment of
draglines. The basin has three workable seams. The upper
seams are 8-10 m thick with parting 40 m in between.
The lowermost seam is 16-22 m thick and has a parting of
about 40 m above it and the second seam. The seams are
flat (about 2-degree gradient). Upper seams are worked by
shovel dumper combination and draglines are used only
for removal of OB above the bottom most seam. The
population of draglines deployed in the Singrauli Coalfield
is given below:
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Sl. No. Mo del Bucket C apacity(m 3 ) Quantity 2. To determine maximum exposure from the seam
underlying the dragline working in a given strike
1 61/100 61 2
length using various balancing diagrams.
2 33/ 33 1 3. To determine optimum bench height for draglines for
3 24/96 24 15 maximum production capacity based on balancing
diagrams.
4 15/90 15 1
4. To determine the optimum capacity of the mine in
5 20/90 20 4
given geo-mining conditions.
6 10/70 10 2

Total 25 IV. Dragline Method at NCL

At present, 23 draglines in NCL and 2 draglines of captive
mine operator are working in Singrauli Coalfield. The
opencast mines of Northern Coalfields Ltd. (NCL) are
presently operative in Moher sub-basin of Singrauli
coalfield. The bucket sizes of these draglines range from 10
to 33m3 in NCL.
The highest bucket capacity of draglines used in NCL
is 33m3 and widely used model in this coalfield is 24/96
dragline having bucket capacity of 24m3.
The machine parameters of widely used draglines are given
in the table below:
Draglines are the heart of a mine wherever they are deployed
and all other operations work around its schedule. NCL has
more than half the total number of draglines operating in
CIL. As a dragline does away with trucks/dumpers, their
operating costs are lower than shovel dumper system. With
sufficient strike length or face length, separate draglines are
provided in each flank, with a sump to cater inflow of mine
water in the center. Tandem method are very efficient and
result in higher productivity. However, they require good
planning and adherence to operation and maintenance
schedule, as the stoppage of a forward dragline can often
result in the idling of trailing dragline also.

24/96 20/90 In NCL Dragline Mine, 4 draglines are envisaged to operate

Sl. No. Par ticulars Dragline Dragline in each mine with two draglines operating in each flank of
1 Bucket 24 20 a mine, either in horizontal tandem or in vertical tandem.
C apacity(m3) Extended bench method is in practice. This method is one
2 B o om L ength(m) 96 90 of the lesser complex methods and is also considered safer.
3 B o om Ang le(deg) 30 o 32 o Extended bench systems are adaptable to many
configurations of pit geometry. In a two-dragline (tandem)
4 Op erating 88 83
R adius(m) system, one machine must operate at the pace set by the
other. Therefore, mine design and system must consider
5 Dumping 39.6 38.5
Height(m) their respective capacities when assigning respective
6 Digging 53.3 42.5
workloads. The system is deployed in each flank of a mine.
Depth(m) Thus, 4 Draglines can operate in a mine. Extended bench
7 B as e Dia(m) 15.25 14.5
systems must be designed carefully in order to maximize
the dragline(s) productivity and to minimize the amount
of re-handle.
III. Objectives of The Study
Optimum Bench height for Dragline
The objectives of the present study are enumerated as Bench Height (the height above the coal seam at which
follows: the dragline is positioned) is an important consideration
for maximization of production capacity of a mine.
Higher bench heights provide better ease and lower cost
1. To construct the balancing diagrams for Horizontal
of operation. However, height has to be reduced and
Tandem (HT) mode of operation for various bench
optimized in many situations, such as:
heights under given mining conditions and to
compute the annual output (coal exposure) using the 1. Increased production targets, requiring higher
balancing diagrams. advance rate and coal exposure.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

2. Increase in floor gradient, affecting dump exposed, becomes the deciding factors.
accommodation.
In case of the operation by a single 24/96 dragline, the lower
3. Restrictions imposed on dump heights on safety limit could be as low as 20 m in some cases, below which
considerations. the operation becomes very inefficient. However, in case
4. Decreased productivity of dragline due to aging, of tandem operation the lower limit of bench height for
maintenance, breakdowns or other reasons. a floor angle of 3 degrees and underlying seam thickness
5. Need for correcting mine profile or to match advance (including bands) of about 20, the lower limit is 25 m. But
with upper benches. for a smooth operation, a bench height of more than 27 m
is better suited.6
Whereas, lesser bench heights result in lower re-handling
percentage and better blasting and fragmentation, thus
V. Brief Description of Geo-Mining
further augmenting the dragline productivity. It also
reduces the blockage of coal in the ribs. However, a Conditions of the Mine under study
very low bench height is also undesirable, on account of The mine under study is located in the Moher Sub-Basin
following: of Singrauli Coalfield. The mine is divided by a central
entry into two operating sections along the strike of the
1. It foregoes the advantage of directly placing the property. In both the sections draglines are operating in
maximum OB into voids. the HT mode of operation. Draglines operated on drilled
2. Increased marching of dragline due to lesser volumes and blasted high O/B benches, which consisted of medium
at a place, thus resulting in to lesser productivity. to fine grained sandstone. The thickness of underlying
3. Availability of insufficient OB material in one go for coal seam ranged from 15 to 18 m. The draglines casted
extending the bench, which increases the re-handling the overburden into previously cut void created after
percentage. extraction of the underlying coal seam. The geo-mining
characteristics of the mine under study are given in the
Ideally the configuration which results in the highest overall table below:
coal production of the entire mine should be adopted.
Coal Seams
Selection of the bench height is based on numerous Sl. Seam
Particulars Unit Seam Seam
operational factors and geo-mining restraints. There is No. Seam 1 2&3
complex relationship between bench height, strike length, 2 3 merged
dragline dumping reach and dumping height, as well as 1 Seam Thickness m 11-23 8-15 4-11 16-26
material characteristics such as swell factor and angle of Volume density
of coal with dirt
repose. The bench height must be selected primarily on 2
bands of upto t/m3 1.48 1.64 1.61 1.65
the basis of draglines specific characteristics to the required 1m in thickness
pit geometry and production requirements. OB/PARTING
Thickness of
The Upper limits of dragline bench heights are restricted by 1 Seam 1- Seam 2 50-70
the boom height and boom length, which limits where the parting
dragline can dump the waste material. Another primary Thickness of
limitation is their dig depth, which is limited by the length 2 Seam 2- Seam 3 0-30
parting m
of rope that the dragline can utilize which is inherent with
Volume density
dragline construction. of
3 t/m3 2.35
Additional bench height could be augmented by making a Overburden
top dig bench, but dragline is most efficient in excavating Rocks
material below the level of their base, though it can dig
Quarry Parameters
above itself, it does so inefficiently.
The quarry parameters of Mine under study are given
The Lower limits of dragline bench height depend upon the below:
adopted method of working and also whether the draglines
Sl. No. Particulars Section 1 Section 2
are being operated single or in tandem. With extended
bench, not only the dragline bench height but also the total Strike Length of quarry
1 1.90 1.40
along Seam-1 floor (Km)
height including the thickness of the underlying seem to be

107

Dip-rise width of quarry on
2 Turra seam floor (Km) from 2.80 1.40
existing face
Maximum Depth of quarry
3 310 320
from surface
Mining Technology
With due consideration to geo-mining characteristics of
the deposit, the mine is being worked by combined system
of mining with the use of dragline and shovel-dumper
combination. Considering the flat gradient(2o-3o) of coal
seams, occurrence multiple seams, parting of 52-70m and
large volume of OB, inclined slicing method (to excavate
the OB from advance benches by inclined layers parallel
to the seam roof) is being adopted. This system eliminates
the needs to new horizons from the side of seam roof and
simplifies water drainage from the benches to central sump.
General Scheme of Operation
The mine is being worked in two sections namely section
1 and section 2 with central haul road. In both sections,
parting of 20-28 between seam 1 and seam 2 will be
taken by 2 No. Dragline each in horizontal tandem with
sidecasting of O/B in the decoaled cut and remaining O/B
will be excavated by Shovel-Dumper.
Fig.1 Section view of 2 Nos. of 24/96 draglines operating in Horizontal Tandem (HT)
108
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
VI. Description of Horizontal Tandem
Operation in Mine
The cross-sections of typical horizontal tandem operation
of the balancing diagram for 24/96 and 20/90 draglines
are illustrated in Figs.1 to 4. As clearly illustrated, both
draglines were deployed on the same stripping bench (28
or 30 m high) to work in horizontal tandem. The leading
dragline (dragline no. 1) was deployed on the highwall
side to provide the key cut towards the highwall. After
excavating the key cut, the leading dragline again moved
to new key cut position, ready for next stripping cycle to
repeat the sequence. The lagging dragline (dragline no. 2),
staggered at least 200 m behind the leading dragline (due to
safety reasons), sat on the spoil side of the extended bench
formed by leading dragline. Being seated on the extended
bench it side casted the O/B to a greater distance. This
dragline excavated the first dig (next to first cut) on the
remaining portion of the stripping bench and re-handled
the loose overburden to finally expose the coal seam fully
as per the designed balancing diagram parameters.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Fig.2 Section view of 2 Nos. of 20/90 draglines operating in Horizontal Tandem (HT)

Fig.3 Section view of 2 Nos. of 20/90 draglines operating in Horizontal Tandem (HT)

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Fig.4 Section view of 2 Nos. of 24/96 draglines operating in Horizontal Tandem (HT)

Based on balancing diagram for 24/96 and 20/90 draglines for horizontal tandem operation, annual output (CMPDIL
norms 1998) (coal exposure) considering mining losses is given below:

2 No. 24m3/ 87m D/L in Horizontal Tandem

Bench Ht. Cut Width Seam Thickness Coal Exposure( Mt)

Sl. No. KRH
(m) (m) (m) @ 10% Mining Loss
1 28 80 17 0.18 5.52
2 30 80 17 0.19 5.11

2 No. 20m3/ 83m D/L in Horizontal Tandem

Bench Ht. Cut Width Seam Thickness Coal Exposure( Mt)

Sl. No. KRH
(m) (m) (m) @ 10% Mining Loss
1 28 80 17 0.18 4.54
2 30 80 17 0.19 4.20

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Table-1 Key parameters of balancing diagram in horizontal tandem VII. Determination of Optimum Bench
(HT) mode of operation in mine
Height and Annual Capacity of mine
Sl. No. Parameter Details
Based on balancing diagrams for different bench heights for
1 Draglines 2 No.s 24m3/96m D/L and 2 Nos. 20m3/90m in Horizontal
With horizontal Tandem, the annual exposure of coal is given in Table-3 &
DL-1 (24/96) 4 below.
reach of 88m
With horizontal Table-3 Annual Exposure of coal based on balancing diagrams for
DL-2 (24/96)
reach of 88m different bench heights for 2 No. 24m3/ 96m D/L in Horizontal
Tandem
2 Bench Height (m) 28 & 30
With 2 No. 24m3/96m D/L in Horizontal Tandem
3 Cut Width(m) 80
Coal Exposure(
4 Strike Length (m) 1900 Sl.
Bench Cut Seam Mt)
Ht. Width Thickness KRH
No.
5 High wall Slope (deg) 70 (m) (m) (m) @ 10% Mining
Loss
6 Bench Slope 60o
1 28 80 17 0.18 5.52
Left for full
2 30 80 17 0.19 5.11
7 Coal Rib seam height
section
8 Angle of repose 37 Table-4 Annual Exposure of coal based on balancing diagrams for
different bench heights for 2 No. 20m3/ 90m D/L in Horizontal
Tandem

With 2 No. 20m3/ 90m D/L in Horizontal Tandem

Table-2 Key parameters of balancing diagram in horizontal tandem
(HT) mode of operation in mine Coal Exposure(
Bench Cut Seam Mt)
Sl.
Sl. No. Parameter Details Ht. Width Thickness KRH
No. @ 10% Mining
(m) (m) (m)
Loss
1 Draglines
1 28 80 17 0.18 4.54
With horizontal
DL-1 (20/90)
reach of 83m 2 30 80 17 0.19 4.20

With horizontal
DL-2 (20/90)
reach of 83m Using Table-3 & Table-4, based on balancing diagram
for 24/96 and 20/90 draglines for horizontal tandem
Bench Height (m) 28 & 30
operation, annual output (coal exposure) by draglines (as
3 Cut Width(m) 80 per CMPDIL norms 1998) is given below:
4 Strike Length (m) 1400 Expo- Expo-
Seam sure sure Total
High wall Slope Bench Cut Thick-
5 70 Sl. of coal of coal expo-
(deg) No.
Ht. Width ness (Mt) (Mt) sure
(m) (m)
(m) Sec- Sec- (Mt)
6 Bench Slope 60o tion-1 tion-2
Left for full seam 1 28 80 17 5.52 4.54 10.06
7 Coal Rib
height section
2 30 80 17 5.11 4.20 9.31
8 Angle of repose 37
The Annual Exposure from Seam-1, over which draglines are
deployed, with two draglines (24/96) working in horizontal
tandem for a bench height of 28m and 30m in one section

111

and two draglines (20/90) working in horizontal tandem
on other section is 10.06 Mt and 9.31 Mt respectively. The
maximum coal exposure from the Seam-1 is 10.06 Mt for
28m bench height. In the mine, based on existing working
bench profile about 45% of total annual coal production is
contributed by draglines. The rest contribution of annual
coal production comes from upper seams being exposed
by Shovel-Dumper combination. Considering the above,
the total annual production of the mine comes to 22.36 Mt.
VIII. Conclusion
Dragline balancing diagram is a vital tool to determine
the exposure of coal by draglines in a given geo-mining
conditions. In the mine under study where average
thickness of lower most coal seam, above which dragline
is deployed is about 17m. With two draglines (24/96)
working in horizontal tandem for bench height of 28m
in one side having strike length of about 1900m at the
floor of the bottom seam and with two draglines (20/90)
working in horizontal tandem for bench height of 28m on
other side having strike length of 1400m, at the floor of
the bottom seam the annual coal exposure from the lower
most coal seam is 10.06 Mt (about 45% of the total output).
Considering the above, the total annual production of the
mine comes to about 22 Mt. From the above exercise, the
optimum bench height for maximum annual production
capacity for the mine comes to be 28m.
112
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to convey gratitude towards the
management of the CMPDIL & Northern Coalfields
Ltd. (NCL), Singrauli, Dist. (MP), India, for providing
opportunity for publication of this paper.
References
1 Rai P & Nath R, Indian Min Eng. J, 37(1998)11.
2 Rodriguez R, Berlanga J M & Ibarra M A, Mathematical expressions
for simulating a dragline mining system, Proc Int Symp Mine
Planning and Equipment Selection, Balkema, 1988, 409-420.
3 Rai P, Ratnesh Trivedi & Nath R, Indian Journal of Eng. & Material
Sciences Vol 7, April 2000, pp.77-81.
4 Chugh YP (1980) Surface mining of minerals by draglines in
the USA. Transaction of mining metallurgy (Sectional Mining
Industry). The Institution of Mining and Metal- lurgy, London, pp
A198—A204
5 Rai Piyush, Yadav, Umakant , Ashok Kumar(2011, July),
Productivity Analysis of Draglines Operating in Horizontal and
Vertical Tandem Mode of Operation in a Coal Mine— A Case
Study, Geotechnical and Geological Engineering , 29:493-504
6 Report of Committee to suggest strategy for Enhancement of
Higher Grade Coal production (from Turra Coal seam ) and
overall safety of Dragline Mines of NCL by Continuing Preparation
of Dragline Sitting Level(October 2018)
7 Soumyakant Nag, “Evaluation of dragline mining in Indian
Coal Mines”, A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Bachelor in Technology in Mining
Engineering, Department of Mining Engineering, National
Institute of Technology, Rourkela (2013).
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Determination of the optimum strike length of a coal
mining block area, for a given stripping ratio, while
addressing the issue of overburden dump accommodation
Sri. Manish Kumar
Chief Manager(M), Nigahi,
Northern Coalfields limited,
Singrauli, India
managerplanning@gmail.com
Abstract: The favourable mining and geological char-
acteristics like substantial seam thickness at a comparative
shallow depth, has resulted in opting for opencast mining as
a technological option, but with the burgeoning coal demand
there has been corresponding increase in the size and depth
of the opencast mines in the country. The deeper coal depos-
its have necessitated the handling of large volume of Over-
burden, resulting in formation of huge overburden dumps.
Accommodation of huge overburden dumps have become a
matter of important concern for mines with higher stripping
ratio. Restriction in availability of land area, for accommo-
dating overburden in the external dumps, on account of so-
cio-economic & environmental factors aggravates the issue.
Planning for Coal extraction from a mine block area of given
stripping ratio, necessarily requires to address the issue of
overburden dump accommodation, while complying the ex-
tant stipulations regarding safety & environment.
This paper deals with an effort to find a solution for de-
termining the optimum strike length of mine block area, for
a given stripping ratio, while addressing the issue of overbur-
den dump accommodation, within the proviso of extant con-
ditions regarding safety and environment.
Introduction:
Coal is the primary source on energy in India from last
two-three decades. In 2017-18, around 93.8% of coal was
produced from opencast mines. The coal vision 2030
estimates that the domestic coal demand will go to 900-
1,000 MTPA by 2020 and 1,300-1,900MTPA by 2030 [1]. On
account of upcoming high demand of coal, it is incumbent
upon the mine operators, to extract coal from deep lying
seams which have higher stripping ratio. According to coal
directory of India 2017-18, MCL reported the minimum
stripping ratio of 0.97 whereas NEC reported the highest
Sri. Vimal Kr. Srivastava
Dy. Manager(Mining), Nigahi
Northern Coalfields limited,
Singrauli, India
nigahiplanning@gmail.com
stripping ratio of 10.09. The overall stripping ratio of CIL was
2.19 [2] in the year 2017-18. Higher stripping ratio means
handling of huge amount of overburden for extraction of
coal, which creates a problem of dump accommodation, on
account of limited space within the mine precincts and the
extant stipulations from the regulatory bodies.
It is always better to have proper planning & design,
rather than performing remedial measures to compensate
for design deficiencies, with due consideration to the
stipulations given by regulatory affairs. The cost of the
compliance may be reduced when taken into account in
the design or planning process, in a proactive manner,
rather than being addressed on an ad hoc basis as problems
develop or enforced actions occurs [3].
Problem statement: The seams which were left
unworkable due to high stripping ratio in the past are
being extracted now profitably, on account of cost effective
technology available globally. However, limited space
being provided for mining, in the current scenario of high
environmental concern, the problem of over burden dump
accommodation thereof, have posed another challenge,
that need immediate attention [4]. Overburden generated
at the start of excavation is required to be accommodated
in external dumps (additional land area in the no-coal zone,
until sufficient space is generated for internal dump (de-
coaled area). In the light of above, it is felt necessary to
determine an optimum strike length of a coal mining block
area, for a given stripping ratio, while addressing the issue
of overburden dump accommodation.
Assumptions: Coal seams are always found in undulated
terrain, which means the ratio between thickness of coal
seams and over laying over burden always varies. For cal-
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

culating stripping ratio and depth of the mine, we consid-

er coal block as rectangular block having average thick-
ness of coal seams and over laying strata throughout the
mine life.

Fig: 1

1. Evaluation of volume of external Dump:

For any green field project, i.e starting of mining in any
virgin land area, we have to start excavation from no coal
zone, so as to reach the in-crop of the bottom most coal
seam, upto its floor. However, Formation of benches, for
the purpose is exhibited in the most simple cross-section
(dip direction), as shown in fig: 2.

Fig: 2: Cross-sectional view (Perpendicular to strike)
Assuming the height, width and angle of the benches as p,
q and β respectively and the minimum distance between
dump and lower most bench as “a”, minimum Cross-
sectional area (Añ) of solid material which need to be
accommodated in the external dump, will be the sum of
b1, b2, … bn (as shown is fig: 2)
Solid Volume to be excavated for accommodation in
external Dump=S x Añ
(Where S is strike length of mine, which will be evaluated
at later stage of this model)
Although, the volume of external dump may vary depending
on method of mining and equipment deployed, the above
model is expressive of the approximate volume of solid over

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

burden material that is required to be accommodated in

external dump.

2. Evaluation of Sectional Area of internal OB

Dump:
Considering deck height of individual OB dump benches
formed by shovel-dumper system is “d” and slope of
individual dump benches is “”. Width of the deck between
two benches is “l” and base length of one dump is “A” as
shown in fig-3. Considering maximum allowed number of
decks is “n”.

Fig: 3: Sectional View of one Dump

(Along strike)
Required Sectional area of one dump () for creating “n”
decks

Detail derivation:
Cross-sectional Area of first deck (B1): The maximum height of the dump for creating “n” numbers
of deck, is “nd” and minimum length along the strike
length, is “”.

Minimum base length of one dump

After reaching the maximum height, dump will expand

along the strike length. Assuming that dump will expand
ΔS after covering 2n(l+dcotθ) length along the strike.

115

Fig: 4 Section view after ΔS expansion
(Along strike)
Sectional area of dump which is created by expansion (ΔS)
of dump
3. Evaluation of relation between Strike length and
sectional Area of internal OB dump:
When considered as rectangular mine block area, strike
length of the mine will be the sum of base length of two
dumps and width (W) of the haul roads.
Fig: 5 Showing total strike length (Along the strike)
“Sn” is expressed as total sectional Area of one dump
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
4. Relation between Mine movement and
Production:
For smooth functioning of a mine, it is considered
necessary that, apart from the OB accommodated in the
external dump, whatever overburden removed must be
accommodated simultaneously in internal dump.
Assuming that, for producing P tonnes of coal, mine will
advance in the dip direction for distance = M mtrs (refer
fig. 6).
Fig-6 Section showing advancement of mine (Perpendicular to strike)
Total volume to be handled for M movement of mine =
MhS ….. (8)
(Where “h” is av. weighted depth of the mine)
Total volume handled for movement upto M distance in
the mine is same as the sum of volume of coal produced
and volume of OB removed for producing P tonnes of coal.
Total volume handled = P/g+rP …….. (9)
(Where “g” is specific gravity of coal and r is stripping ratio
of mine)
Hence, from equation (8) & (9)
MhS = (P/g+rP)
M = P/hgS (1+gr) ………….….. (10)
5. Volume of Internal Dump :
For producing P tonnes of coal, total OB required to be
removed = rP cum
Swell volume of OB = µrP cum (Where µ is swelling factor
of OB)
It is considered that OB dump will advance at the same pace
as the advancement of mine benches. Hence the maximum
volume which can be accommodated in two internal OB
dumps will be equal to: Mx2Sn
Since the OB removed for producing P Tonnes of coal,
must be accommodated within the two nos. internal OB
dumps, with due consideration to its swell volume and the
extant statutory provisions of dump profile :
Swell volume of OB removed = available space in two
dumps
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

rial) that is developed to transport over burden to dump

and coal from purwa seams to CHP/Coal yard. A central
haul road (main entry) is also developed at the mine floor
level to transport coal from turra seam to CHP/Coal Yard.
6. Evaluation of relation between Strike length and
Stripping ratio:
Putting the value of Sn and M from equation (7) & (10) in
equation (11)

Detail derivation:

Assuming that two flank roads of width W/2 is developed

on outer side of both the internal dumps at the height of
two decks (2d).

Fig: 7 Showing sectional area of one dump including flank road

Total cross-sectional area of the internal dumps including
extra area developed by creation of flank road

Experimentation of the evaluated model in

the case of Jayant OCP, NCL.
The above derived model for determination of optimum
strike length of a coal mining block area, for a given strip- Detail Calculation:
ping ratio, while addressing the issue of overburden dump Extra cross-sectional area created due to development of
accommodation has been experimented on the existing flank roads.
configuration of Jayant OCP of NCL. Jayant mine is almost
a rectangular coal block and have two flank roads (periphe-

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Customization of model derived for Jayant OCP:

Putting the value of area (Ŝn) (derived above) from
equation (13) in equation (11), Strike length “Sj”of Jayant
OCP is determined as follows:

Detail derivation:
Putting the value of cross section area in equation (11)

Now the total cross-sectional area will increase by Sf

New sectional area of one dump

Ŝn= Sn+ Sf

Putting value of Sn & Sf from eq(7) & eq(i)

Evaluation of strike length of Jayant OCP:

Actual parameters of Jayant OCP was put up in the model
derived above, to evaluate and verify the strike length of
Jayant OCP as below:

Parameters Symbols Value

No of decks n 7

Deck height (m) d 30

Deck width (m) l 30

Avg. Weighted depth of

h 150
mine (m)
Specific gravity of Coal
g 1.5
(te/Cum)
Swelling factor 1.3

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References:
Central haul road width 1. Coal directory of India 2017-18
W 120
(m) 2. Coal vision 2030, Coal India Limited
3. http://www.mine-engineer.com/mining/open_pit.htm
Angle of repose =37 deg 1.327
4. Methodology for a dump design optimization in large-scale open
Current Stripping Ratio r 2.99 pit mines by Jorge Puell Ortiz1* (Puell Ortiz, Cogent Engineering
(2017), 4: 1387955, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2017.1387955)
Strike length evaluated
from the derived model S 3518
(mtrs)

Actual strike length of the mine is 3.5 km.

Conclusion:
As evident from above table the model derived for
determination of strike length for a given stripping ratio
appears to be conformity with the actual scenario of the
Jayant OCP. Hence it can be concluded that the above
model can be used as an effective tool to find a solution
for determining the optimum strike length of a mine block,
for a given stripping ratio. It can successfully address the
burning issue of overburden dump accommodation, within
the provisions of extant stipulations regarding safety and
environment.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
An Improved Numerical Modelling Approach for
Assessment of Instability Potential in Large Overburden
Dump Structures
Gagan Gupta
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (BHU)
Varanasi, India
gagangupta.rs.min18@itbhu.ac.in
Prof Sanjay K Sharma
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (BHU)
Varanasi, India
sksharma.min@iitbhu.ac.in
Abstract — In this paper, a parametric analysis has been
conducted to understand the effect of different geo mining
and bench design parameters on the stability of large over-
burden dumps. A model has been proposed combining seven
parameters for a first-hand assessment of the factor of safety
(FoS) of a regular dump structure. In order to achieve im-
proved assessment of complex dump structures, the trend of
maximum displacement data versus FoS of the model slopes
has been critically examined for developing an understanding
of the due sensitivity of these two critically important output
parameters. Accordingly, a three-category stability classifi-
cation has been proposed to meet the design requirement of
large and complex dump structures.
Keywords— Dump Slope Stability, Numerical Modelling,
FLAC 2D, SPSS
I. Introduction
The coal is performing a vital role in providing the energy
to different sectors of the market to accomplish the various
objectives of the country. The production target of opencast
mines is continuously rising due to the availability of
technology and ease of work compared to underground
mines. As per the current conditions, opencast mining
with higher depth is the only way to achieve the increased
production target. Higher depth opencast mine results
in higher stripping ratio, which generates a huge amount
of overburden (OB) dump material (Provisional Coal
Statistics, 2017). In the past three to four decades, the
demand for the coal was low, and the opencast mines were
also of shallow depth. Therefore, there was no problem
related to the accommodation of OB dump material. At
the present scenario, the total height of the OB dump slope
structure is growing with time, and it is a tedious work to
manage such high amount of OB in limited space.
There are numerous professional software available to
Dr G S P Singh
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (BHU)
Varanasi, India
gspsingh.min@iitbhu.ac.in
analyse the stability conditions of dump slope structure,
and it has been observed that the analysis results of these
software are close enough to field conditions. The majority
of the researchers used only the Factor of Safety (FoS)
to monitor the stability of slope structure, and it was
also acceptable when total dump height and complexity
were less. However, currently, OB dump structures are
transforming into giant structures, with a more number of
benches as well as complexity in geometry and geotechnical
properties. The FoS allude the stability criteria of whole
slope structure, not to a particular bench or part of it. So,
the analysis will turn into a tough task when numerous
benches are present. Therefore, FoS is suitable for small
slope structure profile which consists of less number of
benches. Thus, there is a necessity of additional output
parameter to analyse the slope stability conditions of
current dump structures.
In this study, parametric study conducted in connection
with total dump height (T), bench height (H), bench slope
angle (A), bench width (W), cohesion (C), internal friction
angle (F) and density (D) using finite-difference method-
based Fast Lagrangian Analysis of Continua (FLAC) - 2D,
version 7.0 software (FLAC, 2011). The sensitivity nature of
each parameter was evaluated for the dump slope structure
based on the safety factor and lateral deformation. In the
next stage of the study, the range of magnitude of maximum
horizontal deformation had been classified with the
instability states of dump slope structure. A mathematical
model for forecasting the instability state of OB dump slope
structure had also been developed via Statistical Package
for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 23 (SPSS,
2015).
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

II. Methodology analysis methods (Wyllie, 2004). Generally, when FoS is

The objective of the study had been accomplished in greater than 1, the structure will be stable and safe, but in
three phases. The first phase consists of data generation some cases, slope structures failed while FoS is greater than
of geotechnical properties through standard geotechnical 1. Therefore, the stability state of the dump slope structure
tests in the laboratory, and FoS & maximum horizontal had been divided into Stable, Critically Stable and Unstable
deformation via numerical modelling. In the second state. Based on the experiences of various case studies,
phase, the range of maximum horizontal deformation or dump slope structure conditions are classified: Stable State
maximum displacement in X-direction (XDIS) had been (XDIS < 10mm), Unstable State (FoS < 1) and remaining
characterised based on FoS. Development of an empirical states are Critically Stable State. The maximum horizontal
model to reckon the potential instability of dump structure deformation informs about the extent of flow of material
using seven independent variables i.e. T, H, A, W, C, F and in a horizontal direction. Corresponding to the criteria as
D in the last phase of the study. mentioned above for stable, unstable and critically stable
state, XDIS was also classified into three states of instability.
Data Generation
A. Geotechnical Tests Development of Mathematical Model
Sample of the material had been collected from the different In statistical analysis, total dump height, bench height,
sections of the dump structure of mine “X” of Singrauli, bench slope angle, bench width, cohesion, internal friction
Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) subsidiary of Coal angle and density were considered as the independent
India Limited, India. The geotechnical properties had been variable while FoS as the dependent variable. The non-linear
evaluated in the laboratory through the standard tests and regression had been performed with the independent and
procedures: dependent variables. The accuracy of the developed model
• Sieve Analysis (IS 2720 (Part 4)) was analysed with the coefficient of determination (R2), it
measures the “Goodness of Fit” and is the proportion of
• Proctor Compaction (IS 2720 (Part 8))
variance in the dependent variable which can be predicted
• Triaxial Test (IS 2720 (Part 11)) from the independent variables. It can range from 0 to 1. In
general, the larger the R-Square value, the better is fitting of
B. Numerical Modelling the data (SPSS, 2015).
The sensitivity of seven parameters had been examined
via parametric study using FLAC 2D software (FLAC, III. Results
2011). The range of each parameter covered the majority
of existing mines of NCL. Each parameter was varied A. Geotechnical Properties
within their predefined range, having a constant interval of The dump and floor sample reduced to requisite amount
increment in each succeeding model with the base value of following coning and quartering sample reduction method.
other parameters. The range, increment interval and base Grain size analysis, proctor compaction and triaxial tests
value of each parameter shown in Table 1. were performed as per the Indian Standards procedure
with precautions. Table 2 shows the finding of geotechnical
Table I. Range, Interval and Base Value of each parameter
tests (Gupta et al, 2017, 2018a, 2018b).
Parameters Range Interval Base Value
Table II. Geotechnical properties of samples
Density (kg/m3) 1300 - 2300 200 1800
Total Dump Height (m) 90 - 270 30 180 Sample type
Bench Height (m) 20 - 40 10 30 Geotechnical Properties
Dump Floor
Slope Angle (°) 30 - 50 5 40
Density (kg/m 3)
1890 2200
Bench Width (m) 20 - 40 5 30
Cohesion (MPa) 0.01 – 0.09 0.02 0.05 Shear modulus (GPa) 0.14 3.23
Friction Angle (°) 18 - 38 4 28 Bulk modulus (GPa) 0.42 5.38
Stability State Classification Based on Horizontal Cohesive strength, (MPa) 0.018 2.13
Displacement Friction angle, (°) 28 40
The factor of safety is the ratio of shear strength to shear
Tensile strength (MPa) 0 0.38
stress at a point or resisting force to driving force present
inside the dump material as per the dump slope stability Dilation (°) 0 5

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B. Numerical Modelling
otal 37 number of models had been simulated to
examine the sensitivity of each parameter on dump slope 1.9
stability. Graph of the different parameters depicts their
sensitive nature towards the FoS. It can be observed that 1.7
the density, total dump height, bench height and bench
1.5

Factor of Safety
slope angle are inversely proportional while the bench
width, cohesion and internal friction angle are directly
proportional to the stability of dump structure. 1.3

a. Effect of Density 1.1

The sensitivity of density was analysed by varying it from
1300 kg/m3 to 2300 kg/m3 in the stages of 200 kg/m3.
The safety factor of dump structure decreased from 1.49
to 1.36 (Fig. 1) while increasing the density. The drop in
the magnitude of FoS was not so much significant for the
considered range. The rate of change of FoS was also low. At
1300 kg/m3 the FoS is 1.49 and is reduced to 1.36 at 2300
kg/m3. Therefore, there was an effect of density on dump
slope stability, but it was not so much reasonable as per the
considered range.
1.9
1.7
Factor of Safety
0.9
80 110 140 170 200 230 260 290
Total Dump Height, (m)
Fig. 2. Total Dump Height vs Factor of Safety
c. Effect of Bench Height
Bench height effect was examined by varying it from 20m
to 40m in the stages of 10m. Fig. 3 shows the slope structure
stability is inversely proportional to the bench height as
safety factor decreased from 1.71 to 1.26. The difference of
safety factor between 20m and 40m is 0.45, which is quite
significant. The safety factor was 1.71 at 20m, and it reached
to 1.26 at 40m.

1.5 d. Effect of Bench Slope Angle

The parametric study results of bench slope angle depicted
1.3 that the safety factor reduced from 1.72 to 1.20 (Fig. 4)
while increasing the slope angle from 30° to 50° in the
1.1 stages of 5°. The drop of safety factor from 30° to 50° is very
high, but still, it lies in the range of critically stable to stable
0.9 state range. The safety factor was observed at 30° was 1.72,
1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 and it decreased to 1.2 at 50°.

Density, (Kg/m3 )
1.9
Fig. 1. Density vs Factor of Safety
1.7
Factor of Safety

b. Effect of Total Dump Height

The result of the parametric study of total dump height 1.5
showed that the safety factor reduced from 1.56 to 1.33
(Fig. 2) while increasing the dump height from 90m to 1.3
270m in the stages of 30m. The rate of decrement of FoS
from 90m to 180m is high compared to 180m to 270m. The 1.1
magnitude of safety factor at 90m was 1.56 which reached
to 1.33 at 270m. 0.9
25 30 35 40 45 50 55
Slope Angle, (°)
Fig. 4. Slope Angle vs Factor of Safety

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

e. Effect of Bench Width g. Effect of Internal Angle of Friction

Figure 5 shows the effect of bench width on the stability
of dump structure. It was varied from 20m to 40m in
the stages of 5m. The safety factor was all most linear, it
increased from 1.21 to 1.58. The rate of increment of safety
factor is high. The safety factor was 1.21 at 20m, and it got
strengthen at 40m with the safety factor of 1.58.
1.9
1.7
Factor of Safety
The sensitivity of the frictional angle measured by varying
it from 18° to 38° in the stages of 4° and it was observed
from Fig. 7 the safety factor increased from 0.94 to 1.94.
The safety factor increased linearly with a nearly constant
rate. The safety factor at 18° was 0.94, and at 38° there was
a significant improvement in the stability state condition
of dump slope structures as having safety factor 1.94. The
stability state turned into the stable condition from the
unstable stable condition while moving from 18° to 22°.
Thus, the critical friction angle was lying between the

range of 18° to 22°, and it was approximately 19.5° for the

1.5 considered range of other parameters.

1.3

1.1 1.9

1.7

Factor of Safety
0.9
15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Bench Width, (m) 1.5

Fig. 5. Bench Width vs Factor of Safety 1.3

f. Effect of Cohesion 1.1
The cohesion was varied from 0.01MPa to
0.09MPa in the stages of 0.02MPa to observe its influence 0.9
on the dump slope structure stability. It was observed that 15 20 25 30 35 40
the safety factor increased non linearly from 0.92 to 1.57
Friction Angle, (°)
(Fig. 6). The rate of increment of safety factor was very
high. At 0.01MPa, the safety factor was 0.92, which was an
Fig. 7. Friction Angle vs Factor of Safety
unstable condition, and it turned into very stabilise C. Development of Mathematical Model
condition at 0.09MPa having 1.57 safety factor. The critical Nonlinear regression analysis was performed using SPSS
cohesion for transferring the unstable to stable v23 software to analyse the combined effect of the density
stability state condition was between (D), total dump height (T), bench height (H), bench slope
angle (A), bench width (W), cohesion (C) and internal
friction angle (F) on the stability state of overburden dump
slope structure. Equation 1 depicts the extent of influence
0.01MPa to 0.03MPa, and it was approximately 0.014MPa. of each independent parameter on the factor of safety. The
accuracy of this empirical model was checked by evaluating
1.9
the difference between the actual value to the predicted
value of the factor of safety. Figure 8 describes the linear
1.7 relationship between the actual value to the predicted value
Factor of Safety

of the factor of safety having the coefficient of determination

1.5
(R2) 99.4% with standard error of 0.014.
1.3

1.1

0.9
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Cohesion, (MPa)

Fig. 6. Cohesion vs Factor of Safety

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A further break of the plot, as depicted in Fig. 10 for FoS<1.3

and maximum X-displacement less than 100mm indicate
that out of 14 Cases, although the FoS of the slope is greater
than 1 in 13 no of models, their maximum displacement is
greater than 10mm. All these cases may be considered as
Critically stable
For Cases having FoS<1, the maximum displacement is
invariably greater than 100mm. All these cases confirm an
unstable state of dump slope.
Accordingly, the stability condition of dump slopes may be
classified into stable, critically stable and unstable classes
(Table III).

Table III. Classification of XDIS based on FoS

Fig. 8 Actual vs Predicted value of Safety Factor Stability State Conditions FoS XDIS

Stable >1.28 <10mm

IV. Discussion
Critically Stable >1 & ≤1.28 ≥10mm & <100mm
Earlier, the size and the geometry of overburden dump
slopes was in small scale, so the stability evaluation of Unstable <1 >100mm

the dump slope structure was simple, and factor of safety,

alone was sufficient represent the stability conditions of the
140.001
slope structure. However, with increasing depth and size
Horizontal Displacement, (m)

of opencast workings, the total dump height, as well as the 120.001

geometry of the individual benches, are getting complex 100.001
in an attempt to accommodate a larger volume of dump
material. These giant structures are more vulnerable 80.001

to failure if there is any mismatch among the geometry 60.001

parameters and the geotechnical properties of the dump
40.001
material.
20.001
The factor of safety describes the overall stability of the
dump structure, which is convenient for dump structure 0.001
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
having idealized bench geometry. However, it fails to
Factor of Safety
indicate an instability prone or failed part of dump structure
when the slope structure consists of a number of benches Fig. 9 Factor of Safety vs Horizontal Displacement
with irregular geometry.
The measure of horizontal displacement of any part of the Critically Stable State
Horizontal Displacement, (m)

slope structure as obtained from the numerical modelling 0.11

output provides insight of this highly sensitive subject. 0.09

Hence, an attempt has been made in this paper to use
horizontal displacement for an improved understanding of 0.07
the subject.
0.05
Fig. 9 shows the plot of the model obtained FoS vs the
0.03
maximum horizontal displacement of a dump slope. The
extent of material flow in horizontal direction increases 0.01
sharply when stability state condition transfer from the
-0.01 1 1.05 1.1 1.15 1.2 1.25 1.3
stable or unstable state. The maximum displacement is
Factor of Safety
invariably less than 10mm in all cases having FoS>1.28.
These cases represent stable slopes structures Fig. 10 Factor of Safety vs Horizontal Displacement

125

V. Conclusion
The potential instability of overburden slope structure is
analysed using maximum horizontal deformation and
factor of safety. In addition to stable and unstable state
conditions, a critically stable state is introduced to represent
a dump slope structure which is prone to failure even when
its safety factor greater than one. The results of parametric
study confirm the generic understanding prevailing on the
basis of previous works in this area. The study also indicate
that the state of stability of a bench in a dump can be
improved by a limited extent by increasing its bench width.
An empirical model is proposed to forecast the expected
FoS of an overburden slope structure. The proposed model
statistical accuracy of 99.4%. The model also shows that the
friction angle, bench slope angle and bench height are more
sensitive towards the stability of slope structures compared
to other parameters. The FoS of the dump slope showed a
meagre reduction of 15% as its total height increased from
90m to 270m value. However, the maximum displacement
shows a better sensitivity which increased 18 times as a
result of this change.
The stability classification proposed in this paper shows
that for stable structures, the safety factor is greater than
1.28, and horizontal displacement is less than 10 mm.
The slope structure would be unstable if the safety factor
is less than 1 and its maximum displacement is greater
than 100mm. The intermediate condition where the safety
factor is greater than 1 but less than 1.28, and the horizontal
displacement is greater than 10mm but less than 100mm
would be treated as critically stable.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
VI. References
[1] Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (1983) Indian Standard Methods
of test for soils part- 8, Determination of Water Content – Dry
Density Relation Using Heavy Compaction, IS 2720 (Part 8).
[2] Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (1985) Indian Standard Methods
of test for soils part-4, Grain Size Analysis, IS 2720 (Part 4).
[3] Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (1993) Indian Standard Methods
of test for soils part-11, Determination of The Shear Strength
Parameters of a Specimen Tested In Unconsolidated Undrained
Triaxial Compression Test Without The Measurement of Pore
Water Pressure, IS 2720 (Part 11).
[4] FLAC Version 7.0 user’s manual (2011) Itasca Consulting Group,
Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
[5] Gupta G, Sharma SK, Singh GSP, Verma T and Kishore N (2017)
Engineering Characterization of Dump Material for Numerical
Modeling Based Stability Analysis of Slope Structures. National
Seminar on Advances in Mine Environment, Geotechniques and
Ground Control, 24-30.
[6] Gupta G, Sharma SK, Singh GSP (2018a) Assessment of Dump
Structure Stability via Parametric Study Using Numerical
Modeling. Recent Challenges in Mining Industry (RCMI-2018),
103-112.
[7] Gupta G, Sharma SK, Singh GSP (2018b) Stability Analysis
of Open-pit Dump Slopes. Dissertation, Indian Institute of
Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi - 221005, India.
[8] IBM Corp. Released 2015. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows,
Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
[9] Provisional Coal Statistics (2017) Coal Directory of India,
Government of India, Ministry of Coal, Coal Controller’s
Organisation Kolkata. http://www.coalcontroller.gov.
i n / w r ite re a d d at a / f i l e s / d ow n l o a d / prov i s i on a l c o a l s t at /
ProvisionalCoalStat2016-17.pdf. Accessed 25 September 2018
[10] Wyllie DC, Mah CW, Hoek E (2004) Rock slope engineering civil
and mining. New York.E.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Learning Artificial Intelligence from Nature and Its
Application in Mining
Shri. B N Shukla
Chairman – Cum – Managing Director
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
cmd.mcl.cil@coalindia.in
Abstract — Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a buzz word in
present day scenario and every industry is trying to apply it
for ease of their operations. Nature is an excellent laboratory
for generation of ideas and solutions for the day to day prob-
lems we are facing. Learning Automation & AI from nature
and applying it for eco-friendly and sustainable mining op-
erations is a practical idea. Excellent packaging by Nature
found in corn, packaging of highly nutritional and hygienic
water in the core of the coconut, kilometers of natural flower
gardens-can we think what would have been the cost of paint-
ing of so large area?, million tons of transportation of cloud
and rain at the right place, AI used by mosquitos, etc. are
some of the examples.
Mining seems to be very simple procedure for the outsid-
ers, but the complexities involved, especially in tenancy land
possession, proper coal and OB assessment, environmental
mitigation aspects like dust, mine sump water evacuation,
proper landscaping, slope management of OB dumps , neg-
ative social image etc, makes mining very challenging. There
are complex type of typical problems involved, which requires
tailor made and local practical solutions. And here ideas from
AI used by the nature can be very practical for solving the is-
sues being faced by the mining industry in present time. Be it
the field of geophysical methods of strata modeling, be it dust
control, be it slope stabilization, be it recharge of water table
from mine sump water, be it vertical mining, be it artificial
rain triggered by concentration of airborne dust of particu-
lar micron range, be it working safely on very steep slopes
(robots), be it transportation of coal on very high angle, be
it safety aspect of so many transport vehicles moving in the
mines-anti collision technology etc.
This paper deals with some suggestive application in min-
ing industry of the excellent artificial intelligence being used
by the Nature
Keywords—artificial intelligence, automation, na-
ture, transportation, eco-friendly, sustainable.
I. Introduction
There are only two primary industries, one is agriculture
and other is mining. Extraction of the mineral resources
Dr. Shambhu Jha
TS to CMD
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
ts-cmd.mcl@coalindia.in
created by nature should use the techniques and designs
inspired by nature. There are numerous examples of
Artificial Intelligence being used by the creatures for their
survival and reproduction and few of them have been
explained in this paper- how these AI can be applied for
solving the problems and challenges being faced by the
mining industry.
II. Application Of Ai Of Nature In Geo-
Physical Investigation
The study of strata and its geological features is the
beginning of any mining industry. The mineralogical
contour is vital for the progress and extension of mine.
It has great economic value and it is important that
the knowledge is acquired with certainty and as it is the
beginning of the mining process which determines the
fate of the mining, the process should be non-destructive
and economic. Nature has enough examples which can be
followed for exploring the strata without disturbing it and
with less cost.
It is well know that Bats and Dolphins employ echolocation
as a technique for prey finding without disturbing and
physically going to the location. This is achieved by emitting
active SONAR waves and waiting for the echo to come back
thereby estimating the location. This has wider application
in mining as underground exploration can be conducted by
electromagnetic waves being sent and studying the return
profile of the waves.
Bat – echolocation
The technique used by the very sensible and small creature
of nature bats can be applied for geophysical exploration of
coal, top soil, sub-soil and hard rock, their precise volume
etc. because borehole database planning and sections are
not perfect. Estimation for OBR-with drilling, without
drilling, rippable strata through ripper dozers, hard
strata which can be excavated through vertical-rippers,
estimation of Coal, generation of 3D Quarry Model with
different alternatives etc. are many application.
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Bats emit ultrasonic sounds to produce echoes. By
comparing the outgoing pulse with the returning echoes
the brain and auditory nervous system can produce detailed
images of the bats surroundings. This allows bats to detect
localize and classify their prey in darkness.
Fig-1: Echolocation in Bats [1]
Bat calls are some of the loudest airborne animal sounds
and can range in intensity from 60 to 140 decimals. The
frequency can range from 14,000 to well over 1,00,000
Hz, extending well beyond the range of human hearing
(between 20 and 20,000 Hz). The ears of the bats are sharply
tuned to a specific frequency range. They emit calls outside
this range to avoid deafening themselves. They then receive
echoes back at the finely tuned frequency range by taking
advantage of Doppler shift of their motion in flight. The
Doppler shift of the returning echoes yields information
relating to the motion and location of the bat’s prey[2].
III. Application Of AI Of Nature In Mine
Working- OBR & Coal Production
Lizard – vertical plane ride – vertical wall mining or
High wall mining- A significant amount of coal is blocked
in non workable thin seams, in the highwalls, below
surface dwellings in the opencast mines. Highwall mining
technology may be one good option to extract the blocked
coal in thin non-workable seams and the coal blocked in
the highwall of opencast mines. We can further understand
and copy the intelligence being used by these humble
creatures.
Have we ever noticed how lizards have the insane ability to
scurry up walls and even walk upside down on the ceiling?
They are fascinating creatures by how they manage to defy
gravity, and walk on walls and ceilings so successfully. It
turns out that their unique ability is due to tiny hair on their
feet! That and a tiny bit of physical chemistry-
Lizards have a large number of very tiny hairs on the
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
pads of their feet called setae. These hairs have tiny pads
at their tips known as spatulae, which are about one-tenth
of a human hair in diameter. These tiny pads therefore
drastically increase the surface area and come in intimate
contact with the surface on which the lizard is crawling,
so the Van der Waals forces kick in. Although normally
considered negligible, in this case, the Van der Waals forces
combine to form a pretty strong force.
Lizards employ a rotating motion to attach and detach their
feet from the surface, as simply placing their feet on the
surface will not generate the required force. Instead, they
need to slide their feet into position. Similarly, just pulling
their leg off the surface will not be enough to combat the
large force that has been generated.
Xcentric Ripper is a machine with has an impact
accumulation technique by employing stress and impact
concentration inspired from woodpecker which also
employs the technique of accumulating the impact through
a gradually decreasing form factor of the ripping tool.
Fig-2: Impact Accumulation in Woodpecker
Ant-Anti-collision technique
Ants – they don’t collide – they change their path very
fast – what is the technique? Example: flight anti-collision
technology – mine application for Dumper/Tipper.
Research has shown that ant colonies naturally possesses
intelligence and are able to find the shortest route from a
food source without any visual aids, but through the use
of pheromones emitted by the ants as queues. The ant
colony algorithm is a form of evolutionary competition
that models the behavior of real ants in search of food. This
algorithm has been successfully used to solve numerous
real-life problems. The ant colony algorithm has a unified
framework model which is robust, which embodies positive
feedback and distributed computing characteristics hence
it is well suited to collision avoidance. It has already been
used for obstacle avoidance in Robots, automatic under
water vehicle (AUV) collision avoidance.
Navigation in Mines
Cataglyphis, an ant, found in the North African deserts,
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
mostly in Sahara, unlike other Ant species do not rely on
pheromone for navigation. It is found by scientists that the
ant use a combination of visual piloting, path integration
and systemic search for navigation and food findings [3]
Autonomous vehicle is a reality of the future mobility
systems. Currently, in its infancy, however, the various
researches on the topic are starting to converge and
nature is being looked upon for further guidance and
inspiration. Autonomous mobility is dependent on either
pre-programmed route; where, in terms of control theory,
the D(s) disturbance function is corrected dynamically
with sensor values. This correction is highly dependent on
the topography of the plying route, traffic density and anti-
collision algorithm.
Scientists are drawing inspiration from this ant for its
near perfected navigation by real-time integration of
visual piloting, path integration and systemic search
corresponding to image processing, traffic analytics and
probabilistic robotics. In mines, the autonomous HEMM
operation has already been under recent trends in various
mines. However, the dependency on sensor quality more
than the analytics and algorithms; limits the applicability
in industrial conditions where error margin is less and the
repercussion is disproportionately high.
The intelligence which this ant species carries will be of
particular importance in surface mining as the entire
HEMM fleets can be resorted to autonomous operation
especially in dynamic conditions viz. change of dispatch
route, designation of alternative route as per requirement
within the operational hours, etc. Considering the
multitude of accidents taking place in mines during
HEMM operations, it will be advantageous in every way
to remove the human element from frontline and let the
machines take over in the hazardous condition. This can
be integrated with the crawler sensor system to further
fine tune the agility and information collection for safe and
informed mining.
Honey Bee
They gather nectar from 20 lakh flowers to make ½ kg of
honey. One bee has to fly about 90,000 miles – 3 times
around the globe – to make ½ kg of honey. The bee’s brain
is oval in shape and about the size of a sesame seed, yet
it has remarkable capacity to learn and remember things.
For example, it is able to make complex calculations on
distance travelled and foraging efficiency. Such intelligence
is very well adopted for design of the HEMMs for making
their operation much efficient and safe, collecting the data
from the surrounding and using them for their operation.
Caterpillar-HEMM Design Inspiration
Nature has inspired the design, function and sometimes,
naming of a machine (Caterpillar).
Caterpillars are the soft bodied larvae of lepidopteran
insects. They have evolved to occupy an extremely diverse
range of natural environments and to undergo locomotion
in complex three-dimensional structures without
articulated joint or hydrostatic control. These animals make
excellent bio-inspiration for the field of mining because of
their diversity and adaptability.
Extending the same principle, the HEMM can be mounted
with crawlers rather than wheels or tracks in undulated
surfaces. For example, Klaan Mechanism [4] mimics the
crawling mechanism of spider. This can also be directly
integrated to HEMM which has to usually negotiate
difficult paths.
Fig-3: Klann Mechanism
Snakes inspired design for road header, tunneling machine
for the mining industry.
Snakes have a wide range of locomotive capabilities,
ranging from crawling and burrowing to climbing and even
swimming. The design of a snake is a simple structure that
is repeated many times. Snakes bodies are elongated forms
that consist of a long backbone made of many vertebrae.
In fact, there are only three different kinds of bones in
the entire snake skeleton: the skull, the vertebrae, and the
ribs. Snake backbones consist of 100-400 vertebrae, and
the design of each vertebra allows small motions in both
the lateral and vertical directions. They do not allow any
twisting, however, and thus act as compliant universal
joints. Each vertebra itself only allows a very small amount
of angular motion, but the motions of many vertebrae allow
snakes to drastically curve their bodies. Each vertebra
allows rotation of 10-20 degrees in the horizontal plane,
and between 2-3 degrees in the vertical plane.
Snake-inspired locomotion provides many advantages
over traditional forms of locomotion in both animals and
machines.
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IV. Application For Air Pollution department on slopes of hilly areas – where birds play a
Control very important role – They eat the seed and then their
excreta converts these hard seeds – ready for germination
Artificial rain for dust suppression by inducing cloud for- in the rainy season.
mation near mine sump and rain near OB/Coal face.
Role of many species developed due to establishment of
food chain is the key factor.
Dust evacuation through man made cyclone – vertical
In mining also we have water bodies, we have OB dumps
dispersion of dust particles
and some plantation – This is perfect combination for
As a result of mining activities, pollution is a major establishing food chain.
concern for the industry. Mining activities due to its very
How there is beautiful slope stability on the great
nature generates airborne dust. Because of their very small
mountains ? Robots can be designed for plantation on
size ranging from 1 micron to 100 micron, they are very
steep slope- inspired with monkeys, contour trenching and
difficult to tackle, specially the size range below 30 micron.
bund formation for beautiful stabilization of slope. Slope
Although it is common notion that dust suppression is
stability – selection of tree as per nature’s choice, which will
very simple through water sprinkling, but when the scale
be stable on natural angle of repose about 350 to 400 of the
of operation, specially the varied physical and chemical
OB Dump slopes are some the ideas from nature.
composition and the nature of work mostly involved
in ‘kutcha’ condition, we end up with very high dust
concentration in the ambient air.
Here again; nature can be mimicked to effectively control
the air-borne dust. For suppression of suspended particles,
artificial rain, localized rain, atomized water particles
by mist/fog formation can be undertaken. This will be
area specific and depending on the intensity, appropriate
technique can be used. Sometimes collective intelligence
can be gathered by swarm of sensors spaced in a grid or
flock as in school of fishes and flock of birds. This can
identify the concentration and the profile of intensity in an
area and can converge to the origin of pollution emitter.
Drawing inspiration from nature’s convectional/torrential Fig. 4. Contour Trenches and Bunds [5]
rain creation system, the uplift of hot air can be in
occluded fronts and a general uplift due to temperature/
density gradient which will have a trail of micro cyclonic
thermobaric suction system and evacuate the dust from
desired area.

V. Mine Reclamation Including

Stabilizing Slope
Mine safety reclamation and landscaping is a very important
part especially from socio-political, statutory and aesthetic
angle. Image of the company and social acceptance directly
depends on the efforts put in this aspect. Here we can learn
and apply the AI of nature.
For example, the eye-catching natural landscapes of
Himalayan Valley, full of beautiful flowers with colorful
landscapes. Natural Teak regeneration being used by forest Fig. 4. (Contd.)

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Mosquito Recharging the Aquifers

Mosquito serves important functions in numerous
ecosystems, serving as a food for many species helping
filtered detritus for plant life to thrive, pollenating flowers
and even affecting the herding paths of caribou in tundra.
Scientists are looking at the mosquito for potential medical
treatments. They have tremendous artificial intelligence in
searching for their prey. Mosquito larvae are aquatic insects
and as such play an important role in the aquatic food
chain. Mosquito larvae are filtered feeders that strain tiny
organic particles such as unicellular algae from the water
and convert them to the tissue of their own bodies, which
are, in turn, eaten by fish. Mosquito larvae are, in essence,
nutrient-packed snacks for fish and other aquatic animals.
In addition the mosquito larva feed on the waste products,
making nutrients such as nitrogen available for the plant
community to thrive. As a result mosquitos serve as equally
nutritious meals for the birds, bats and spiders.
Of the multitude of environmental impacts that a mining
industry makes, the negative influence on the water table
and groundwater movement is the most concerning as
it affects the local population as well as the stability of
mines along with the base level of ground water. Nature
has a unique way of filtering the water ingress from
various forms of precipitation and recharging the same to
maintain its level. As water ingress inside surface mining
is enormous which directly reduces the water table, it can
be dewatered and used positively for recharging the aquifer
by discharging in appropriate location for ease of water
recharging.

VI. Mine Water Management- Artificial

Recharge, Acidic Sumps
AI from nature can help the mining industry in manage-
ment of a very important resource i.e. water which is a
bye-product of mining excavations and generally got rid
due for extraction of the mineral. However now a days it
is very important to find their utility and preserve and con-
serve the same for local eco-system.
Exact location and variation of water table around the
quarry and how to recharge the same through mine sump
water, how to recharge the confined aquifer through Water
harvesting in mine voids, recharge of water table, based on
snake/rat theory.
Rats – they can increase porosity – water reservoirs can be
created between two confining layers – OB dumping should
be made with such planning – recharge of mine water.
Fig. 5. Effect of mining in the aquifer and ground water levels of nearby
Acid eating bacteria – can be used for mine sump water areas of mining
having acidity due to presence of some pyrite band etc.
The deployment of HEMMs is involved with generation of Beavers – The Ecosystem Engineers – Recharging the
lubricant as waste. Used oil disposal is also an environmental Aquifers
concern. Oil Zappers are bacteria which can be used to
biochemically breakdown the used petroleum oils so that Beavers have been known to preserve ecosystem by building
the by-product is manageable and less toxic to the nature. dams and supporting ecosystem vitality with resources and
In addition, sometimes the mine water is acidic due to convergence of food chain and web for fair play in nature.
pyritic bands in the strata. Low pH value is not conducive The impoundments act as a cradle of natural processes
of metallic machines to operate. The corrosive nature of the in ecological balance and converges the food chain in the
water can corrode the metal casings of pumps and other vicinity. The artificial slowing down of water stream like
machines. This can be controlled by deploying acid eating a beaver dam will assist the recharge of aquifers. This will
bacteria. The pH level of the sump waters can be controlled undo the effects of pit mining which leads to lowering of
and the longevity of machinery is ensured. A neural pH is water table and thereby scarcity of water in the nearby areas
important for nearby ecosystems also as the dewatering is of mine.
done in a nearby sump and any seepage or leakage.

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VII. Application In Mine Safety/
Surveillance
Eagle inspired AI – application of Drone.
Application of CCTV Camera as per Owl strategy.
Crickets
Some insects like Crickets have sensors in their legs. It has
micro-hair which is able to sense minute vibration and
locate the occurrence and warn itself against a predator. In
mining, for dumping stability and various strata stabilizing
application; the machines can be mounted with a crawler
and sensor in the crawler linkages for vibration sensing and
profiling for stability and safety of the mines.
Neural Network for Real-Time Data Analytics and Shortest
Communication Channel in Mines
Mine is a generator of plethora of data sets and strings
embedded in different forms and factors. The data generated
is essential to understand, comprehend and undertake deep
learning for future planning and optimization. This requires
integration, interfacing and visualization of relevant data.
Understanding the data will enable us to undertake various
decisions which shall be customized, targeted and well
informed.
In this context, taking inspiration of artificial intelligence
from neural networks will be highly beneficial and efficient.
A neural network is a series of algorithms that endeavors
to recognize underlying relationships in a set of data
through a process that basically mimics the way the brain
operates and functions. Neural networks can adapt to
changing input; so the network generates the best possible
result without needing to redesign the output criteria. This
autonomously adaptable system can be extremely helpful in
undertaking the real time integration of data sets generated
from multiple sources and cross channeled for multiple
outputs.
Recognition of pattern in a random and chaotic data set
can also be translated for cognizable decision making tool.
In this context, neural network can be employed for quick
sorting of relevant data and compelling visualization of
quick estimation and decision making.
The neural network algorithm can also be employed for
systemic design of communication network in mines.
This is extremely important as the data sets generated
are vital to men and machine while they are working in a
very hostile and hazardous environment. Quick disposal
and distribution of information must reach concerned
manpower and machines in real time for quick action
especially during disaster management. Learnings from
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
neural network will lead to most efficient and shortest
communication channel for information dissemination.
Aerial Non-contact Survey and Surveillance
For better and more involved survey and recognition of
problem, aerial surveys are conducted to have the eagle-
eye view or simply bird’s eye view. It is instrumental in
understanding land related issues in mining which is
being experienced frequently. The reclamation and overall
geo-analytics require aerial overview and estimation. The
LiDAR and other reflection based survey are independent
of light. This is a further inspiration from night vision
enabled animals and birds. Infrared surveillance in the
mining area as the animals with infrared capable sensory
system for prey finding can also be deployed for surveillance
purposes at night. Drones are also being used for Geo-
Physical investigation and photogrammetric estimation of
OBR and coal. 3D modelling has also become an extended
application of aerial survey, wherein, accurate spatial data
accurate to millimeters have been gathered and processed.
VIII. Conclusion
From the foregoing it is very clear that we must turn
towards nature to learn AI being deployed by its various
components, be it it’s physical, chemical or biological
agents. Specifically, Mining Industry has many application
of Nature’s Artificial Intelligence, which can be deployed
for safe, sustainable and eco-friendly mining with social
acceptance.
References
[1] https://www.ck12.org/physics/reflection-of-mechanical-waves/
rwa/Echolocation/
[2] Holland, R. A.; Waters, D. A.; Rayner, J. M. V. (2004). “Echolocation
signal structure in the Megachiropteran bat Rousettus aegyptiacus
Geoffroy 1810”. Journal of Experimental Biology. 207 (25): 4361–
4369
(3) Möller, Ralf et al. “Modeling Ant Navigation with an Autonomous
Agent.” Proceedings of the fifth international conference on
simulation of adaptive behavior on From animals to animals.
University of Zurich, Switzerland. 1998. pp. 185 - 194.
[4] “Mechanical Spider”. Klann Research And Development, LLC.
Archived from the original on 14 April 2004. Retrieved 22
November 2016.
[5] Revival of Rivulets Through Farm Pond Based Watershed
Development. Pune, India, BAIF Development Research
Foundation.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Artificial Intelligence and Automation in Coal Industry :
An exploratory study
Dr. Siddhartha Priya, Ph. D.*
RTM Nagpur University, Amravati Rd, Ram Nagar,
Nagpur, Maharashtra - 440033
(Presently at Bina Project, Sonebhadra, Uttar
Pradesh – 231220)
Email: siddharthapriya@coalindia.in
Abstract - This paper details about the concept of Artifi-
cial Intelligence (AI), identifies its components and explores
it usage in the Coal mining process based on authors’ obser-
vations and feedback from various stakeholders, within and
outside the organization. The organization studied for this
purpose is Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) which is a
prominent subsidiary of Coal India, a Central Public Sector
Enterprise (CPSE), tasked with commercial coal mining in
India.
Keywords – Northern Coalfields Limited; Artificial Intel-
ligence; Machine Learning; Mining; Challenges; HEMMs;
Marketing & Sales; Logic
I. Introduction
Artificial Intelligence (AI) term was coined by John
McCarthy in 1955 during his teaching stint at Dartmouth
College, USA (Russell, 2011). The field of AI research
was born at a workshop at Dartmouth College in 1956
(Solomonoff, 1985) and the attendees included Allen
Newell (CMU), Herbert Simon (CMU), John McCarthy
(MIT), Marvin Minsky (MIT) and Arthur Samuel (IBM)
who became the founders and leaders of AI research
(Russell & Norvig, 2003).
AI, also termed as Machine Intelligence (MI), is intelligence
displayed by Machine in contrast with Natural Intelligence
(NI) displayed by Humans and animals. As per (McCarthy,
2007) “It is the science and engineering of making intelligent
machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is
related to the similar task of using computers to understand
human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself
to methods that are biologically observable.” (Russell &
Norvig, 2003) have identified that in computer science AI
research is defined as the study of “intelligent agents”: any
device that perceives its environment and takes actions
that maximize its chance of success at some goal. (Russell
& Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (3rd
ed.), 2009) have subsequently mentioned that the term
“artificial intelligence” is applied when a machine mimics
Nandan Kumar Choudhury*
Geologist, Northern Coalfields Limited (Coal
India), Bina Project, Sonebhadra (Uttar Pradesh)
Email: choudhurynandan@gmail.com
“cognitive” functions that humans associate with other
human minds, such as “learning” and “problem solving”.
The scope of AI is disputed and as machines become
increasingly capable, tasks considered as requiring
“intelligence” are often removed from the definition, a
phenomenon known as the AI effect e.g. optical character
recognition is frequently excluded from “artificial
intelligence”, having become a routine technology (Schank,
1991). At present capabilities generally classified as AI
include successfully understanding human speech (Russell
& Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
(3rd ed.), 2009), competing at a high level in strategic
game systems (such as chess and Go (“AlphaGo - Google
DeepMind”, 2016)), autonomous cars, intelligent routing
in content delivery networks, military simulations, and
interpreting complex data, including images and videos.
AI research has been divided into subfields. These sub-fields
are based on technical considerations, such as particular
goals (e.g. “robotics” or “machine learning”) ((Russell &
Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd
ed.), 2003) (Luger & Stubblefield, 2004)), the use of particular
tools (“logic” or “neural networks”), or deep philosophical
differences ((Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A
Modern Approach (2nd ed.), 2003) (McCorduck, 2004)
(Luger & Stubblefield, 2004)). Subfields have also been
based on social factors (particular institutions or the work
of particular researchers) (McCorduck, 2004).
The traditional problems (or goals) of AI include
reasoning, knowledge, planning, learning, natural language
processing, perception and the ability to move and
manipulate objects ((Luger & Stubblefield, 2004), (Russell
& Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd
ed.), 2003)). General intelligence is among the field’s long-
term goals ((Kurzweil, 1999), (Kurzweil, The Singularity
is Near, 2005)). Approaches include statistical methods,
computational intelligence, and traditional symbolic AI.
Many tools are used in AI, including versions of search and
133

mathematical optimization, neural networks and methods
based on statistics, probability and economics.
II. Goals of Artificial Intelligence
The overall goal of artificial intelligence is to create
technology that allows computers and machines to function
in an intelligent manner. The general problem of simulating
(or creating) intelligence has been broken down into sub-
problems. These consist of particular traits or capabilities
that researchers expect an intelligent system to display. The
traits described below have received the most attention
((Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach (2nd ed.), 2003), (Luger & Stubblefield, 2004)).
1. Reasoning & Problem solving
2. Knowledge representation - Knowledge representation
((Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998), (Russell &
Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach
(2nd ed.), 2003), (Luger & Stubblefield, 2004))
and knowledge engineering ((Poole, Mackworth,
& Goebel, 1998), (Russell & Norvig, Artificial
Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.), 2003))
are central to AI research. Many of the problems
machines are expected to solve will require extensive
knowledge about the world. Among the things that AI
needs to represent are: objects, properties, categories
and relations between objects; ( (Poole, Mackworth,
& Goebel, 1998), (Russell & Norvig, Artificial
Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.), 2003),
(Luger & Stubblefield, 2004)) situations, events, states
and time; ( (Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998),
(Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach (2nd ed.), 2003)) causes and effects;
(Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998) knowledge
about knowledge (what we know about what other
people know); ((Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998),
(Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach (2nd ed.), 2003)) and many other, less well
researched domains.
3. Planning - Intelligent agents must be able to set goals
and achieve them ( (Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel,
1998), (Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence:
A Modern Approach (2nd ed.), 2003), (Luger &
Stubblefield, 2004)). They need a way to visualize the
future—a representation of the state of the world and
be able to make predictions about how their actions
will change it—and be able to make choices that
maximize the utility (or “value”) of available choices
(Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach (2nd ed.), 2003).
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
4. Learning - Machine learning, a fundamental concept
of AI research since the field’s inception (Turing,
1950), is the study of computer algorithms that
improve automatically through experience ((Poole,
Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998), (Russell & Norvig,
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.),
2003), (Luger & Stubblefield, 2004)).
5. Natural Language Processing - Natural language
processing ( (Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998),
(Russell & Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach (2nd ed.), 2003), (Luger & Stubblefield,
2004)) gives machines the ability to read and
understand human language.
6. Perception - Machine perception (Russell & Norvig,
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.),
2003) is the ability to use input from sensors to deduce
aspects of the world. A few selected subproblems are
speech recognition, facial recognition and object
recognition.
7. Motion and manipulation - The field of robotics
( (Poole, Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998), (Russell
& Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern
Approach (2nd ed.), 2003)) is closely related to AI.
Intelligence is required for robots to handle tasks
such as object manipulation ( (Russell & Norvig,
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.),
2003)) and navigation, with sub-problems such as
localization, mapping, and motion planning.
8. Social Intelligence - Affective computing is the study
and development of systems that can recognize,
interpret, process, and simulate human affects.
((Thro, 1993), (Edelson, 1991))
9. Creativity - A sub-field of AI addresses creativity
both theoretically (the philosophical psychological
perspective) and practically (the specific
implementation of systems that generate novel and
useful outputs).
10. General Intelligence - Many researchers think that their
work will eventually be incorporated into a machine
with artificial general intelligence, combining all the
skills mentioned above and even exceeding human
ability in most or all these areas ((Kurzweil, The Age of
Spiritual Machines, 1999), (Kurzweil, The Singularity
is Near, 2005)).
III. Tools For Developing Artificial
Intelligence
Following tools are used for developing applications for
solving problems through Artificial Intelligence:
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

1. Search and optimization – It is used for reasoning, 7. image recognition in photographs,

planning, learning, robotics etc activities 8. spam filtering,
2. Logic – It is used for planning, learning etc 9. prediction of judicial decisions (Aletras, Tsarapatsanis,
3. Probabilistic methods for uncertain reasoning - Many Preotiuc-Pietro, & Lampos, 2016) and
problems in AI (in reasoning, planning, learning, 10. targeting online advertisements ((Russell & Norvig,
perception and robotics) require the agent to Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (3rd ed.),
operate with incomplete or uncertain information. 2009), (Lohr, 2016))
AI researchers have devised a number of powerful
tools to solve these problems using methods IV. Applications In The Context Of Coal
from probability theory and economics ((Poole, Industry
Mackworth, & Goebel, 1998), (Russell & Norvig,
Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (2nd ed.), Based on information from secondary sources as well as
2003), (Luger & Stubblefield, 2004)). personal and professional observations following are few of
the areas of applications of AI in Coal Industry:
4. Classifiers and Statistical learning methods - Classifiers
are functions that use pattern matching to determine Areas Sample Activities Tools of AI
a closest match. A class can be seen as a decision that Mining activity Operations of vehicles 1. Logic
like Surface miners, 2. Probabilistic methods
has to be made. A classifier can be trained in various Dumpers etc. for uncertain
ways; there are many statistical and machine learning reasoning
approaches. The most widely used classifiers are the 3. Deep forward neural
neural network, kernel methods such as the support networks
4. Robotics/ Control
vector machine, k-nearest neighbour algorithm, theory
Gaussian mixture model, naive Bayes classifier, and 5. Languages
decision tree. (computer vision,
autonomous vehicles,
5. Neural networks - Neural networks are modelled after drones for surveillance
the neurons in the human brain, where a trained etc)
algorithm determines an output response for input Advanced Predicting Core Drilling 1. Logic
Mineral targets, Classifying 2. Search and
signals. Exploration Subsurface condition, optimization
6. Deep forward neural networks - Deep learning in Classifying Lithology, 3. Probabilistic
Predicting Mineral methods for
artificial neural networks with many layers has Prospectively uncertain reasoning
transformed many important subfields of artificial 4. Classifiers and
intelligence, including computer vision, speech Statistical learning
methods
recognition, natural language processing and others.
5. Neural Networks
7. Control theory - Control theory, the grandchild Geotechnical Perform automated 1. Logic
of cybernetics, has many important applications, Inspection open pit inspections and 2. Search and
assessment using aerial optimization
especially in robotics. photography, identifying 3. Probabilistic
8. Languages - AI researchers have developed several Faults, cracks and methods for
specialized languages for AI research, including Lisp, other geological uncertain reasoning
discontinuities. 4. Classifiers and
Prolog, Python, C++, R and most recently Julia. Statistical learning
Few examples of applications of AI are mentioned below, methods
5. Neural Networks
which may be termed as high profile examples of AI:
Environmental Monitoring 1. Logic
1. autonomous vehicles (such as drones and self-driving Monitoring Environmental 2. Search and
Changes, Predicting optimization
cars), Mine Rehabilitation: 3. Probabilistic
2. medical diagnosis, Changes in erosion and methods for
acid mine drainage, uncertain reasoning
3. creating art (such as poetry), proving mathematical wildlife habitats, 4. Classifiers and
theorems, topsoil redistribution Statistical learning
and vegetation using methods
4. playing games (such as Chess or Go), satellite imagery, 5. Neural Networks
5. search engines (such as Google search), Predicting
Environmental risks
6. online assistants (such as Siri),

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Maintenance HEMMs’ maintenance, 1. Logic Materials Organization 1. Search and

Fault diagnosis and 2. Search and management requirement forecasting optimization
timely rectification, optimization Vetting of contracts 2. Probabilistic
interaction with various 3. Probabilistic Optimum price methods for
departments in the methods for identification uncertain reasoning
process, analysis of uncertain reasoning Management of contract 3. Classifiers and
life span as well as 4. Classifiers and process Statistical learning
availability hours of Statistical learning methods
vehicles etc. methods 4. Languages
5. Languages (predictive tools, data
(predictive tools, mining algorithms, IoT etc)
data mining Medical services Inventory of drugs 1. Logic
algorithms etc) Identifying camps for 2. Search and
most effective diseases optimization
Planning and Production Planning 1. Logic prevention 3. Probabilistic
Strategizing Financial Planning 2. Search and Optimally spending the methods for
Manpower Planning optimization budget uncertain reasoning
Sales Planning 3. Probabilistic Identifying patterns of 4. Classifiers and
methods for most occurring diseases Statistical learning
uncertain reasoning and taking preventive methods
4. Classifiers and measures 5. Deep forward
Statistical learning Patients Medical history neural networks
methods based decisions 6. Languages
5. Languages (predictive tools,
(predictive tools, data mining
data mining algorithms, IoT etc)
algorithms etc) Employee Housing colonies budget 1. Search and
welfare allocation optimization
Identifying activities 2. Probabilistic
Accident Data analysis and 1. Logic having most impact methods for
Analysis visualization technique 2. Search and Identifying various uncertain reasoning
can be used to analyse optimization important civil works 3. Classifiers and
causes and preventive 3. Probabilistic for optimum satisfaction Statistical learning
measures can be methods for CSR funds spending for methods
designed with more uncertain reasoning maximum impact 4. Deep forward
focus on removing the 4. Classifiers and Grievances redressal of neural networks
cause of accidents. Statistical learning employees 5. Languages
• Focus on removal methods (predictive tools, data
of potential 5. Languages mining algorithms, Chat
hazardous (predictive tools, data Bot etc)
situations. mining algorithms
• Decrease or etc)
complete
V. Challenges In Implementing Ai In
removal of Mining Industry
human presence
from dangerous Although the implementation of AI and autonomous
and hazardous technologies in mining started more than a decade
works such as ago, the pace of implementation is painfully slow and
transporting,
loading and has faced several hurdles and setbacks. One of the biggest
blasting services challenges in implementing technology is resistance from
workers, supervisors, and even AI researchers who are
not sure of the actual impacts of this technology on
Sales processes Customer grievances 1. Logic
redressal, 2. Probabilistic jobs, economics, social system, working relations, and on
Verifying various small methods for the societal makeup (Kappal, 2017; Siau, 2018; Siau and
and short term supply uncertain reasoning Yang, 2017). The opposition is mostly based on the
contracts, 3. Classifiers and
Future sales forecast, Statistical learning fear of losing job to technology, unknown behavior
Price forecasting, methods of AI and Autonomous systems, unequal distribution
Product characteristics/ 4. Deep forward of wealth and capital, complicated and complex
quality forecasting, neural networks
Managing road sales 5. Languages interaction and relationship with technology, and
process end to end (predictive tools, data unclear future of technology implementation (Siau,
mining algorithms, Chat 2017; Siau and Wang, 2018). Other factors that are
bots, Block chain etc)

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
slowing down the implementation of AI and automation
are sluggish improvements in intelligent systems, difficulty
in obtaining regulatory approvals, huge initial investment
and capital requirements, inadequate infrastructure for the
implementation of technology, limited availability of skilled
personnel, difficulty in obtaining capital funding when the
future and benefits of implementing technology are not
yet clear, and declining availability of high grade ores and
mineral resources impeding large capital investment.
VI. Conclusion
AI, machine learning and autonomous technologies have
the potential to bring a new revolution to mining industry
by reducing cost, improving productivity and efficiency of
operations, and by decreasing environmental footprint of
mining through use of intelligent systems. Mining industry
is slowly moving towards the implementation of these
systems especially in the field of autonomous machines and
self-driving vehicles. However, to realize the full potential
of these technologies in all operations of mining, more
concerted efforts are needed.
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Use of AI, Machine Learning And Robots - In Mining

Pragya Shrivastava
Lecturer, Deptt. of Computer Science & IT
AKS University, Satna (M.P)

Abstract — This paper highlights the role of Artificial In- II. Technological Development & Automation
telligence ,Machine Learning And Robots in mining and its
Rio Tinto’s operations include 16 mines, 1,500km of rail,
advantages and cost effectiveness for underground mining as
three ports and more, and it creates 2.4 terabytes of data
well as for the open cast mines.It focuses on the real time ap-
every minute from all of its mobile equipment and sensors
plication of the machine learning and in developed countries that collect and transmit data in real-time to help monitor
like Australia and US.Rio Tinto , one of the major company equipment. When it comes to underground operations like
who is working on AI has been majorly studied for this paper LKAB’s Kiirunavaara mine is the largest iron ore mine in
. Artificial Intelligence by using fuzzy logics,machine learning the world with a production of 27,3 million tonnes of crude
and neural networks will provide the security , automation, ore, the mine had always taken several innovative steps
mine safety, digital twinning which has been described in the to encourage safe and sustainable mining. Fig 1, presents
paper.Cost effectiveness of using AI has also been discussed. the development and automation in UG mining. Figure 2,
further illustrated the present day status of innovation in
Keywords—Artificial Intelligence,Fuzzy Logic, Neural Net- this sector in Operation and maintenance (Kumar, 2019).
work
BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) plans to introduce
autonomous haulage at the Goonyella Riverside coal mine
I. Introduction in Queensland in 2020 without any forced redundancies.
In an industry such as mining where improving efficiency Goonyella Riverside, which will be the first BMA site to
and productivity is crucial to profitability, even small implement autonomous haulage, will undergo a staged
improvements in yields, speed and efficiency can make conversion to a fleet of up to 86 Komatsu trucks over
the next two years. BMA plans to deliver more than
an extraordinary impact. Mining companies basically
40,000 hours of training to help prepare for Goonyella
produce interchangeable commodities. The mining
Riverside’s autonomous future. BHP has committed to the
industry employs a modest amount of individuals - just
autonomous project soon after Anglo American shied away
670,000 Americans are employed in the quarrying, mining
from introducing the technology at one of its Queensland
and extraction sector - but it indirectly impacts nearly
coal operations.
every other industry since it provides the raw materials
for virtually every other aspect of the economy. When it
comes to India, the mining sector creates 13 times more
employment than agriculture and six times more than
manufacturing. One estimate indicates, by 2025 the Indian
mining sector has the potential to provide employment
opportunities to about 50 lakh people directly and create
overall employment opportunities for about 5 crore people

Presently, the mining industry is all set to adopt automation

and menless operations. It’s already been 10 years since the
British/Australian mining company Rio Tinto began to use
fully autonomous haul trucks, but they haven’t stopped
there. Here are just a few ways Rio Tinto and other mining Figure 1 : Presents the development and automation in UG
companies are preparing for the 4th industrial revolutions mining{Source : Kumar, Uday (2019) New Technologies
by creating intelligent mining operations. Empowered Transformations in Mining Issues and Challenges,
Hyderabad}

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Figure 2 : Presents status of innovation in this sector in Operation and
maintenance (Kumar, 2019)
Areas of innovation vis-a-vis use of AI, Machine Learning
and Robots have been briefly outlined in this paper.
III. Mineral Exploration
Artificial intelligence and machine learning can help mining
companies find minerals to extract, a critical component
of any smart mining operation. Although this is a fairly
new application of AI and machine learning, many mining
companies are excited about the prospect. Goldspot
Discoveries Inc. is a company that aims to make finding
gold more of a science than art by using machine learning.
Similarly, Goldcorp and IBM Watson are collaborating to
use artificial intelligence to review all the geological info
available to find better drilling locations for gold in Canada.
These efforts to be more precise when finding areas to mine
by using machine learning can help the mining industry to
be more profitable.
IV. Autonomous Vehicles And Drillers
While many of us have been focused on the progress Uber,
Google and Tesla have made with autonomous vehicles
many people don’t realize that Rio Tinto had already been
using autonomous haul trucks that can carry 350 tons and
operate totally independently since 2008. These trucks
have impacted the company’s bottom line by reducing fuel
use by 13 percent and are safer to operate. While arguably
the challenges of autonomous driving in a quarry aren’t as
daunting—the trucks move slow, they don’t have to worry
about pedestrians—it’s still a notable accomplishment. This
year, the company’s long-haul autonomous rail system will
go live and is the next step in developing the Mine of the
Future. With 244 cars, the autonomous train has been in
development for five years, but will make its debut by the
end of the year after some software and communication
glitches have been worked out.
In addition, Rio Tinto has used autonomous loaders and
drilling systems for several years. Just as with other au-
tonomous applications, the company asserts the innovation
has improved productivity by 10 percent.
V. Sorting Minerals
In the majority of mining operations, a much larger volume
of materials needs to be removed to find the valuable
materials they are mining for. Inevitably, separating the
useless rocks and debris to get to what you’re mining for
tends to be an expensive endeavor. Some companies have
begun to use smart sorting machines that can sort the
mined material based on whatever criteria a company
wants. This work can lead to savings in fuel and energy
during processing.
VI. Digital Twinning
As part of making the pit-to-port operations as intelligent
as possible, companies like LKAB of Sweden and Rio Tinto
have plans to have an intelligent mine. There are more than
100 innovations available, but one initiative called digital
twinning, first created by NASA, is now being adopted by
many in the industrial sector. By creating a virtual model
that is fed real-time data from the field, scenarios can
be quickly tested, and operations and production can be
optimized. This ability to test out decisions before they are
implemented in a replica system leads to better outcomes
and savings.
VII. Safety And Maintenance
Thanks to Internet of Things technology and sensors,
mining equipment can be monitored and maintained before
breakdowns occur. Sensors can monitor temperature, speed,
and vibration on machines to take action transforming
preventative maintenance into predictive maintenance. By
assessing real-time data and analytics, mining operations
can be safer for all involved.
This adoption of this new tech requires re-skilling the
mine workers, and many mines have already taken steps.
Collectively, they will spend $10 million to up-skill
potential and existing workers to handle tasks in analytics,
IT and robotics.
VIII. Intelligent Mine
Several mining companies have drawn ambitious plans to
create “intelligent” mine, where all assets are networked
together and capable of making decisions themselves “in
a microsecond”.
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Rio Tinto disclosed plans to have the first intelligent mine
at Koodaideri, which will deliver its first tonnes of ore in
2021, assuming it meets regulatory approvals.
IX. Other Areas
Apart from the above mentioned systems in surface mines,
today all out effort is being made to switch over to eco-
friendly techniques. Most mines have identified the mined
out area, old dumps, vacant land area to install Solar Panel
system to generate electricity.
Unmanned slope monitoring systems, surveying by use
of scanners, various fire detection systems, using paste
fill technology for mine reject disposal and storage, etc
are gaining more application in Indian mines. Working
in 3-D - .University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and its
research partners, Downer’s Mineral Technologies and the
Innovative Manufacturing CDC (IMCRC), have reached an
important milestone: one year of advancing their efforts to
create a bespoke 3-D printer for the production of mineral
separation and mining equipment
Drones have been launched by Ministry of Mines and
IBM in association with mining companies (ex: Tata Steel
at Sukinda and Noamundi). In the coming days, drones
will help mine management to prepare accurate plans
and sections of the mine and neighbouring areas so as to
understand the changes in the land use. Use of DGPS is
another milestone achieved by the regulators to ensure
quick survey of the mine area, movement of ores and
minerals etc.
X. Skilling Mine Workers
The rapid technological transformation of the Australian
mining industry to the ‘digital mine’ has companies
concerned that Australia may not be able to fill its
growing and future workforce needed. It has prompted
mining giant Rio Tinto to join forces with the Western
Australian Government and vocational training provider
South Metropolitan College of TAFE, to develop a new
curriculum to fill the gap. Together, they will spend $2
million developing courses that will upskill potential and
existing workers to undertake tasks in analytics, robotics,
IT, and other technology tasks.
Rio Tinto already operates a large autonomous truck fleet
at its Pilbara iron ore mines and increasingly autonomous
trains, from 1,200 kilometres away in the West Australian
capital Perth.
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XI. Application Of Artificial Intelligence
Techniques In Blasting Operation
ANN has been popularly adopted in design-assessment
of blasting operations both in India and abroad. One key
areas involving safety is ‘flyrocks’. Its prediction plays an
important role in the minimization of related hazards. In
past years, various empirical methods were developed for
the prediction of flyrock distance using statistical analysis
techniques, which have very low predictive capacity.
Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are now being used
as alternate statistical techniques. Two predictive models
were developed by using AI techniques to predict flyrock
distance in Sungun copper mine of Iran. One of the models
employed artificial neural network (ANN), and another,
fuzzy logic. The results showed that both models were
useful and efficient whereas the fuzzy model exhibited
high performance than ANN model for predicting flyrock
distance. The performance of the models showed that the
AI is a good tool for minimizing the uncertainties in the
blasting operations.
ANN and fuzzy logic are two branches of AI that are
considered as the most intelligent tools for simulating
complex problems. Within recent years, an increase of the
ANN and fuzzy logic applications in the field of mining,
rock mechanics, and geological engineering has been
observed.
XII. Artificial Neural Network
An ANN simulates a highly interconnected, parallel
computational structure of the brain with many relatively
simple individual processing elements, called neurons.
These processing elements are usually organized into a
sequence of layers with connections between the layers.
The ANN consists of at least three layers: input, hidden,
and output and each layer consists of a number of neurons
and each neuron is interconnected to the next layer
through weights. A neural network can be considered as an
intelligent box that is able to predict output patterns when
it recognizes a given set of input patterns (Simpson 1990).
The neural network must first be trained by a large number
of input patterns, then it can show output results based
on input patterns. There are numerous methods to train
neural network, which generally can be divided into two
categories, namely, unsupervised learning and supervised
learning. Back-propagation algorithm, which is a
supervised learning method, is the most versatile and robust
technique, to provide the most efficient learning procedure
for multilayer neural networks. The back-propagation
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
training consists of a forward pass and a backward pass for
computation. In forward pass, the outputs and the error
at the outputs units are calculated. In backward pass, the
output unit error is used to change weights of the output
units. Then, the errors at the hidden layer(s) are calculated
and the weights of the hidden layer(s) are changed with
regard to the calculated error values. For each data pair, a
forward pass and backward pass are performed. According
to forward pass process results, backward pass process
is repeated. This process is repeated over and over again
until the error reaches to a threshold level. Each of these
repeated processes is called a cycle or an epoch. As a
result, an ANN with a back-propagation algorithm learns
by changing the connection weight and their changes are
stored as knowledge.
XIII. Application of AI
Artificial Intelligence has been the buzz word of the modern
times. In mining also it has made an entry. In July 2019,
Swedish mining and smelting company Boliden, which
is already introducing automation and electrification at
its operations, has tested whether artificial intelligence
(AI) could optimise its processes. Similarly, Nvidia Drive
Constellation – through cloud-based hardware-in-the-
loop simulation platform that is testing and validating
self-driving technology (autonomous vehicles) in various
conditions with Volvo.
In another development, collaboration between Belaz and
Zyfra is focussed on AI-based technologies. The companies
plan to conduct joint studies of customer needs and an
analysis of the global market for digital AI-based products
in the mining industry, as a foundation for creating and
improving their own developments in this field. Their
immediate plans include working on a predictive analytics
system for quarry equipment to help predict breakdowns
by analysing historical data and carry out predictive
maintenance. In parallel, the two companies have mapped
out joint steps in the development of industrial safety
solutions. In particular, they are planning to test a driver
fatigue tracking system using computer vision technologies.
In our country, Zyfra achieved $3 million in contracts
with its Indian counterparts in 2018, facilitating industrial
manufacturers with AI and Industrial Internet of Things
(IIoT)-based solutions as well as autonomous vehicles.
They have drawn plans to digitise all the value chain of
mining with the use of artificial intelligence in drilling and
blasting, and intelligent mine with unmanned vehicles,
crushing and enriching minerals. Zyfra had indicated that,
AI-based intelligent mine solutions will allow integration
of unmanned vehicles like dump trucks, excavators dozers
into a single digital control system for the mining and
transport complex and ensure that there are no people left
behind in dangerous areas and situations. This will ensure
increasing of the utilisation of haul dumpers and excavators
up to 20-25 per cent and of drilling units by up to 35 per
cent, as well as reduce costs for maintenance by 10-15 per
cent a year.
XIV. Fuzzy Logic
The fuzzy logic is a matter of the fuzzy set theory that
particularly used to deal with subjects having ambiguities
and uncertainties. Fuzzy set theory was first formulized by
Zadeh (1965) as a mathematical way to represent linguistic
vagueness. A fuzzy set is an extension of a crisp set. Fuzzy
set has no sharp and precise boundaries, unlike crisp set. A
crisp set only allows full membership or no membership to
every element of a universe of discourse, whereas a fuzzy
set allows the degree of membership for each element to
range over the unit interval between 0 and 1. Block diagram
of a typical fuzzy logic system is presented in Fig. 1. As
outlined in this figure, a fuzzy logic system commonly has
four components (Jang 1993): (1) fuzzification process,
(2) knowledge base, (3) fuzzy inference system, and (4)
defuzzification process. Fuzzification is a process that
converts crisp values of input and output variables into
fuzzy values or linguistic information using membership
functions. Knowledge base includes data base and rule base.
The data base defines the membership functions of the fuzzy
sets used in the fuzzy rules whereas the rule base contains
a number of fuzzy if–then rules. The if–then rules provide
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a system for describing a complex (uncertain) system by
relating input and output parameters using linguistic
variables. The core section of a fuzzy logic system is the
fuzzy inference system, also known as the decision-making
unit, which performs the inference operations on the
rules. In fact, fuzzy inference is the process of formulating
an input fuzzy set map to an output fuzzy set using fuzzy
logic. There are several fuzzy inference systems that have
been employed in various applications. The Mamdani fuzzy
model is one of the most commonly used in fuzzy logic
for solving many real-world problems especially complex
engineering geological problems since most geological
processes are defined with linguistic variables or simple
vague predicates. This model was proposed by Mamdani to
control a steam engine and boiler combination by a set of
linguistic control rules obtained from experienced human
operators (Mamdani and Assilian 1975). A defuzzification
procedure converts the fuzzy outcome to a crisp one.
Several defuzzification methods have been presented in
the literature, and the centroid of area (COA) or center of
gravity method is the most frequently used method among
them.
Fig. 4. Structure of Fuzzy Rule based system
XV. Conclusion
A connected mining operation with integrated data (from
exploration till marketing of the products) is arguably a
scenario toward which every mining company should strive
in the next five to ten years for sustainable development.
“[Integrated data] is going to drive the future of mining. Is
[the operation] efficient? Is there some technology that can
make it better towards achieving sustainable development
goals with higher percentage of recovery, minimal damage
to the eco-system, less carbon footprint, higher safety
and no social impact etc ? How many tons of ore did you
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produce, at what cost, quality etc? What’s the metallurgy? …
How do you get the ore/coal to the surface faster? These are
the kinds of issues that are important. I believe in mining
intelligence and data. It may take five, ten, fifteen years or
more, but the Artificial Intelligence will arrive at Indian
mining sites. These mines will be connected, optimized,
efficient, and far more sustainable than in the past. The
opportunity is knocking. For technology adoption in
mining to succeed, it generally has to improve the bottom
line or meet a mandated requirement. Mining operations
have already been tweaked with the pre-IoT technology,
so any new process must show a significant improvement
above the status quo.
The digital technologies such as Big Data Analytics
(Predictive and Prescriptive),Industrial Internet of things
(IIoT), Cloud computing offer near perfect solution for
our day-to-day routine tasks and are collectively termed
as transformative technologies (TT) but without 5G
communication technology this is not possible.(Kumar,
2019).
Acknowledgement
The views expressed are of the author and not of the
organization. Technical paper and presentations presented
by Prof Uday Kumar at Hyderabad has been quite useful
in the finalization of this paper. Thanks are due to the
management of AKS University for granting permission to
make this presentation.
References
[1]. ”Application of Artificial intelligence teccniques in developing
for predicting the flyrock distance caused by blasting operation”
Arabian journal of geosciences,January 2014,volume 7,issue 1,pp
193-202.
[2]. https://daciandata.tech/artificial-intelligence-is-changing-the-
mining-industry-examples-of-successful-applications/
[3]. https://blog.prototypr.io/mining-companies-using-ai-machine-
learning-and-robots-e6dcdebaccc3
[4]. Kumar, Uday (2019) New Technologies Empowered
Transformations in Mining Issues and Challenges, Key Note
Presentation at the International Conference on Mining – Present
and Future Investments, Issues and Challenges, 23-25 Oct, 2019,
Hyderabad, pp.1-2.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Automation and AI in Mining Machinery & Switched
Reluctance Machines and its application in
mining - An Introduction
Dipankar Roy
Sr. Manager,
Technical Services and Training
Komatsu Mining Corp. Group
Abstract — The road to electric rope shovel automation
is marked with technological innovations that include an in-
crease in operational information to mining operations. The
various automation and controls systems discussed herewith
not only collects machine operational data but also provides
the operator with knowledge-of-performance and influences
his / her performance to achieve higher productivity with re-
duced machine duty. The operator’s behavior is one of the
most important aspects of the man-machine interaction to be
considered before semi or fully automated shovel systems and
controls can be realized.
This paper presents the results of the rope shovel studies
conducted by P&H over a period, provides information on
current research to improve shovel performance and briefly
discusses the implications of human-system interactions on
future designs of autonomous machines to make operating
such large machines in a safer environment.
Also, this paper provides review of the recent development on
the switched reluctance machine operating in motoring and
generating mode in both the low and highspeed operations.
The machine consists of a salient rotor and stator poles and
controlled via switching of the power electronic devices. There
is a steady development of the machine operating in both
modes. This paper gives an overview of the machine. Due to
its geometry simplicity and advantages such as robust, ability
to operate over a wide speed range and absence of permanent
magnet and windings on the rotor, the SR machines promises
to be a good candidate for variable speed application.
Keywords: Switched Reluctance (SR); IGBT Control; SR
Converter
I. Introduction
In today’s mining operations utilizing electric rope
shovels, people remain the central components within the
working system and thus their performance affects the
productivity and the revenue stream of the mining entity.
The improvements in machine performance are being
accomplished using new technologies to improve operator
Piyush Singh
Assistant Manager
Equipment Sales SM
Komatsu Mining Corp. Group
performance by providing feedback to the operator or to
increase machine capabilities from semi-automatic to
automatic operation. To reach the stage of a fully automated
rope shovel, it is first necessary to thoroughly examine the
man-machine system as it exists today.
While the general comparison between “man” and machine
cannot be used as a guide to better human-machine
performance for all humans and all machines, that same
comparison does point out areas, which need to be targeted
in scientific investigation in order to develop an automated
system. The removal of the operator from the machine must
be compensated by the machine’s ability to make decisions,
to improvise and to perceive and interpret complex forms
(depth, space and pattern).
The investigation of machine interactions with the
environment and human operator interactions with the
machine and the environment provides the investigators
with a large database of knowledge, bringing closer the
age of automation. Especially important are the operator’s
responses to various stimuli and the decision-making
processes that prompt operators to control the machine
in a specific way. In this paper, based on the rope shovel
operator feedback the following systems are discussed:
• Adaptive Controls 2
• Track Shield System
• Pre-Vail (RHM System)
• Vibration Monitoring
• Hawk Eye System
II. Adaptive Controls
A. Description
Adaptive Controls 2 is a suite of integrated control functions
that helps optimize shovel production while lessening
the effects of impacts on the machine. By augmenting
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operator control, both the cycle time and dipper fill factor
are increased to improve production by up to 9% and
reduce boom jacking by up to 50%. Decreased damage to
equipment reduces repair and maintenance time, while
lowering employee exposure to safety risks.

B. Features and Benefits

1. SMART CROWD
Reduce tipping moment and operator fatigue 3. ACTIVE LOAD COMPENSATION
Improve operator and truck safety

• Opti Toe limits forward tipping moment during

digging while Smart Crowd limits rearward tipping
moment during impact and crowding into bank.
• Reduced rocking motion increases operator comfort.
2. OPTI TOE
Improve production and reduce boom jacking

• Smart Crowd optimizes the crowd motion resulting

in improved bank penetration in hard toe and helps
reduce boom jacking by up to 50% – even more with
inexperienced operators.
• Opti Toe improves cutting force contributing to
productivity enhancements, while encouraging the
operator to dig close to bank.
3. SMART RETRACT
Reduce mechanical loads
• Smart Retract reduces structural loading by
smoothing disengagement from the bank.
• Active Load Compensation helps the operator
spot the load into the truck safely by reducing torque and
speed when the dipper is heavily loaded.
The leading and continuous innovation in field of
technology has also rendered a shorter lifecycle to the
technology product, which in-turn poses another operation
challenge to the customer as short-term increased cost of
operation and flexibility in selection of the product they
really want to adopt. Countering this KOMATSU Shovel
Technology Panel was introduced. The Adaptive Controls

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

2 is built on the new shovel technology panel, which allows

for integration of the Adaptive Controls 2, Payload 2, and
Track Shield 2 options into a single hardware platform. All
options are sold separately and are completely independent
of each other. This means that whatever combination of
technologies you choose, you only need one panel installed
on your shovel.

The “blind” spot is increasing for operators as dippers

continue to increase in depth. The Track Shield system also
4. Technology-as-a-Service (TaaS) option works well in mining operations that require larger crawler

With the TaaS option, you pay a set monthly or annual fee
with no large up-front cost. Komatsu provides you with the
entire Adaptive Controls 2 technology package, including
operation and hardware. If any of the hardware fails or
becomes obsolete to the point that the system no longer
works, you receive a replacement at no additional charge. shoes for reduced ground bearing pressure.

III. Track Shield System

A. Description
The Track Shield collision detection and mitigation system
was developed with extensive shovel operator input and
is the only automated operator-assist technology on an
electric mining shovel that will detect and help prevent a
dipper from striking the crawler.
Operators are often challenged by working in varying
conditions that can lead to dipper / track collision. The
Track Shield system:
• Elevates operator confidence and minimizes operator
Dipper to crawler shoe contact can occur when digging
hesitation
in close proximity to the tracks and during the “return to
• Reinforces best digging practices tuck” part of the dig cycle. The Track Shield system assists
• Provides a valuable learning tool for new operators the operator by generating an alternate path.
B. Features and Benefits In its technology roadmap, P&H continues to develop
The Track Shield system can help operators focus their innovations focused on improving customer performance:
efforts toward higher productivity levels: • The Track Shield system was designed with best-in-
Reduction in Cycle Time: class technologies utilizing precise mathematical
modeling and prediction.
Field studies have shown that with early detection and
mitigation of collisions, operators can operate at full speed • Simple set-up for existing Centurion electrical control
without losing the ability to dig close to the shovel. system architecture.

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• Ready to connect to the Pre-Vail remote health
monitoring system for early prediction and warning
of equipment problems before they occur.
IV. Prevail System
A. Description
The mining industry is highly innovative in its quest for
greater efficiency and safety.
Your P&H equipment plays a key role. Keeping it up and
running at high reliability and productivity levels is a key
factor to sustaining good cost control and profit growth.
Pre-Vail Remote Health Management (RHM) technology
helps you achieve that objective by providing your operations
and maintenance management teams with timely, efficient
machine health and performance knowledge.
Equipped with that knowledge, the Pre-Vail RHM system
positions you to drive your assets and your operations
toward greater levels of reliability, productivity and
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
profitability.
Your maintenance management team applies strategies
including reliability-centered maintenance in support of
that objective. Both teams are unified by the Pre-Vail RHM
system through the power of information management
technology.
B. Features and Benefits
Your ability to obtain increased operational control and
efficiency is supported by the Pre-Vail RHM system key
performance indicator report and analysis dashboards.
They provide easy-to-understand machine productivity
and reliability information including:
• Fleet productivity
• Utilization analysis
• Mean time between shutdown analysis
• Runtime distribution analysis
• Filtered outage / sub-system analysis
• Filtered outage list
• System warnings analysis
• Alert management
• Load distribution
• Cycle time performance
• Operating practices analysis
• Fuel burn visualization
• Mobility analysis
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
C. Case Study
Recurring hoist motor over-temp faults
Situation: At the height of summer when heat management
is a concern, a P&H shovel equipped with the PreVail RHM
system experiences a sudden and recurring onset of “Hoist
Motor Field – Over-Temperature” faults affecting the rear
hoist motor.
Challenge: How best to quickly determine root cause of the
over-temp issue on an already-warm shovel that is causing
relatively brief delays in the pre-strip loading operation in
Wyoming’s PRB – and above all, put the shovel back on a
good footing for sustained high levels of productivity.
Pre-Vail RHM solution: Komatsu Prognostics and Remote
Health Monitoring personnel use the Pre-Vail RHM system
CBEM to sift through data trends, interpret anomalies, and
watch for further changes. They compile a First Snapshot
Notification (FSN) from the data and relay that information
to the Gillette Smart Solutions services team. The Pre-
Vail RHM system generates more detailed information,
including the Centurion Troubleshooting Guide within its
toolbox that lists “Insufficient cooling by the motor blower
assembly” among possible “Motor Winding – Temperature
Fault” causes. This finding is relayed to mine maintenance
personnel who quickly verify that this is the root cause of
the temperature fault issue.
Result: Avoided rear hoist motor failure and the cost to
replace that unit. Extended rear hoist motor useful life
due to effective ventilation. Approximately 7 hours of
productive shovel up-time saved by avoiding the need to
replace the hoist motor.
Minimized cost: Replacement of a failed hoist ventilator
motor costs far less than replacing a failed hoist motor.
Shorter MTTR, More production.
V. Vibration Monitoring System 2
A. Description
Electric rope shovels are high value assets in any surface
mining operation. Unexpected failures can be costly both
in repairs and production loss; a successful predictive
maintenance program driven by vibration analysis can
mitigate or potentially eliminate these unexpected events
altogether.
Online Vibration Monitor 2 provides predictive diagnostics
on shovel motion mechanical components to help
minimize downtime. This permanently installed predictive
diagnostic tool and service helps detect early stage defects
in motors, bearings and transmissions prior to catastrophic
failure.
B. Features and Benefits
• Limit lost production from unplanned shutdowns:
Help identify components nearing end-of-life
or experiencing premature defects, allowing for
maintenance before catastrophic failure
• Monitor while producing: Operational mode records,
validates and uploads data during normal production
with no operator input needed
• Know what your data means : Analysis is provided
by a live expert with OEM knowledge. Exclusive
Komatsu-developed algorithm records only valid
data; invalid data introduced by the highly dynamic
shovel system is automatically discarded
• View your data from anywhere : Validated data is sent
to the cloud where it can be seen from your internet-
connected device.
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Industry-leading data resolution
• Up to 48 separate points monitored
• Standard monitoring includes hoist, crowd and swing
• Over one million data points from across the fleet
available to Komatsu analysts for comparison.
Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) option
Similar to TaaS we have the HaaS option: This Hardware
option packaging with the analytics packaging service fee
and customer receives the future replacement hardware at
no additional charge.
The online vibration monitoring solution can decrease
operating costs by transforming maintenance processes
from a reactive to a predictive mindset. Unexpected
failures can be catastrophic and costly both in repairs
and production loss. A successful predictive maintenance
program driven by vibration analysis can mitigate or
eliminate these unexpected events altogether.
VI. Hawk Eye System
A. Description
Operators have very limited visibility within the operating
area of the shovel. A small mirror located on the opposite
side displays the area on the off-side.
The Hawk-Eye™ camera system is comprised of an
Electronic Control Unit (ECU), four wide angle fisheye
cameras with infrared filters, Digital Video Recorder
(DVR) and a monitor. (An optional fifth camera is available
to monitor the hoist drum). The cameras are placed around
the outside of a P&H shovel providing a 360° view that
allows the operator to see the environment and what is
taking place around the machine.
B. Features and Benefits
Available on all P&H large AC and DC electric mining
shovels (can also be adapted to other equipment)
• Improves safety by providing operator with visual
situational awareness
• Different camera views selectable from pushbutton
located on monitor
• DVR can record video feed from 100 to 200 hours in
length
• System can be installed over one or two Preventive
Maintenance (PM) days.
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The Hawk-Eye system is a passive system allowing the
operator to have awareness of the working area of the
shovel and exerts no control reference on the shovel. It is
completely independent from the control of the shovel.
VII. Conclusion
Our mining intelligence technology helps sustain good cost
controls and profit growth by providing timely, efficient
machine health and performance knowledge.
Your surface mining operations benefits from the timely,
efficient machine health and performance knowledge
generated by the Pre-Vail remote health monitoring
technology. In addition, our payload monitoring system
and universal shovel interface provides real-time shovel
information to operators and supervisors.
Our operator assist technology helps improve operator
performance, comfort, and safety through automated
processes or controls. Shovel productivity is enhanced
through our Adaptive Controls 2 and Track Shield
technologies, while longwall shearers benefit from our
advanced shearer automation.
Research results indicate that the operator’s behavior can
be significantly influenced by real – time feedback. Studies
showed that it is possible to both improve productivity
and decrease machine duty by providing the operator with
knowledge of performance and real-time feedback. The
introduction of new technology into the man-machine
system must follow the person-centered approach to
achieve the best results.
VIII. Acknowledgment
The author wishes to acknowledge the ongoing R&D work
put in by P&H globally. Our work would not have been
possible without the support of various mining companies
globally who has shown their support in our equipment
and has installed these state of art technological upgrades
in their shovels.
Appreciation is also extended to Mr. Shib Bhowmik for his
invaluable assistance in feedback and design.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Use of Mine Automation in Achieving Optimum Payload
for Dump Truck MT4400 AC
Jayant Kumar Singh
Mine Management System Dept.,
M&MAE OCP, Singrauli, India
jayant.singh@relianceada.com
Abstract - The objective is to achieve the full payload ca-
pacity of 218 Te as average payload value of OB dump truck
(Caterpillar MT4400 AC) at M&MAE OCP by designing new
automated monitoring parameters in TDS and by integrat-
ing utilization of Fleet Management System (FMS)/ Truck
Dispatch System (TDS) with mining operation team. In FY
15-16, OB dump truck average payload value of 206 Te was
observed despite of having the full load capacity of 218 Te.
Major contributing factors in low payload were - partial first
bucket filled by shovel operators, low skill of shovel opera-
tors and no real time payload information. Mine automation
through FMS played very critical role in storing, analyzing
and reporting payload data and provided real time figures,
on the basis of which the corrective measures were taken on
the spot by operation team to achieve the common goal. In
Aug 2019, the average monthly OB payload of 218 Te was
achieved and since then constantly achieving of 217 Te to 218
Te in each month.
Keywords- OB truck payload, Mine Automation, Truck Dis-
patch System
I. Introduction
Moher & Moher Amlohri Ext. Open Cast Project situated
in Singrauli district, Madhya Pradesh is designed and
approved to produce 20 MT coal annually. It is a captive
coal mine of SASAN Power limited, installed capacity of
3,960 MW. Currently, M&MAE Mines stripping ratio is
4.04 and deploys 6 OB shovels, 2 Front End Loaders, 2
Draglines, 43 OB trucks & 12 Coal trucks. Shovel –OB
truck combination is required to produce approximately
70% of total annual OB production.
M&MAE mines started its OB production in FY 2011-
12 with such a small fleet of 1 Shovel & 8 OB trucks and
expanded to full of its capacity in FY15-16. Mines applied
traditional practice then for production reporting that has
its own advantages and disadvantages. Traditional practice
includes the fixing of dumper Ids with Shovel Ids, use of
constant trip multiplier, production calculation based
on trip count. Traditional practice is easy to apply and
Vikas Kumar Keshri
Mine Management System Dept.,
M&MAE OCP, Singrauli, India
vikas.keshri@relianceada.com
easy to calculate production, but, it loses supervision of
HEMMs and HEMM operators, real time reporting and
real time monitoring of Mine Operation resulting no Mine
Operation Optimization.
All mining industries face the same challenge: how to
use advances in technology to increase their productivity
and reduce cost of production. As a result, the focus of
technological development is on optimization. On the
other hand, each mining industry faces its own unique
variations on this challenge, and success lies in overcoming
them in the best possible way.
Mining processes are interrelated. The performance of one
impacts the other. While it is critical that each individual
process runs efficiently, it’s also important to take a step
back and look at the big picture.
The primary objective of optimizing a system is to
minimize inputs while simultaneously maximizing
desirable outputs (e.g. utilization of HEMM) and
minimizing undesirable outputs (e.g. idle time of HEMM,
fuel consumption). The level of outputs is fed back in order
to make necessary adjustments for improving the system’s
performance. In a mining context, inputs (resources) are
generally scarce and usually come at significant costs.
For example, HEMMs fleet, fuel, mineral resources and
reserves are scarce and finite. So is time, since there are only
24 hours in a day.
Mining has traditionally been slow to adopt new technologies
due to the scale and complexity of its operations, and the
heavy costs that come with change. And, they’re not doing
a lot with the digitization that already exists — in some
cases, miners use less than 1 percent of the data collected
from their equipment.
Currently, M&MAE Mines is using Fleet Management
System and Health Monitoring System to optimize
Mine Operation and to enhance availability of HEMMs
149

respectively. Both the above mentioned solutions are being
used since FY 2013-14. M&MAE Mines uses stored data to
calculate the average payload of OB dump trucks.
II. Transformation of Load on Dump
Truck Into Payload Value
There are 4 pressure transducers, one on each suspension.
The pressure in each of the suspensions increases with
payload. The transducers provide an output voltage that
is proportional to the pressure in each suspension. The
output voltage from the pressure transducers represents
the weight of payload. These voltages generated from all
suspension transducer are the inputs to controller unit that
shows payload as output.
III. Storing Payload Data Through Unitrig
Interface
To capture the payload data, which is generated at
interface controller, interface cable is attached between
controller and TDS hardware screen installed in dumper’s
cabin. The interface was developed to communicate with
Payload System. The interface is a standard Slip interface.
The interface driver is responsible for processing payload
data, creating events and snapshots, and sending them to
adapter, which sends payload data to TDS control room
through WiFi network.
IV. Methodology: Analysis & Use of
Payload Data In Payload Improvement
From start of mine operation in FY11-12 to end of FY15-
16, M&MAE Mines used payload data displayed inside
the operator cabin and reported by the truck operator
in operator sheet to calculate the aggregate production
tonnage that was divided by the specific gravity of the OB
material to calculate the OB production in BCM. But, as
time passed, payload data integrity was reduced i.e. loss of
or erroneous payload data due to OEM issues.
In FY 16-17, to eliminate the erroneous payload, some
criterions were introduced.
Payload Data Range, Dumper qualification logic,
Reconciliation with surveyed/ measured production figure
First: Payload data normal curve was plotted and several
payload ranges were defined that comprises more than 50%
of total payload data.
150
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Second: Dumpers were selected for each payload data
range if more than 50-85 % of dumper payload data falls
within the range.
Third: As per the above two criterions, monthly production
was calculated (considering Specific Gravity = 2.1 tonne/
m3). Monthly productions for each combination of
payload data range and dumper qualification logic were
compared with the measured monthly production figure
and difference between these two were calculated and
combination of least difference was defined as logic to
calculate the production onwards.
As a result, payload data range of 170 – 251 Te and dumper
qualification logic of more than 75% were selected and
the same was implemented since Sep 2016 to calculate the
production based on average payload.
Taking the above selected criteria, M&MAE mines
calculated the FY15-16 average OB truck payload value
that came 206 Te despite of having the full load capacity of
218 Te. Then M&MAE Mines set 218 Te as a target payload
value in FY16-17.
To achieve optimum payload 218 Te, M&MAE Mines took
several steps that are listed below:
Identification of reasons behind low payload that are listed
below: Skill set of shovel operators. Blast fragmentation
No real time monitoring/ reporting of payload data.
Steps taken to improve payload data integrity:
A. Enhanced network coverage
Initially the WiFi network was with 09 Access Points. So,
practice of shifting of network radios as shovel progresses
was enforced to optimize network coverage and expansion
of WiFi network is further made resulting to function total
28 Access Points for providing adequate network coverage
to HEMMs.
This improved quality of network coverage to HEMM from
87% in FY13-14 to 97% in FY19-20.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

B. Provided 24*7 support to MMS
Round the clock shift rotation of hardware and network
technician was initiated for minimizing down time of
network of TDS hardware/ software. This helped in
reduction of trip losses due to any reason. Trip loss due to
any reason entered manually to the system for recording
purpose, which is reduced from 12% in FY16-17 to below
1% in FY19-20.
Re-fresher training was provided to shovel operator on
‘simulator’ as well as ‘on-board’ and monthly ranking as
per shovel operator wise average payload was displayed on
notice board as score card to initiate competetion among
shovel operators.
Real time payload figures to all stakeholders from Top
management to frontline field supervisor were delivered
through SMS alert, mail alert, payload announcement on
wireless by TDS users, etc. By knowing the real time payload
information, frontline supervisors worked accordingly to
enhance average payload.
Shovel operator annual performance linked with average
payload.

V. Result
Average OB truck payload improvement: As a result,
the average payload in overburden improved from 206
C. Reduced OEM payload issue Te in FY15-16 to 216 Te in FY19-20. In addition to this,
Dumper specific payload issue is regularly addressed by it achieved to 218 Te in Aug 2019 and since then is it
maintenance. The list of payload OEM trucks was provided consistently between 217 and 218 Te in each month.
to HEMM maintenance team on weekly basis. This
improved data integrity of payload from 44% in FY15-16
to 79% in FY19-20.
100% Payload Data (Non Zero)
90%
77% 79%
80%

70%

60% 57%
50%
50% 44%
40%
38%

30%

20%

10%
0%
0%
4 5 6 7 8 9 0
-1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Y
F Y
F Y
F Y
F Y
F Y
F Y
F

KPIs for shovel operator skills i.e. average OB payload was

created and analysed. Shovel operators were given a target
of 218 Te in overburden. The goal was to achieve 218 Te
in 3 buckets and within 1.5 min/ trip. The performance
of shovel operator on payload is monitored closely.
VI. Conclusions
The result confirms that mine automation through FMS
played very critical role in storing, analyzing and reporting
payload data and it provides real time figures, on the basis
of which the corrective measures can be taken on the spot
to achieve common goal.
Improvement in Avg. Payload KPI leads to 5% gain in
shovel production and 4% gain in shovel productivity.
Further, it is contributing in cost reduction of overburden
removal.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Material Behavior & Slope Stability Analysis by

Numerical Modelling
Naman Soni S. Dasgupta,
Research Fellow, Associate Professor,
soninaman4@gmail.com Department of Mining Engineering

Dr. G.K. Pradhan,

Dean,
Faculty of Engineering & Technology,
AKS University, Satna (M.P.)

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Abstract --The Stability of a Slope is essentially controlled of threat to the safety of men and machinery. This rising
by the ratio between the available shear strength and the acting trend had warranted serious attention of the regulator,
shear stress, which can be expressed in terms of a safety factor. mine planners, mine operators to design safe dumps for the
If these quantities are integrated over a potential sliding sur-
overall safety of the men and machinery. In the recent years
face. So for as parametric study has been revealed to under-
stand the quantum of failure. The stability of slope is primarily a number of slope failure related accidents have taken place
governed by the strength properties of slope materials, fracture in India, which has been a cause of concern.
planes including their intensity, ground water condition with
the slope, geological structures, weathering effects, ground vi- Table I. Presents Some Of The Slope Failure Related Accidents.
bration etc.The Paper present application of numerical model- Sl. Nature of Casual-
ling for slopes with changing geometry and of variable prop- Date Location
No. failure ties
erties of rock/soil by FLAC slope. The parameters are varied 27 July GMDC – Parnanndro
for each slope and calculated Factor of Safety with considering 1. Side fall 4
1975 lignite mine
dry and wet condition. To understand the effect of changing 09 June
2. Jurekuri palasthali Landslide 4
properties with changing FOS. The obtained values of Foctor 1980
of Safety and variable cohesion and internal angle of friction 24 June
3. Wcl Kawadi OC Sidefall 10
plotted to determine the consequence of FOS, which decreases 2000
with geological discontinuities present in the rock/soil as well 12 Dec.
4 NCL- Jayant OC Landslide 5
as presence of pore water pressure. 2008
29 Dec.
5 ECL- Rajmahal Landslide 23(?)
2016
I. Introduction 24 July
6. MCL Bharatpur Dump Slide 4(?)
2019
Now a days, Slope Stability Accidents are one of the
leading causes in surface mining operation. Unexpected
movement of ground causes the potential to endanger lives,
demolish equipment, or destroy property. The economic
consequences and operational problems associated with
slope instabilities dictate the need of appropriate slope
monitoring and management measures. Slope management
basically constitutes anticipation, Pre- detecting of likely
changes and control of slope behavior.
The increase in production from opencast/surface mines in
both coal and non-coal mines had, set a trend to go deeper
to mine the coal or non-coal minerals with removal of huge
quantities of over burden or waste. This continuous rise in Fig.1. Slope Disaster at Bharatpur opencast coal mine, MCL
production had also added to the erection of large number dated- 24 July 2019
of external waste dumps in and around the pits and few When we estimate percentage of opencast fatalities, OB
internal dumps in the mined out areas. These dumps which dump slide accounts for 28.40%, in case of CIL OC mine.
are external as well internal have been a constant source DGMS on its part also brought out several guidelines

152
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
and also amendments of CMR & MMR (under the
process of amendment) by incorporating stricter norms.
In the Coal Mines regulation, 2017, it had laid down the
necessity of some of the conditions like CMR104 : Safety
Management Plan, CMR-108 : Spoil-banks and dumps,
CMR-110 : Codes of Practices., etc.A court of enquiry
under Gazette of India, Extraordinary Part II- Sub Section
II Published by Authority,13 August 2019 Ministry of
labour & employment, Govt. of India constituent a court
of enquiry under appointment of IAS, Shrimati Rashmi
Verma, Ex. Sect. to Govt. of India and SSR include Akhtar
Jawed Usmani, Shri Ravindra Sharma- Ex DGMS for ECL
Rajmahal OCM, 18 September 2016. to findout causes of
accident prevailing condition & safety Norms and remedial
action to avoid such accident of landslide.
In case of surface non-coal mines, the concept of
switching over from opencast to underground has been
an encouraging and safe practice. Most of the mines in
the Sukinda Chromite and in Boula – Chromite region
have drawn plans to develop underground mines. Some
of them are already in operation since long. Similarly, in
case Rampura-Agucha Pb-Zinc Mine of Hindustan Zinc
had developed UG mine below its opencast works. At
Malanjkhand Copper Mine of Hindustan Copper Ltd, the
mine is now developing underground infra like shafts,
declines, ventilation shafts etc for an underground mine
immediately below the existing opencast mine.
An attempt has been made in this paper to study the
various parameters influencing in slope instabilty, and in
the calculation of factor of safety for varying Parameter
(Geometry, Cohesion and Internal angle of friction ) of
different material compositing the slope with test models.
For the following Beneficial purpose:
• To maintaining safe operational systems and
procedures to protect personnel and equipment.
• To provide notice of potentially unstable ground so
that mine plans can be modified to minimise the
impact of slope displacement.
• To provide geotechnical information for analysing
any slope instability failure mechanisms that develop,
designing an appropriate remedial action plan and
conducting future slope designs.
• Assessing the performance of implemented slope
design.
• Building up a history of information to determine
different rock behaviours over a long period of time
of monitoring.
II. Slope Stability Studies
Several studies have been undertaken globally and in India
in this area quite efficiently and these studies have resulted
in contributing a very safe working environment in and
around the slopes (both internal and external). In India,
CIMFR had focused in all areas of slope stability and the
influencing aspects while dealing with slope design, slope
failure studies etc. Researchers at IIT(ISM), IIT(BHU),
NIT(Rourkela & Raipur), have also taken up slope stability
studies in the past.
In the geo technical field, stability analyses aim to
support the safe and functional design of rock and soil
slopes. Preliminary analyses can be carried out in order
to determine the critical parameter of work stability.
Parametric analyses allow one to asses physical and
geometrical problem parameter influence on the slope
stability. It is not possible all the time to maintain vertical
slopes which are stable enough or pit walls which are high
enough even in very hard and strong rock. Consequently,
pit slopes must be inclined at some angle. The angle of this
inclination must be sufficient so that there is no failure in
the rock. This angle is thus governed by the local geological
factor at any mine and it gives an upper bound to the overall
slope angle. But the actual slope angle used in mines may
be lower than this and it depends upon:”
i. Presence of haulage roads or ramps for transportation.
ii. Possible damage due to blasting.
iii. Grade of ore
III. Factor Affecting Slope Stabilty
Slope Geometry
Slope geometry is the important factor which affects
the slope stability. The basic geometrical slope design
parameters are bench height, overall slope angle and area
of failure surface. Stability of slope decreases with increase
in height and slope angle. The overall angle increases the
possible extent of the development of any failure to the rear
of the crests and it should be considered so that the ground
deformation at the mine peripheral area can be avoided.
Generally overall slope angle of 45° is considered to be
safe by Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS). The
curvature of the slope has profound effect on the instability
and therefore convex section slopes should be avoided in
the slope design. Steeper and higher the height of slope, less
is the stability.
Geological Structure
153

The main geological structures which affect the stability of
the slopes in the open pit mines are:
1. Amount and direction of dip
2. Intra-formational shear zones
3. Joints and discontinuities
a) Reduce shear strength
b) Change permeability
c) Act as sub-surface drain and plains of failure
4. Faults
a) Weathering and alteration along the faults
b) Act as ground water conduits
c) Provides a probable plane of failure
Instability of rock slope may occur by failure along pre-
existing structural discontinuity, by failure through intact
material or by failure along a surface formed partly along
discontinuity and partly through intact material. Instability
may occur if the strata dip into the excavations. Localized
steepening of strata is critical for the stability of the slopes.
Stability is hampered if a clay band comes in between the
two rock bands. Bedding planes and Joints also provide
surfaces of weakness.
The slope Stability is dependent on the shear strength
available along such surface, on their orientations in
relation to the slope and water pressure action on the
surface. These shear strength that can be mobilized along
joint surface depending on the functional properties of
the surface and the effective stress which are transmitted
normal to the surface. Joints can create a situation where
a combination of joint sets provides a cross over surface.
Lithology
The rock materials forming a large pit slope determines the
rock mass strength modified by discontinuities, folding,
faulting, old workings and weathering. Low rock mass
strength is characterized by raveling, circular; and rock fall
instability like the formation of slope in massive sandstone
restricts stability. Pit slopes having soil alluvium or
weathered rocks at the surface have low shearing strength
and the strength gets further reduced if water seepage takes
place through them. These types of slopes must be flatter.
Ground Water
It causes the following:
a) Alters the cohesion and frictional parameters and
b) Reduce the normal effective stress
Ground water causes increased up thrust and driving
water forces and has adverse effect on the stability of the
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
slopes. Chemical and Physical effect of pure water pressure
in joints filling material can thus alter the cohesion and
friction of the discontinuity surface. Physical effects of
providing uplift on the joint surface, reduces the frictional
resistances. This will reduce the shearing resistance along
the potential failure plane by reducing the effective normal
stress acting on it. Physical and the chemical effect of the
water pressure in the pores of the rock cause a decrease
in the compressive strength particularly where confining
stress has been reduced.
Mining Method and Equipment
Basically there are four methods of advance in open cast
mines. They are:
(a) Strike cut- advancing down the dip
(b) Strike cut- advancing up the dip
(c) Dip cut- along the strike
(d) Open pit working
The use of dip cuts with advance on the strike reduces the
time and length that a face is exposed during excavation.
Dip cuts with advance oblique to strike may often use to
reduce the strata dip in to the excavation. The Open pit
method are used in steeply dipping seams, because of
the increased slope height are more prone to large slab/
buckling modes of failure. Dip cut generally offer most
stable method of working but it suffers from restricted
production potential. In circular failure cases spoil dumps
are more pronounced. Mining equipment which piles on
the benches of the open pit mine gives rise to the increase
in surcharge, which in turn increases the force which tends
to pull the slope face downward and thus instability occurs.
Dynamic Forces
Vibration, Blasting, and shear stresses effects are increased
momentarily as a result dynamic acceleration of material
and thus increases the stability problem in the slope face. It
causes the fracturing of rocks and ground motion. Blasting
is a primary factor governing the maximum achievable
bench face angles. The effects of careless or poorly designed
blasting can be very significant for bench stability, as noted
by Sage (1976) and Bauer and Calder (1971). Besides blast
damage and back break which both reduce the bench face
angle, vibrations from blasting could potentially cause
failure of the rock mass. For small scale slopes, various
types of smooth blasting have been proposed to reduce
these effects and the experiences are quite good (e.g. Hoek
and Bray, 1981). For large scale slopes, however, blasting
becomes less of problem since back break and blast
damage of benches have negligible effects on the stable
overall slope angle. Furthermore, the high frequency of
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
the blast acceleration waves prohibit them from displacing
large rock masses uniformly, as pointed out by Bauer
and Calder (1971). Blasting-induced failures are thus a
marginal problem for large scale slopes. Seismic events,
i.e., low frequency vibrations, could be more dangerous for
large scale slopes and several seismic-induced failures of
natural slopes have been observed in mountainous areas.
Together with all these causes external loading can also
plays an important role when they are present as in case of
surcharge due to dumps on the crest of the benches. In high
altitude areas, freezing of water on slope faces can results
in the build-up of ground water pressure behind the face
which again adds up to instability of the slope.
Cohesion
Cohesion is the characteristic property of a soil or rock
that measures how well it resists being deformed or broken
by gravity force. In soils/rocks true cohesion is caused
by electrostatic forces in stiff over consolidated clays,
cementing by Fe2O3, CaCO3, NaCl, etc and root cohesion.
However the apparent cohesion is caused by pore pressure
and negative capillary pressure response during untrained
loading. Slopes which having rocks/soils with less cohesion
tend to be less stable. The factors that strengthen cohesive
force are as follows:
a). Friction
b). Stickiness of particles can hold the soil grains together.
However, being too wet or too dry can reduce cohesive
strength.
c). Cementation of grains by calcite or silica deposition
can solidify earth materials into strong rocks.
d). Man-made reinforcements can prevent some
movement of material.
The factors that weaken cohesive strength are as
follows:
a). High water content can weaken cohesion because
abundant water both lubricates (overcoming friction)
and adds weight to a mass.
b). Alternating expansion by wetting and contraction by
drying of water reduces strength of cohesion, just like
alternating expansion by freezing and contraction by
thawing. This repeated expansion is perpendicular
to the surface and contraction vertically by gravity
overcomes cohesion resulting with the rock and
sediment moving slowly downhill.
c). Undercutting in slopes
d). Vibrations from earthquakes, sonic booms, blasting
that create vibrations which overcome cohesion and
cause mass movement.
Angle of Internal Friction
It is the angle, measured between the normal force and
resultant force that is attained when failure just occurs in
response to a shearing stress. Its tangent is the coefficient
of sliding friction. It is a measure of the ability of a unit of
rock or soil to withstand a shear stress. Angle of internal
friction is affected by particle roundness and particle size.
Lower roundness or larger median particle size results in
larger friction angle. It is also affected by quartz content.
The sands with less quartz contained greater amounts of
potassium-feldspar, plagioclase, calcite, and/or dolomite
and these minerals generally have higher sliding frictional
resistance compared to that of quartz. Angle of internal
friction, can be determined in the laboratory by the Direct
Shear Test or the Triaxial Shear Test.
IV. Factors To Be Considered In
Assessment Of Stability
Ground Investigation
Before any further examination of an existing slope, or the
ground on which a slope is to be built, essential borehole
information must be obtained. This information will give
details of the strata, moisture content and the standing
water level and shear planes. Piezometer tubes are installed
into the ground to measure changes in water level over a
period of time. Ground investigations also include:-“ In-
situ and laboratory, Aerial photographs, Study of geological
maps and memoirs to indicate probable soil conditions
Visiting and observing the slope Most Critical Failure
Surface “In homogeneous soils relatively unaffected by
faults or bedding, deep seated shear failure surfaces tend
to form in a circular, rotational manner. The aim is to find
the most critical surface using “trial circles”.The method is
as follows: A series of slip circles of different radi is to be
considered but with same centre of rotation. Factor of Safety
(FOS) for each of these circles is plotted against radius, and
the minimum FOS is found. This should be repeated for
several circles, each investigated from an array of centres.
The simplest way to do this is to form a rectangular grid
from the centres. Each centre will have a minimum FOS
and the overall lowest FOS from all the centre shows that
FOS for the whole slope. This assumes that enough circles,
with a large spread of radii, and a large grid of centres have
been investigated. An overall failure surface is found.
Tension cracks
A tension crack at the head of a slide suggests strongly
that instability is imminent. Tension cracks are sometimes
155
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

used in slope stability calculations, and sometimes they

are considered to be full of water. If this is the case, then Rock Young Pois- Cohe- Angle of
Density
hydrostatic forces develop .Tension cracks are not usually mass/ Soil modulus sion sion internal
important in stability analysis, but can become so in some material ratio KN/m3 friction
(Pa) (KPa)
special cases. Therefore assume that the cracks don’t occur,
but take account of them in analysing a slope which has
already cracked. Soil 2.50E+08 0.1 1.90E+01 50 25O

Submerged Slopes
Sand-
When an external water load is applied to a slope, the 1.00E+09 0.2 2.40E+01 250 35O
stone
pressure it exerts tends to have a stabilizing effect on the
slope. The vertical and horizontal forces due to the water
must be taken into account in analysis of the slope. Thus, Coal 5.00E+08 0.2 1.50E+01 250 35O­­­
allowing for the external water forces by using submerged
densities in the slope, and by ignoring water externally.”
Numerical modeling is done with softwere FLAC-slope by
V. Factor Of Safety incorporating above physico- mechanical properties. by
varying cohesion and internal angle of friction which are
The definition of factor of Safety (FOS) is expressed as:
major influencing parameter for the slope stability, with
a) Fr/Fd Resisting Force/ Driving Force. changing dry and wet condition of analysis and results has
b) Mr/Md Resisting Moment/Driving Moment. been shown a relationship between FOS –Wet and FOS-
c) s/τ Available Shear Stress /Shear Stress at Dry with changing internal angle of friction for different
Equilibrium. material ( Soil, Sandstone, Coal) as following.

Table II. Guidelines For Equilibrium Of A Slope

Factor of Safety Condition

<1.0 Unsafe

1.0-1.25 Questionable Safety

Satisfactory for Routine cuts and fills.

1.25-1.4 Questionable for Dams, or where failure
would be catastrophic

>1.4 Satisfactory for Dams

VI. Case Study

Parametric study has been done with data obtained from
various research papers, parameter cohesion (variable
between 40 KPa-50 KPa) for soil material, cohesion
(245KPa- 255 KPa) for sandstone, cohesion (247 KPa-
275 KPa), whereas internal angle of friction has been
considered 25o,35o and 35o for each respective material/
rock for changing overall pit slope angle.

Table III. Physico - Mechanical Properties Of Sharda OCP Of SECL

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Fig. 2. Analysis model in FLAC Slope Software

Fig. 4. Relationship between variable Internal angle of Friction

and FOS for Sandstone

VII. Results
1. With numerical modelling using Mohr- Circle
criterion, it is found that for each material modelling,
the FOS of material increases as friction angle &
cohesion increases, while FOS decreases when water
content condition is applied in modelling because
cohesion decreases as water content increases as well
as FOS decreases.
2. During use of FLAC-SLOPE it is also revealed
Fig. 3. Relationship between variable Internal Angle of Friction that as the geometry & configuration of material
and FOS for Soil (Coarse, medium, fine) changes the FOS also changes

157

respectively.
3. When using coarse mesh results can be approximately,
whereas with fine mesh the approach can be made to
nearest point of actual value.
4. Partical size is a variable parameter which
consequently effect the results during formation
of mesh, with fine mesh and fine particle size FOS
results are very close to Safe FOS.
VIII. Conclusion
Opencast mining is a very cost-effective mining method
allowing a high grade of mechanization and large
production volumes. Mining depths in open pits have
increased steadily during the last decade which has
the increased risk of large scale stability problems. It is
necessary to assess the different types of slope failure and
take cost effective suitable measures to prevent, eliminate
and minimize risk. The different types of the slope stability
analysis techniques and software are available for slope
design. Numerical modelling is a very versatile tool and
enables us to simulate failure behavior and deforming
materials. FLAC/Slope is user friendly software which is
operated entirely from FLAC’s graphical interface (the
GIIC) and provides for rapid creation of models
The parametric study which was carried by varying the
cohesion, angle of internal friction and ultimate slope
angle showed that with increase in ultimate slope angle, the
factor of safety decreases. Moreover cohesion and angle of
internal friction are quite important factors affecting slope
stability. With increase in both the parameters the stability
increases. Conduct of slope stability assessment in Indian
mines is mostly based on empirical and observational
approach; hence effort is made by statutory bodies to have
more application of analytical numerical modelling in this
field to make slope assessment and design scientific. This
will ensure that suitable corrective actions can be taken
in a timely manner to minimize the slope failures and the
associated risks.”
IX. Slope monitoring by Pipe Beacon
In a large open pit mine multiple methods of slope
monitoring available in the technical domain. It may go for
continuous slope monitoring devices (SSR), pipe beacon
method etc. Here it is to be kept in mind that caution
should be taken when choosing a slope monitoring system
for an open-pit mine because no system is perfect in itself
and results arrive at cannot conclusively predict the failure
of any slope. In Sukinda Chromite Mine following method
is being used along with piezometric Holes:
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
The pipe beacon method of slope monitoring helps in
fulfilling all the above mentioned objectives. A pipe
beacon is a solid/hollow pipe on which and inverted bolt
is welded. This bolt is used to fix the glass prism. This
setup is then grouted on designated places all along the
periphery of the mining pit. While doing the grouting
activity, a broad headed pin is also placed on the grout
at the bottom part of the setup to check the displacement
of the position along the Z axis. After the proper curing
of the base of the beacon, a number with coordinates of
the pipe beacon is captured and kept to get the location
of the pipe beacon. After this has been done, the actual
measurements start. To do the measurements the
following activities are performed: -
1. In the opposite side of mine pit few locations are
to be fixed from which all the beacons set up are
visible.
2. From a fixed number of pipe beacons are sighted and
reading are noted. These readings are the readings
along X & Y axis.
3. For the Z axis readings, levels with the help of
Dumpy level are taken at the base of all the pipe
beacon set up.
4. Readings for the machine position is also taken to
ascertain the machine position is stable and there is
no deviation in the Z coordinate of the beacon set
up.
5. After an fixed interval of time, we take all the
readings again to see if there is any displacement
along any of the axis of measurements.
6. If this difference in measurement is more than
3 mm. a detailed investigation is initiated as to
ascertain why this has happened.
References
1. FLAC SLOPE Users Guide, (2002), Itasca Consulting Group,
Minnesota, Pp.: 2-5, 72.
2. Slope Help (2013), OASYS Ltd, 13 Fitzroy street London, Pp.: 1,
8-12.
3. Bieniawaski ZT, 1976. Rock mass classification in rock
engineering. Proc Sympexploration for Rock Engg, Johannesburg.
Vol.1, Pp.97-106
4. Jayanthu S. et al, “Development of Engineering rock mass
classification system for design of jointed rock slopes” ( July,2002)
5. Jayanthu S, et al, 2002. Application of rock mass classification
systems for understanding stability of jointed rock masses in
opencast mines. Mining Engineers J (communicated)
6. Dump stability of chromite mines : A case study Dr.Khanindra
Pathak and Dr. K.U.M. Rao
7.. Ultimate pit slope of an opencast Wollastonite mine - a case study
J.C. Jhanwar and A.Swarup.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

159

Troika of Social, Economic & Environmental Challenges /
Issues related to Forest Clearance in Opencast Coal mines
Dr Manoj Kumar*
Manager(M), E&F Deptt , CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
m.kumar7206@coalindia.in
Alok Kr Singh
Chief Mgr (M), CMD Secretariat., CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
aksingh007@gmail.com
Abstract — Opencast coal mines requires huge amount of
land to be cleared for mining process. Notified forest, Rev-
enue Forest, Gair Majarua Jungle Jhari, chota Jhar, Bara
Jhar, Gair Mazarua Aam, Gair Mazarua Khash, Tenancy,
Kesar Hind, Bhuari which comes under forest land catego-
ry requires approval from MoEFCC , GOI for its diversion
for non-forest purposes as per section 2 of Forest Act 1980.
Unless planned properly it draws troika of Social, Econom-
ic & Environmental issues & challenges in obtaining forest
clearance. In this paper, an attempt has been made to group
the challenges into social, economic and environment. Social
issues raised during the process of obtaining certificate under
Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Rec-
ognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006. This Paper also explores
the organic link amongst different hurdles during land au-
thentication processes.
A conceptual framework for solving forestry clearance is-
sues is proposed in this article. While companies are better at
managing issues relating to the environment, health and safe-
ty, the social, economic and community issues still remain the
biggest challenge. There is growing recognition of the busi-
ness case for seeking to obtain and maintain a social license
to operate. Company- community grievance mechanism, Liais-
ing, building trust, stickiness to the promises made etc. are few
tools to combat troika of issues. This article also necessitates the
preparation and presentation of documents at right place and
time as required during the process. About 20-25 documents are
explored for Stage-I process, 10 documents each before and af-
ter Stage-II. The compliance of the conditions of the diversion
order has been pointed out through this research paper special-
ly in the light of Hon’ble Supreme Court W P (C) N O. 114 of
2014 & WP (C) NO. 194 of 2014. This article would further help
the mine managers in better understanding in implementation
of transformative ideas of GoI. UA has to act affirmatory and
needs improvement in the fields of filing application and putting
correct and related documents and report at right place. Ambi-
guity in records / documents need to be delineated and resolved
at their end and advised to file application of nearly zero de-
fect. MoEFCC intervention in smoothing the proposal disposal
process and sticking and or squeezing the timeline at different
stages will certainly improve the process.
Keywords— Forest Clearance, Troika, Social, Economic,
Environment.
160
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Pravin Kr Singh
Chief Mgr (M), Dir (T/P&P) Secretariat.,
CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
pk.singh7164@coalindia.in
Pranaw Kr Sinha
Chief Mgr (M), PO, NU, CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
Sinha.pranaw@gmail.com
I. Introduction
Opencast mining operations involve huge quantities
of clearing of land, overburden removal, dumping and
backfilling in excavated areas. The first task in open-cast
mining is to remove the top soil, subsoil and overburden
rocks in sequence. The overburden is dumped separately. It
can revert back for replacement in reverse order. Opening
an open cast mine thus requires a large chunk of land
for different land uses termed as component of opencast
mine land usages. These land may forest land or non
forest land and requires permission for its diversion for
non forest use as per the provisions laid down at section
2 of Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 (FCA). FCA came
into operation initially through the Forest (Conservation)
Ordinance, 1980 with effect from 25th October, 1980. The
said Ordinance was repealed and subsequently the FCA
came into effect on 25th December, 1980. Section 2 of the
FCA provides that no State Government or other authority
shall make, except with the prior approval of the Central
Government, any order directing, inter alia, that any forest
land or any portion thereof may be used for non-forest
purposes.
II. Objective & Methodology
A. Objective
The objective of this paper to spot the issues & list the
challenges being faced by User Agency (UA) of opencast
mines under their hegemony, its recoupment while making
follow up for the forest clearance application for opencast
under Sec 2(ii)/2(iii) of FCA till its site handover to UA.
B. Material & Methodology
Material & Methodology to achieve the objective of this
research paper includes :
• Delineation of types of land (forest/ Non forest) for
FC Process.
• Grouping of documentation of FC process
• Segregation of issues
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

• Analyzing the issues Issuance of diversion Grant of diversion order by state

• Recoupment of challenges & issues 5
order government for forest clearance
• Conclusion
6 Site Hand over After Compliance of Stage-II
III. Delineation Of Types Of Land
(Forest/ Non Forest) For FC Process Forest Clearance Process
C. Delineation of Land The stepwise FC process is illustrated at Fig. 1, Fig. 2.
Delineation of land is the basic step of FC process.
Opencast coal mining processes is an intensive process. It
requires Land to be cleared for coal mining extraction. The
land includes Notified forest, Revenue Forest, Gair Majarua
Jungle Jhari, zudpi jungle, chhote/bade jharka jungle, civil-
soyam, orange lands, Gair Mazarua Aam, Gair Mazarua
Khash, Tenancy, Kesar Hind, Bhuari etc. Amongst them,
Notified forest, Revenue Forest, Gair Majarua Jungle Jhari,
zudpi jungle, chhote/bade jhar ka jungle, civil-soyam,
orange lands are forest land. The definition of forest
though laid at Section 2 of FCA, further Hon’ble SC in its
decision of 12th December, 1996 defined forest as forest
must be understood according to its dictionary meaning
and it would cover all statutorily recognized forests,
whether designated, reserved, protected or otherwise.
Fig. 1. Submission of Proposal (Step 1)
Forest would also include any area recorded as a forest in
the government records irrespective of the ownership. This
Court further directed each State Government to constitute
within one month an Expert Committee, inter alia, to
identify areas which are ‘forest’ irrespective of whether they
are so notified, recognized or classified under any law and
irrespective of the ownership of the land of such forest.
D. Statutory Provisions
The forest land requires clearance from MoEFCC as per
provisions of FC Act 1980 for its non forest use. As per Rule
6 of the Forest (Conservation) Rules, 2003, every user agency,
who wants to use any forest land for non-forest purposes shall
make his proposal. Form ‘A’ for proposals seeking first time
approval under the Act and Form ‘B’ for proposals seeking
renewal of leases where approval of the Central Government
under the Act had already been obtained earlier, to the
concerned nodal officer authorized in this behalf by the
State Government, along with requisite information and
documents, complete in all respects (TABLE 1).
TABLE I. STEPS OF FOREST CLEARANCE PROCESS
Sl Item Description

Submission of Proposal submission by user agency to

1
proposal state forest department

Proposal scrutiny conducted at various

Scrutiny &
2 levels of forest conservation division of
processing
MoEF

Grant of approval by state government

Grant of in-principle
3 subject to compliance to certain
approval
conditions

Submission of Compliance by user agency as required

4
compliance report for compliance to stage I approval

161

Fig. 2. FC Process (Step 2 – Step 4)
Fig. 3. FC Process (Step 5 – Step 6)
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
IV. Grouping Of Documentation Of FC
Process
A. Documentation
FC process requires preparation of documents, plans/
section, reports etc., implementation of reports and plans
by the UA. The process has been divided under two heads
for this paper- one is Pre in-principle approval and post
in-principle approval. Various documents required by
UA in Pre in-principle approval stage are Authenticated
Land Schedule, FRA for Forest Land (Notified Forest ,
GMKJJ) , Translated Copy of Proceedings of FRA, NOC
for GMKJJ, R & R Plan, CBA Report, Tree Enumeration
Report, Payment for NPV, CA, other levies, Transportation
& Linkage Details, EC letter/Status, Stage – I/ Stage-II
letter and Latest Compliance, Marking of forest proposals
on Toposheet (1:50000) & Cadastral Map (1:3860 miles),
KML Plan & DGPS of forest Proposal & CA Land, Land
Use Plan (1:4000), Authorization, Mine Plan and its
Approval, Leasehold Area Details, Justification, 3-D
Analysis Report for UG Project, Undertakings etc. Various
documents required by UA in Post in-principle approval
stage are implementation of plans as submitted during Pre
in-principle approval stage and submission of plans like
Reclamation Plan, Soil Erosion Report, Avifauna Study,
Wildlife Management Plan etc.
B. Segregation of Issues
The UA faces a number of challenges while making follow
up during the process. Attempt has been made to segregate
the issues/changes into Troika of Social, Economic &
Environment rings proposed in this paper(Fig. 5). The
challenges are related to preparation of about 30 documents.
These challenges (Fig 4) are often under the control of UA
( Fig 7) and many times it is beyond the control of UA (Fig
6). i.e. obtaing Land authentication from circle officer, FRA
from DC, NoC from DC/CO etc. and have been left out in
the study.
Fig. 4. Control of issue
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Fig. 5. Troika Ring of issues
Fig. 6. Issues beyond control of UA
Fig. 7. Issues under control of UA.
V. Issues Analysis
Issues were analyzed based on issues pertaining to Pre /
Post in principle approval.
A. Issues – Beyond Control of UA.
A.1 Authenticated Land Schedule (ALS) : Regarding Land
authentication it has been observed that
· Land records are available as per survey made in 1908
/ 1932 – which is not correct.
· Non availability of land records at Circle office :
o Lack of land records
o Non updation of Register-II
o Torn out khatiyan
· CS / RS Survey: Govt. issued guidelines, Government
of Jharkhand came up with a circular no. 05/S.Bhu.
Latehar(Vividh)-181/18 (Chaya Sanchika)-4715,
Ranchi dtd. 27.11.2018, vide which a certificate about
nature of land in form-I is to be issued from District
Collector but not not completely working today.
· Unauthorized occupancy on Govt. Land:
· Land under CNT Act has been purchased and sold:
· Encroachment of land
· Interference of Ministry: Now a days while making
application for Land acquisition ministry of GoI
suggest to include Name, Fathers name and mobile
number and to be as per 1908/1932 khatyian. Since
these Khatian is not updated, its reconciliation is bit a
daunty task.
· Non-authenticity of record in Register II: Land
authentication process requires reconciliation of
records of Register II. But in the land authentication
process it has been found that name is recorded in
register II but some case is filed under sec 4 (H) of
BLR Act.
Delay in authentication by State, Non-cooperation of State
Missionaries , Massive Corruption are the other issues in
land authentication process.
A.2 Certificate under FRA
A.3 Translated Copy of Proceedings of FRA
A.4 NOC for GMKJJ
A.5 KML Plan & DGPS of Compensatory Afforestation
Land
A.6. Identification of CA Land
A.7. Land Surrender Schedule
A.8 Inspection and inspection report
B. Issues – Under Control of UA.
Issues have been grouprd into Troika rings – the Social, the
Economic and Environmental.
B.1. Social Issues
These issues include Authenticated Land Schedule, FRA
certificate, Translated Copy of Proceedings of FRA , NOC
for GMKJJ and R & R Plan
B.1.1 Authenticated Land Schedule (ALS)
In ALS process non-availability of cadastral plan (CP)
often causes delay in LS preparation. Though land records
/ CP are available on state web portals but still these works
are not complete for several districts and these records /
documents are still not available. The plot wise information
along with thana no. kharsra no. etc is required to be
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prepared which requires skilled ameen/surveyor, which is
lacking. Proper follow up by UA requires attention. =
B.1.2 Certificate under FRA
The issuance of certificate under FRA takes several months
and is beyond the control of UA which is one of the reason for
delay in the disposal of proposals. Proper application along
with details as per authenticated land schedule is required.
B.1.3 Translated Copy of Proceedings of FRA
UA is required to annex the translated copy of proceedings
of the FRA certificates at right time.
B.1.4 NOC for GMKJJ
UA is required to make application with all records as per
authenticated land schedule.
B.1.5 R & R Plan
The R&R Plan to be monitored by the State Government/
Regional Office of MoEF&CC along with indicators for
monitoring and expected observable milestones which are
generally different from the R&R plan prepared by UA.
B.1.6 Cadastral Map
At many times one forest application, consist for 7-8
cadastral sheet of which more than one cadastral sheet are
not readily available. Many times, these cadastral sheets are
found to be available with villagers.
B.1.7 Documents signed in / attested
It has been observed that several proposals are being
returned back from state government level and it took more
than 120 days to again come back to State government
level ie that project got delayed by 4 months due to non-
attestation of the documents. Some of the DFOs are very
stringent to it. They even demand to update the signature
for all documents either fresh or previously submitted by
the previous authorized person, if the authorized person is
changed. There are several examples due to which several
FC proposals are struck up and being delayed. Proactive
approach and preparedness will help UA in cutting short
the processing time
B.2. Economic Issues
Economic issues includes preparation of Cost Benefit Rport
(CBA), Tree Enumeration Report, Payment for NPV, Penal
NPV, CA, Penal CA other levies etc,
B.2.1 Payment for Compensatory Levies
UA often pays NPV & other forest compensatory levies
in lieu of Forest diversion, as an when demanded by State
forest department as per prevailing rate. It is also observed
that the payment made by UA were not realized at the
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
time of payment or forest officials sometimes have raised
unrealistic demand or varied demand have paused the
progress of forest proposals at many times.
B.2.2 Demarcation of Pillar
UA has to be made integral approach towards making
temporary pillars in the beginning stage and permanent
pillars at the end of the process. Temporary pillars to be so
constructed and protected so as to sustain at the end. This
will reduce the further financial burden to UA.
B.2.3 CBA Report
The guideline issued for CBA dtd. 01.08.17 does not include
intangible cost and benefit. This guideline is silent about
optimal ratio of CB for proposals of diversion of forestland
which sometimes are played against the PP during scrutiny
of proposals. Some other parameters to be included for
proposals for renewal and change in land use. CB ratio is
found to be in lower side as the reserves are exhausted bust
the land is still required for other activities of the project.
For proposals of change in land use nature. CB ratio are
still found in lower side but it was better when considered
in the original proposals. These few issues attracts regulator
attention.
B.2.4 Wildlife Management Plan
Wild life animals do not respond very well this change and
end up either dying or migrating these places. To avoid this
now a days forest department of state have been entrusted
to ensure the habitat for wildlife animals happens to migrate
due to unsustainable mining of natural resources. The state
forest department are preparing regional Management
plan and UA have to have to contribute proportionately
for the Regional Wildlife Management Plan. In this regard,
conditions in diversion order are now being stipulated and
an undertaking by UA has to be furnished to contribute
proportionately for the Regional Wildlife Management
Plan which is under preparation.
B.3 Environmental Issues
These issues are related to include Transportation & Linkage,
EC letter, Stage-I/Stage-II mapping & compliances.
B.3.1 EC letter
In some cases EC obtained by UA is much older and the
land details as furnished in the EC letter which was based
on approximation due to unavailability of records at that
time does not resembles with the present land records often
cause problem to UA in perusing their diversion proposal.
There may be other several reason which requires redressal.
B.3.2 Stage – I/ Stage-II mapping on MoEFCC portal
Some time it has been observed that forest clearance letter
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

falling in the leasehold for which present proposal are
either not mapped on Parivesh portal of MoEFCC or the
mapped proposals are grouped or mapped with different
area or mapped with different date of diversion. It causes
delay in either making proposals or perusing the proposals.
B.3.3 EC & FC Compliance
EC & FC compliances to be uploaded at MoEFCC portal.
B.3.4 KML & DGPS of Forest Land
KML & DGPS along with shape file needs proper uploading
as per the MoEFCC format.
B.3.5 KML & DGPS of Compensatory Afforestation
In present days FAC considers forest proposal for diversion
which is having a clear cut CA proposals having shape file/
KML file for the exact area and considers degraded forest
with crown density less than 40 percent. UA to make extra
effort for the activity beyond their control.
B.3.6 Land Use Plan (DGPS or Total Station basis)
[1:4000]
The clarity of preparation of contents of landuse is not
clear. For the greenfield project it clear but for the brown
field projects specially for regularization and violation
proposals plotting all information on one map creates
problem sometimes. For this a guideline needs to be
formulated about the information to be shown on land use
map. This issues are often raised at different levels of forest
department, as their requirement some times are different
at different level.
B.3.7 Soil Erosion Report
Many peasants working the land are ignorant of the
environmental impact that opencast coal mining and other
mining has. UA are to aware of which techniques are best
for the environment and can prevent soil erosion.
B.3.8 Reclamation Plan
A comprehensive reclamation plan along with top soil
management is required to be prepared for whole are
despite of its preparing proposal wise
and Identification of CA Land etc. The placement in Troika
rings varies from time to time. These are -
B.4.1 Authorization for Online Application
Since now a days FC application made online, DFOs &
forest officials desires to get necessary updating in project
profile. The Online application portal does not facilitates
the change of details of person authorized for making
forest application. This is often causing delay in process of
forest application. Under this, circumstances UA needs
to authorize such person who is posted for long time as
process of forest application take time despite of time line
for disposing the proposals. On the other hand MoEFCC
may undertake some modification in the portal to ease UA
and restricts delay in FC process
B.4.2 Mine Plan and its Approval
In some cases redrafting of MP is required due to requirement
of forest application such as changing in land details, change
in component, change in land use etc. and further attracts
competent approval which attracts delay in process. It will
be beneficial for UA if the related MP bears land details
based authenticated land schedule and MP be framed after
obtaining NoC from statutory agencies as required in the
application process. This will save a lot of time.
B.4.3 Leasehold Area Details
The information furnished in leasehold details entails the
detail breakup of land in the entire leasehold area including
information of present forest application as well as already
obtained forest clearances. The details to be preferably in
the format furnished at Table 2.
TABLE II. LAND DETAILS IN LEASEHOLD AREA
NF GMJJ TF NFL TL
(A) (B) (C=A+B) (D) (E=C+D)
(a)
Already
Released (b)
Forest
…
Sec 2(ii)

Already Sec 2(iii)

B.3.9 Avifauna Plan/Study
Applied CLU
Pocket wise avifauna study and preparation of its plan
merely will not serve the purpose, it requires integral Renewal
management for preservation of avifauna of the coal Sec 2(ii) /
mining area. This Sec 2(iii)
Application / CLU /
B.4 Issues related to Documentation Renewal
There are various documents needed at the time of making To be Sec 2(ii) /
application for diversion of forest proposal. These are Applied Sec 2(iii)
Authorization for Online Application, Mine Plan and its Total
Approval, Leasehold Area Details, Justification of Forest
Proposal, Analysis Report for UG Project, Undertakings
Different issues arise is related to

165

· Difference in the area as made in the forest application
due to different records available at circle offices and
Land acquisition offices.
· Nonacquisition very old land obtaining forest
clearances in the past.
· Difficulty in processing the land which has been
acquired by different subsidiary under nationalization
Act either 1972 (Coking Coal)/ 1973 (Non-coking
coal).
· Application under change in Landuse.
· UA to draw the attention to the management
for the Land, which have been acquired under
Nationalization Act (1972/1973), and not acquired
under any land acquisition Acts or have been directly
purchased, to get it acquired under the provision of
the prevailing Land Acquisition Acts.
B.4.4 Justification
The contents and justification differ over nature of forest
proposals ie for fresh forest land diversion, renewal
application and change in land use. Utmost care is to be
made from UA side while deliberating justification of
project.
B.4.5 Undertakings
Sometimes few of the undertakings are left unattended by PP
which causes problem on latter stage. Once an undertaking
have been furnished, it is to be implemented in due course
and to go for amendment in stipulated conditions if it is
not implementable along with suitable reason. To comply
with stipulated condition related to payment of forest levies
PP/UA is forced to undertake to pay forest levies even
though it has been paid in full amount as per prevailing
rate which some time causes difficulty to UA on latter
stage. This is due to non-realization of fund deposited in
CAMPA account at the end of State/UT. Undertaking to
bear the cost of raising and maintenance of compensatory
afforestation and/or penal compensatory afforestation as
well as cost for protection and regeneration of Safety Zone
gap plantation, soil and moisture conservation sometimes
causes problem during implementation of project due to
ambiguity in conditions/schemes prepared by agencies not
under control of UA. Some undertakings furnished seems
to be duplication and not at all necessary like complying
provisions of the all acts, rules, regulation ,guideline,
Hon’ble court & NGT Order (s) pertaining to the as
because being the part of country every one has to comply
acts and rule of the country.
B.4.6 Identification of CA Land
Issues related are-
Non-availability & suitability of land are the cause of delay
in FC process. UA to be cautious.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Delay in making application for obtaining CA land.
UA to check the density & encroachment of the land
provided by DFO for the purpose of CA.
B.4.7. Land Surrender Schedule
In coal mining areas most of land are acquired under CBA-
1957 notification and there is no provision for retuning of
land to state Govt. The land so acquired are vested to Coal
Company by Central govt. which restricts the coal company
in retuning the reclaimed land to state forest department
B.4.8 Inspection and inspection report by DCF/DFO
& CF/RCCF, RO MoEFCC
The diversion process of forest land requires inspection
by different authority depending of extent of area of
land involved in the forest proposals. Issue remains with
scheduling with the inspection and obtain report in favour.
VI. Redressal Of Challanges
As the issues and challenges pinpointed in the previous
sections are often inter related and inter changeable as such
the recoupment of challenges have been suggested taking
into considertaion of the fact.
As mentioned the issues and the challenges related to
Authentication of Land Schedule are related to socio issues.
Dealing with social issues is still a major challenge for
many opencast coal mining companies, owing to a lack of
internal capacity and specialist skills, which are important
for understanding how and why community engagement
should be carried out meaning- fully and effectively.
Company- community grievance mechanism can be
one tool to help establish and maintain a social license
to operate. However, effective community engagement
could, in turn, benefit a mining operation. Liaising at all
level at Karmchari, CI, CO, AC, DC, Secretary, Minister/
CM. Showing similar documents issued from other officers
often works for issuance of certificate/orders required for
FC application. CP to be explored from Mukhia/Surpanch
or old people in the village if it is not available from govt.
records. LS prepared at UA end requires to be verified from
Form II register usually kept at CO office. The forest land
is to tallied with the records available at range office of
forest department often saves times. This tallied record will
help in future conflicts being raised at forest offices while
processing the forest application.
Correct or near correct land schedule will often pave way
for smooth and correctly preparation of key hole markup
language (KML) file, differential global positioning system
(DGPS) map of forestland, Land use od forest application,
request for certificate under FRA-2006, request for issuance
of no objection certificate (NoC) for GMJJ/Revenue forest etc.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Building trust can be another tool, which helps to establish
and improve social relationship. Building trust takes time
and patience. User agency need to find a way to build long-
term dialogue with communities, and local representatives
and representatives from UA side should be actively
involved. Officials at project level can play a very important
role. User agency need to demonstrate, through action, that
they are taking people’s concerns seriously and are fulfilling
their promises. They also need to ensure that there is good
communication with villagers, service providers and third
parties, so that those responsible for carrying out activities
on the ground are aware of the promises made and are
committed to fulfilling those promises.
For searching cadastral map it is suggested to search it
to the older people of the villages. Building trust of the
activities amongst the villagers may help for this purpose.
It is suggested to use the topo sheets available at GSI stores,
which can be purchased on nominal charge, in comparison
to using scanned copy or Xerox copies for accuracy. UA
have to use the issues raised in Gram Sabha – a interacting
platform for UA and local people.
To avoid delay in the process of the forest application user
agency must ensure that minutes of the proceedings of the
FRA certificate issued are translated.
The UA to prepare and implement the R&R Plan as per
the R&R Policy of State Government in consonance with
National R&R Policy, Government of India before the
commencement of the project work and implementation or
else annex the proper approval. Approval at company level
or area level is serving at present.
The guideline making clarity in contents to be shown on land
use map with complete details will help UA in making the
compact and flawless proposal due to which there is delay
in disposal of proposals at many times. State government
to timely provide the CA lad along with accurate shape file
and the degraded land to have forest density as 40 percent.
Regarding attestation of documents, requisites copies
needs to be collected by UA from issuing authority. Further
authorization to be issued to such person of long tenure to
the place so that frequent change in profile and signature
on documents be avoided and further cutting short the FC
processing time.
It is a good practice that authorized person to put his/
her signature and put seal containing his/her name to
avoid delay in processing of forest application. The delay
caused due to non-mapping of proposals needs MoEFCC
interventions and proper follow up at divisional offices of
the forest department and NIC offices of MoEFCC to map
all forest on the Parivesh portal of MoEFCC. From different
study authors are in the opine that inhabitants concerns are
mostly related to socio economic issues which needs to be
categorized and prioritized in line with mining plan and
needs drawing up the action plan to deal with the issues.
Consulting the maps related to KML, Shape file for forest
& CA at DSS maintained at Forest headquarter, Divisional
offices, Regional offices of MoEFCC can help UA in
resolving some of the issues.
Most of the issues can be recouped by making some of the
details in planning itself. Incorporating proper land details,
details of R&R plan in project report or mine plan can
resolve most of the challenges faced by UA.
VII. Conclusion
Based on the study, the following conclusions are drawn:
• There have been increasing amounts of company
guidance on the topic of grievance mechanisms,
there is little literature incorporating community
perspectives and we felt that the voices of communities
needed to be heard as the key stakeholder.
• Company- Community grievance mechanism,
Liaising, Building trust, stickiness to the promises
made etc. are few tools to combat social issues.
• While companies are better at managing issues
relating to the environment, health and safety, the
social, economic and community issues still remain
the biggest challenge.
• Need of social license to operate.
• Not to blame government agency in delaying and not
following their time lime , But
• UA has to act affirmatory and needs improvement
in the fields of filing application and putting correct
and related documents and report at right place.
Ambiguity in records / documents need to be
delineated and resolved at their end and advised to
file application of nearly zero defect.
• MoEFCC intervention in smoothing the proposal
disposal process and sticking and or squeezing the
timeline at different stages will certainly improve the
process.
VIII. Acknowledgement
Help rendered by E&F department and CSR Deptt of Central
Coalfields Limited to the author to complete this research
is solicited. The constant enrichment fed by officials from
Land & Revenue department draws author’s attention. We
would also like to extend thanks to organizing team of the
ICOMS 2019 team for accepting this research paper in this
conference. The views presented by authors are solely their
own interpretation and not necessarily of the organization
to which they belong.
167

Neutralization of Acid Mine Drainage using Fly Ash,
Overburden, and Lime
Sunil Kumar*
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, 221105, India
sunil.rs.min13@itbhu.ac.in
Brind Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering, IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, 221005, India
kumar_brind.civ@iitbhu.ac.in
Abstract - Acid mine drainage and fly ash both are
the sibling products from man’s enhancing demand for
power. Mining of coal from coal mines produces acid
mine drainage (AMD), and the burning of coal for ther-
mal power generation generates coal fly ash (FA). Al-
though both are harmful to the environment and also
human health, recombination of them into one would
certainly decrease their toxic impact on nature. Acid
mine water bodies are among the extreme environmen-
tal issues in many mines consisting of coal mines all over
the world. This problem is also located in some coal
mine and even metal mines in India. In coal mines, the
primary reason for acidity is the presence of pyrite and
other sulphide metals in the form of a vein, granular,
and crystallized form in coal and shale. In this paper, a
case study of the utilization of Fly ash and overburden
for neutralization of acidic water of coal mine has been
reviewed. Theoretical and acid neutralization possibil-
ities of Fly ash and overburden were determined. The
acid neutralization potential of Fly ash and overburden
for acid water treatment has been tested in the labo-
ratory by utilizing Fly ash and waste rock materials
as well as acidic water of field. The final results were
encouraging, and Fly ash in combination with overbur-
den material may serve as an excellent acid neutralizer.
Keywords- Fly ash, Overburden, Neutralization, Lime, Acid
mine drainage
I. Introduction
Recognizing the physicochemical properties of mine
wastes to predict their long-lasting leaching behaviour is
crucial for analysing the long-term environmental effect
of mining at a site, and for selecting a waste management
technique to minimize that influence. One of the best
concerning environmental risks developed by mining
activities is acid mine drainage (AMD).
Acidic Mine Drainage (AMD, also called “Acidic Rock
Drainage” or “Acid Drainage”) is an environment pollutant
168
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Sanjay Kumar Sharma
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, 221105, India
sksharma.min@iitbhu.ac.in
that harms water sources in mining area throughout
the world[1]. Acid mine drainage is one of the major
environmental problems facing the mining industry. Acid
mine drainages (AMD) naturally develop at mine sites
and also usually consist of acidity, sulphate and several
heavy metals such as iron, zinc, copper, lead, manganese,
aluminium, cadmium, nickel at fluctuating standards[2]. The
AMD, like other industrial wastewaters, should be treated
for neutralization of the level of acidity and elimination
of heavy metals before its discharge to the environment.
One method of treating AMD is to utilize reducing the
effects of the component. Although the solubility of several
heavy metals varies with the pH of the solution in which
they are dissolved, a lot of the heavy metals can be kept
insoluble at basic pH levels, i.e., 9-11 by adjusting the pH
of the acidic wastewater with a neutralizing reagent[3].
Where such treatment is required legally, treatment should
be regular and reliable. Treatment methods are generally
separated into either “active,” meaning dependence on the
enhancement of alkaline chemicals to neutralize the acidity,
or “passive.” The term “passive treatment” indicates reliance
on biological, geochemical, and gravitational processes[4].
Passive treatment does not require continuous care or
the chemical reagents that characterize “active” AMD
treatment. When minerals containing diminished forms of
sulphur (S) oxidize through exposure to oxygen and water
during earth distractions, acid drainage occurs. In coal-
iron pyrite (FeS2)[5]. Using FeS2 as an example, AMD for
motion can be represented as complies with:
FeS2 + 3.5 O2 + H2O → Fe+2 + 2 SO4-2 + 2H+
Equation 1
Fe+2 + 0.25 O2 + H+ → Fe+3 + 0.5 H2O
Equation 2
Fe+3 + 3 H2O → Fe (OH) 3 (s) + 3 H+
Equation 3
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

FeS2 + 14 Fe+3 + 8 H2O → 15 Fe+2 + 2 SO4-2 + 16H+ around 220 km2, has been determined as encouraging
Equation 4 by the Geological Survey of India. The north-eastern part
of the coalfield sits on a plateau with an elevation of 500
The procedure is instituted with pyrite oxidation and m above mean sea level, well above the reduced plains of
discharge of ferrous iron (Fe +2), sulphate (SO42-), and 280 m altitudes. Northern Coalfields Limited was taken of
hydrogen (H+) (eq. 1). The sulphur-oxidation process Central Coalfields Limited in 1986, to care for operations
is accelerated by the existence of Thiobacillus and in the Singrauli Coalfield. The proved assets in the Moher
Ferroplasma bacteria. Ferrous iron goes through oxidation basin are about 3 billion tonnes, out of which 2.3 billion
forming ferric iron (Fe +3) (eq. 2). Finally, Fe +3 is hydrolyzed tonnes have already been prepared for mining in an area of
(reacts with WATER) to create ferric hydroxide (Fe (OH) about 84 km2.
3
), an insoluble orange-coloured precipitant, and release
additional acidity (eq. 3)[6]. The rate of Fe (OH) 3 formation III. MATERIAL & METHODS
is pH-dependent; it develops rapidly when pH > 4. While
A. Fly ash- Fly ash is a subsequent effect from burning
a lot of the acid water drainage in the Appalachian region
pulverized coal in electric power generating plants.
occurs with pyrites associated with coals, several metals
During combustion, mineral contaminants in the coal
besides Fe occur as reduced-S mineral forms. Many ores
(clay, feldspar, shale, and quartz) fuse in suspension and
that are mined and refined to produce metals occur as
also drift out of the combustion chamber with the exhaust
reduced-S mineral forms (e.g., CdS, CuS, HgS, NiS, PbS,
gases. The coal ash by-product has been categorized as an
ZnS); therefore, acid mine water drainage is associated
Eco-friendly Directory waste under the Organization for
with both coal and non-coal mining, and the FeS2
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)[9].
oxidation method explained over is illustrative of a more
It is not considered a waste under the Basel Convention.
general procedure of reduced-S-mineral oxidation which
On the other hand, in many countries, this industrial by-
releases SO42-, H+, and associated metals[7]. Lime is often
product has not been effectively utilized; rather, it has been
recommended for neutralization as a result of its calcium
overlooked like a waste substance. In Table 1show, the
ion content, convenience, and relatively low cost. Calcium
Generation and utilization of fly-ash in different countries
ions form insoluble calcium salts such as calcium sulphate
in the world[10].
at neutral or alkaline pH levels, whereas heavy metals are
caused as their hydroxides[8]. In a generally designed TABLE I: GENERATION AND UTILIZATION OF FLY-ASH IN
procedure, calcium sulphate precipitates appeared can DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
play an environmentally safe binder role as nuclei for
heavy metals accelerated by structuring the formation of Country Fly-ash production Fly-ash utilization
stable crystals or crystalline particles. Metal hydroxide and (million tons per (%)
year)
calcium sulphate precipitates, commonly called ‘sludge’, go
through a solid/liquid separation process. In this report, India 112 38
a case study of the utilization of Fly ash, overburden, and China 100 45
Lime for neutralization of acidic water of coal mine has USA 75 65
been reviewed. The acid neutralization possibility of Fly Germany 40 85
ash, overburden, and lime for acid water treatment has UK 15 50
been tested in the laboratory by using Fly ash, waste rock Australia 10 85
materials and acidic lime-water of the area. The results are
Canada 6 75
recommending; lime, overburden and fly ash may prove as
an excellent acid neutralizer of acidic water. France 3 85
Denmark 2 100
II. STUDY AREA Italy 2 100
Netherlands 2 100
Singrauli Coalfield is dispersed throughout the districts of
Collection method- The fly ash used in the present
Singrauli and Sonebhadra in the Indian states of Madhya
study was gathered in the dry state from electrostatic
Pradesh (M.P.) and Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), mostly in the
precipitators of CPP-II of Singrauli NTPC Singuruli.
basin of the Son River. The Singrauli Coalfield is positioned
Throughout the burning of pulverized coal in suspension-
between latitudes 24012’ N and 23047’ N. It is spread over
fired furnaces of the thermal power unit, the volatile matter
almost 2,200 km2 but only a small part of the coalfield,
is vaporized, and the majority of the carbon is burnt. The

169
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

mineral matter related to the coal, such as clay, quartz, and combined, covered for 2 hrs for homogenization, and then
feldspar degenerate or slag to a varying degree. The finer stored in the poly pack for research and developments.
particles that escape with flue gases are collected as fly ash TABLE 2. OVERBURDEN REMOVAL IN INDIAN MINES (2014-
utilizing electrostatic precipitators in hoppers and stored. 2015)
The hoppers have small outlets. Gunny bags made of Name of No. of surface Annual production of
compact poly-coated cotton with 50kg capacity each were company mine overburden (Million
used to collect the dry fly ash. The chute of hoppers was m3)
slowly opened, and the bags were filled. The mouth of each BCCL 15 103.901
bag was sealed instantly after collection, and the same was CCL 35 97.378
again inserted in another poly pack to prevent atmospheric ECL 18 94.047
impacts. The bags were transported with the utmost care
MCL 14 89.221
from the plant to the research laboratory and kept in a
NCL 08 210.614
protected and regulated environment. Samples of fly ash
were gotten according to the requirement of assessment. NEC 02 10.185
SECL 19 158.268
B. Overburden -In mining, overburden (also called waste
WCL 33 122.914
or spoil) is the material that lies over an area that provides
itself to economic exploitation, such as the rock, soil, and Grand Total 144 886.5
ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. Overburden C. Lime- The additive chosen was commercial available
is particular from tailings, the material that remains after premium-quality quick lime (make: Rajasthan Lime, India).
financially beneficial components have been extracted Quicklime is manufactured by chemically transforming
from the generally carefully milled ore. Overburden is calcium carbonate (limestone-CaCO3) into calcium oxide
eliminated during surface mining; however, usually is not (CaO).
polluted with toxic elements. The overburden removal data
D. Water Sampling -Thus, water samples were collected
in India 2014-15 is given in table 2[11]”non-dropping-
from several strategic areas. The water sampling
particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””},{“dropping-
locations were identified with the objective to assess the
particle”:””,”family”:”Chakravarty”,”given”:”R A J”,”non-
physicochemical characteristics of mine water across the
dropping-particle”:””,”parse-names”:false,”suffix”:””}],”id”:
mine. Knowledge of water quality in the study area, water
”ITEM-1”,”issued”:{“date-parts”:[[“2013”]]},”title”:”Study
samples were collected Polystyrene (PS) bottles. The area of
of Stability of Overburden Dumps Mixed With Flyash in
sampling sites was selected in such a way that water analysis
an Opencast Coal Mine Study of Stability of Overburden
data show the water quality with mining procedures in one
Dumps”,”type”:”article-journal”},”uris”:[“http://www.
place and also provide real concentrations of objectionable
mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=fd9c8b9e-de83-
parameters at that specific location. Each location has
4381-9729-0b5affb08455”]}],”mendeley”:{“format
an identification number after the sample collects from
tedCitation”:”[11]”,”plainTextFormattedCitation”:
mine. Raw AMD samples are filtered by using a 0.45 μm
”[11]”,”previouslyFormattedCitation”:”<sup>11</
cellulose nitrate membrane layer to remove suspended
sup>”},”properties”:{“noteIndex”:0},”schema”:”https://
particles and diluted with water to obtain EC <1.5 ms/
github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/
cm and then stabilized with HNO3 for elemental analysis.
csl-citation.json”}.
Samples for anion/cation evaluation were filtered by using
Collection method- The overburden used in this study a 0.45 μm cellulose nitrate membrane layer and kept at 4 °
was collected from Jayant, opencast coal mine, at different C until evaluation. Twenty-four hours of experiments were
locations. Once dumpers dump those, dozers/spreaders are developed to develop a neutralization curve that would
used to spread out the material. Samples for testing were certainly show buffer characteristics/regions and show
chosen and accumulated that those represent the average the contact time required for the attainment of minimum
materials found in the mine. Sample collections were carried EC values in the process. The Characteristics of acid mine
out from all parts of the dump area. Gunny bags were used water is given in table 1. In them, we have collected three
to collect the loosened soil sample leaving the crushed samples in mine and outside of mine.In figure 01 shows
rocks, boulders, etc. The procedure followed for fly ash the sampling of overburden, acid mine drainage in mines,
collection was also repeated to gather overburden material. and assessment in the research lab department of Mining
The material was explored in the laboratory sieved to engineering IIT(BHU).
discard gravels, pebbles, etc. The materials were thoroughly

170
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TABLE 3. CHARACTERISTICS OF ACID MINE WATER of Vindhyachal fly ash were evaluated, and the average of
the three values was taken as the pH of the fly ash. The pH
Parameter AMD Sam- AMD Sam- AMD Sam-
ple-I ple-II ple-III of the Vindhyachal fly ash was in the range of 7.20 to 7.25,
pH 2.6 2.5 2.7 with an average value of 7.23. The evaluation signified the
Singrauli fly ash was considered alkaline. Overburden pH
Electrical 10.73 10.98 10.12
conductivity (ms/ is 5.12 and lime 7.9 found during the test procedure in the
cm) laboratory. The pH indicated that the Overburden was
Acidity (mg/l) 4009 4013 4039 reflected acidic and lime in alkaline in nature.
CaCO3
Total dissolved 12,120 12,567 12,479 B. Chemical compositions of materials-
solids (mg/l) The chemical composition of fly ash usually depends upon
Sodium (mg/l) 319 332 323 the coal utilized in the thermal power plant. The chemical
810 798 803
composition of fly ash, Overburden, and lime were identi-
Al (mg/l)
fied using the facilities available at the Chemistry Depart-
Mg ( mg/l) 1006 1019 1021
ment (BHU) and Central Instrument Facility (CIF) at IIT
K (mg/l) 22.45 23.89 23.19 (BHU) Varanasi. It was established by X-ray fluorescence
Ca ( mg/l) 495.6 497.89 491.3 spectrometry and atomic absorption spectrophotometry.
Fe (mg/l) 4537 4537 4538 The outcomes of the experiments for the chemical compo-
Fe2+ (mg/l) 3789.3 3771.63 3802.3 sition are explained in table 3. Singrauli Fly ash has more
1453.3 1476.6 1469.0
than 70% of Silicon dioxide (SiO2), Alumina (Al2O3), and
Fe3+ (mg/l)
Iron oxide (Fe2O3) and lower than 10% of CaO. Conse-
SO42- (mg/l) 11889.3 11870.5 11866.3
quently, as per ASTM C618-89, it was classified as class
NO3- (mg/l) 165.7 164.8 166.3 F that is usually derived from bituminous and anthracite
coals and is made up primarily of an alumina-silicate glass,
with quartz, mullite, and magnetite.
TABLE 4. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FLY ASH,
OVERBURDEN & LIME

Constituents Fly ash Mine Overburden Lime

SiO2 53.98 49.56 1.98
Al2O3 34.19 28.98 0.87
Fe2O3 6.98 8.39 0.42
CaO 0.56 1.10 70.58
K2O 1.43 0.42 0.98
MgO 0.67 1.37 3.20
TIO2 0.52 0.68 ---
Na2O 0.3 --- 0.12
P2O5 0.12 --- 0.04
SO3 --- --- 0.26
Fig. 1. Sample collection and analysis in Mining Engineering
Research lab. LOI 1.55 9.5 21.55

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION C. Consistency limits

A. Alkaline and acidic behaviors of materials-
The electrometric procedure identified the pH values of the
Singrauli ash. 30 gm of the dry fly ash was included to 75
cc of distilled water in a 100 cc beaker. The suspension was
mixed thoroughly, covered with a glass plate, and remained
standing for an hour with random stirring. The suspension
was once more mixed well just before the test. The electrode
attached to the digital pH meter was dipped into the
solution, and the value of pH was read. Three samplings
The properties as a liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity
index are almost commonly applied in the geotechnical en-
gineering field. These characteristics are not only essential
in classification and recognition but also in predicting engi-
neering behaviors such as strength, hydraulic conductivity,
and compressibility. The liquid limit was identified as per
IS:2720(Part V)1985 in the research lab with the help of
the typical liquid limit device. About 120 g of fly ash mass
pass by with 425 IS sieve.

171
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

D. Grain size distribution

Sieve test (IS: 2720 Part IV 1985) was achieved on the fly ash
and overburden, and bentonite was providing particle size
higher than 0.075 mm. Rifling or quartering method took
the required amount of soil sample, dried in the oven at 105
° C to 110 ° C and was subjected to dry sieve interpretation
using a set of sieves with sieve size opening 0.425, 0.300,
0.212, 0.150 and 0.075 mm and pan. The material kept
on each sieve, and the pan was separately collected and
evaluated.

TABLE V. CONSISTENCY LIMITS & GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION

OF FLY ASH & O/B

Property Fly ash Overburden

Specific gravity 2.13 2.62
Consistency limits
Liquid limit (%) 31.47 26.28
Plastic limit (% Non-plastic 16.05
Shrinkage limit (%) ---- 15.87
Plasticity index (%) ---- 10.23
Particle size analysis (%) Fig. 2. SEM image of fly ash and Overburden
Gravel (>4.75 mm) ---- 08.52
F. Overview of Discussion
Sand (4.75 mm – 0.075 mm) 21.67 30.45 Improvement of pH by a different type of waste material.
Silt (0.075 mm – 0.002 mm) 75.41 49.78 The prime objective of treating AMD is to increase the
Clay (<0.002 mm) 2.92 11.25 level of pH from acidic to neutral or basic. Researchers
have used various waste materials to improve the pH of
E. Scanning Electron Micrograph the wastewater. Fly ash, modified fly ash, Overburden, and
The morphological characteristic of fly ash and Overburden lime can enhance the pH of AMD from 2.00 to the range
were examined by scanning electron microscopic methods. of 8-12. Fly ash for the treatment of AMD because of its
A small part of the material was held in the oven at 105ºC reduced pH enhancing property. It was reported that fly ash
for 24 hours for drying. The sampling was mounted on a can enhance pH up to 5.3 without any alteration, whereas,
sampling holder. A thin conducting layer of gold around 50 with modification, pH value can be enhanced to 11.5. After
Å thickness was coated on the specimen surface by using the conversion of fly ash into zeolites, the pH of the acidic
the aid of sputter coater Emitech K550X. Zeiss EVO series water can be turned into alkaline range, i.e. 8.41-12. The
Scanning Electron Microscope model EVO 18 was used to difference in the improvement of pH in acidic solution, by
analyze the morphology of the materials. Figure 2 shows different adsorbents, maybe as a result of the variation of
the scanning electron micrograph of Singrauli at 5000 calcium and magnesium oxide content accessible within
times magnifying. It showed that spherical and smooth adsorbents and due to their ability to reduce water and
particles of various size ranges were present in the fly ash. produce hydroxide ions. In this research paper table, 6
It indicated that angular and irregular particles of various display the AMD assessments sample with a fixed pH value
size ranges were present in the Overburden. The division with respect to time in a different location. In figure 3,
of particles is shown in figure 2 show that the size of lesser appearance the 3:1 ratio of AMD and Fly ash mixer graph
than 4 microns was existing, and some particles of size 8 during fixed pH value in a different time (Minute) periods.
microns were spotted. The SEM Image of Singrauli reveals Similarly, shown in figure 4 &5, the variation of graph time
that it displays a smooth surface, and O/B is a rough surface. vs pH for different materials. Throughout the assessments
of all samples, we found that’s the ratio 3:1 of AMD: FA
acquired more time for same hydroxide ions comparison to
sample of AMD: FA+OB and AMD: FA+O/B+LIME In the
laboratory. It indication mixer of AMD: FA+O/B+LIME is
upright for neutralization of mine water.

172
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TABLE VI. VARIATION OF PH VS TIME FOR 3:1 RATIO SAMPLES Fig. 5. Time vs pH for 3:1 (AMD: FA+O/B+ Lime) ratio Sample

SAMPLE I SAMPLE II SAMPLE III V. CONCLUSION

pH Time in minute Time in minute Time in minute This paper significantly reviewed the application and
selection of waste components for the treatment of AMD.
2.5 2 2 2
Although engaged treatments work, they incur high
3.0 6 5 3.5 installation and adsorbent cost. Besides this, some active
treatments such as reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electro
3.5 8.5 6.7 4.9
dialysis require pre-treatment of the influent, which
4.0 11.0 10.2 7.3 improves the whole treatment cost. Waste material, on
the other side, minimizes environmental load and also is
4.5 15.0 13.9 10.9
a financially feasible alternative for the treatment purpose.
5.0 17.5 16.2 12.39 After consideration and reviewing various research studies,
it can be concluded that amongst all the waste products, fly
5.5 22.3 20.12 16.38
ash, and its by-products such as customized fly ash and fly
6.0 27.0 22.30 19.50 ash Overburden, slag, and lime can be preferred amongst
all the waste material for the treatment of extreme acidic
6.5 30.0 26.40 23.68 AMD. They have much more prospective to enhance
the pH of the absolute acidic solution as well as the
elimination of contaminants from the solution. However,
specific surface area, pH improving capacity, adsorption
capability, retention time, leachability of various metals
from adsorbents into the treated water, cost-effectiveness,
and the environmental influence should be taken into
consideration before the selection of the waste material
as an adsorbent. After the assessment, we found that’s the
AMD+O/B+LIME materials are more effective and less
time taken for the hydroxide ions. This research study will
Fig. 3. Time vs pH for 3:1(AMD: FA) ratio Sample
certainly be beneficial for the readers to choose suitable
and specific waste material for field conditions, along with
it will assist in future research study requirements for the
treatment of AMD.

Fig. 4. Time vs pH for 3:1(AMD: FA+O/B) ratio Sample
Acknowledgments
The authors are especially grateful to the Department of
Mining & Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology
(BHU), Varanasi, for providing technical support during
the whole Research period. The author would like to thank
the reviewers for their valuable comments, which helped
immensely in the cause of the paper.

173

Assessment of Groundwater Suitability for
drinking and irrigation purposes in Singrauli
Coalfield Region, Madhya Pradesh
Ashwani Kumar Sonkar1*
Department of Mining Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi
Varanasi, India
aksonkar.rs.min14@itbhu.ac.in
Vijayendra Pratap Dheeraj2
Department of Mining Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi
Varanasi, India
vijayendrapdheeraj.rs.min19@itbhu.ac.in
Abstract — Groundwater is one of the primary sources for
drinking and agricultural purposes in the Singrauli coalfield
region. Coal mining and Industrial activities have a profound
impact on the surface water as well as groundwater resourc-
es. Water quality assessment is essential to ensure the viable
safe use of the water resources for drinking, agricultural, and
industrial purposes. The objective of the present study is to
determine the Water Quality Index (WQI) for drinking pur-
poses and the Suitability of groundwater for irrigation was
determined by the method based on the calculation of sodium
adsorption ratio (SAR), percentage sodium (%Na) and Kel-
ly’s index (KI). Locations selected for groundwater sampling
were based on the preliminary field survey carried out to
understand the overall impact of mining and industrializa-
tion activities on the groundwater resources of the Singrauli
coalfield region. Sixteen groundwater samples were collected
systematically from Hand pumps and examined for its twelve
physiochemical parameters such as pH, EC, TDS and nine
major ions (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NO3-, Cl−, HCO3−, SO42−, F−).
Results of the physicochemical analysis showed that few hand
pumps were contaminated with a high concentration of major
ions. Water Quality Index was highest in the central region
and a few portions of the north-west of the study area. On
the basis of sodium percentage, sodium adsorption ratio, and
Kelly’s Index analysis, it has been found that the majority
of the groundwater was suitable for drinking and irrigation
purposes except few in the study area.
Keywords— Groundwater Quality, Water Quality Index,
Major ions, Hydrochemistry, Irrigation water
I. Introduction
Coal is one of the world’s most important sources of energy.
India is the third-largest coal producer of the world next to
China and the USA [1]. Water is essential for life and its quality
174
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Aarif Jamal3
Department of Mining Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi
Varanasi, India
ajamal.min@iitbhu.ac.in
C.S. Singh4
Department of Mining Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (BHU) Varanasi
Varanasi, India
cssingh.min@itbhu.ac.in
and availability vary with time and space. Groundwater is an
important source of water supply for drinking, irrigation, and
industrial purposes due to the rapid increase in population,
rapid industrialization and unplanned urbanization and
excess uses of fertilizers, pesticides in irrigation [2, 3]. Water
used for agriculture should be of suitable quality to ensure
maximum yield from the crops. The irrigation water quality
depends on the concentration of dissolved ions within the
recommended permissible limits [4]. The use of inferior
quality of water for irrigation will affect both the plant as well
as soil texture. In general, the problems associated with the
use of poor quality water include a reduction in infiltration
rate and toxicity due to certain ions and excessive nutrients
[5]. The suitability of groundwater for drinking and irrigation
depends on various constituents such as suspended particles
and dissolved inorganic, organic, radiological, and biological
constituents. The assessment of water quality for irrigation
purposes can be determined by using guidelines given by
the Food and Agricultural Organization [6]. Further, it can
also be examined based on sodium adsorption ratio (SAR),
US Salinity Laboratory (USSL) diagram percentage sodium
(%Na), Wilcox’s diagram and Kelly’s index (KI). Many
researchers have studied the quality of groundwater used for
both drinking & irrigation and the associated problems [7-
13]. The objective of this study is to assess the suitability of
groundwater surrounding coal mines areas for domestic and
irrigation purposes.
II. Study Area
The study area lies in the eastern part of the state of Madhya
Pradesh (M.P) falling in Singrauli district, bounded by the
coordinates 24°00 to 24°15 N latitudes and 82°30 to 82°45
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
E longitudes. It is covered by the Survey of India Toposheet
No. 63L/12 and the total area is 445.21km2 are shown in
Fig1.The climate of the study area tropical monsoonal with
extreme temperatures ranging from 47.2 to 2°C during
summer and winter, respectively. Annual average rainfall
in the study area is 1,119.65 mm (2018). The drainage
pattern of the study area is a dendritic drainage pattern
developed which is totally controlled by topography and
lithology [14]. The singrauli coalfield has been divided
into 11 mining blocks viz. Khadia, Dudhichua, Jayant,
Moher, Gorbi, Kaki, Bina, Marak, Nigahi, Amlohri, and
Jhingurdah. Which contributes nearly about 13% of India’s
coal production through mechanized opencast mining.
The area is occupied by structural hills on the northern part
with elevation ranging between 270 m – 620m.
III. Materials & Methods
A. Sampling techniques, laboratory &data analysis
Systematic sampling was carried out as per the standards
[15]. Sixteen samples of groundwater were collected from
different bore wells in the study area during the month of
April 2019 are shown in Fig.3. The groundwater samples
were collected in 1 liter narrow-mouth pre-washed
polyethylene bottles. The polyethylene bottles were also
rinsed with water samples at each site before sample
collection. Suspended sediment was separated immediately
from the groundwater samples in the laboratory using 0.22
μm Syringe filters. The sampling location map of the study
area is shown in Fig.1.
Fig. 1. Sampling location map of the study area
Analysis of collected groundwater samples followed
Standard Methods [16]. The groundwater samples
collected were analyzed for 12 physicochemical
parameters. The pH, Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) and
Electrical conductivity (EC) were measured immediately
after sampling using a multi-parameter portable kit. The
concentration of major cations (Na+,K+,Ca2+,Mg2+) and
major anions (NO3-,Cl--,SO42-, F-) were analyzed using ion
chromatography at the Central Instrument Facility, IIT
BHU Varanasi. HCO3− concentration was determined by
the electrometric titration method. Origin 8 software was
used to prepare the Box-whisker plot and the correlation
matrix was prepared by using Microsoft Excel Version
2016. L Sampling location map of the study area was
prepared by ArcGIS software.
B. Water quality index (WQI)
Water quality index (WQI) is a technique for identifying
the water quality and its sustainability for drinking
purposes [17,18].To calculate the water quality index
(WQI), assigning a weight for each groundwater parameter
(wi), computing of relative weight (Wi) and quality rating
scale (qi) is needed. Thus, wi were assigned for pH, TDS,
EC, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NO3-, Cl-, HCO3-, SO42 and F−
[19-23].The assigned weight(wi) and relative weight (Wi)
of physicochemical parameters of groundwater are given
in Table I. Weighted values were assigned according to
the relative significance of the groundwater parameter in
drinking water quality [24]. The assigned weight ranges
from 1 to 5. The relative weight (Wi) is computed from the
following equation.
(1)
Where,
Wi is the relative weight,
wi is the weight of each parameter
n is the number of parameters.
The quality rating scale for each parameter is calculated
by dividing its concentration in each water sample by its
respective standards [25] and multiplied the results by 100.
qi= (Ci / Si) × 100, (2)
Where, qi is the quality rating,
Ci is the concentration of each chemical parameter in each
sample in mg/l.
Si is the WHO standard for each chemical parameter in
mg/l according to the guidelines of the [25]. For computing
the final stage of WQI, the SI is first calculated for each
parameter. The sum of SI values gives the WQI for each
sample.
SIi=Wi × qi (3)
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Where SIi is the sub-index of ith parameter ANIONS

NO3 F-
The water quality index (WQI) of the study area is calculated SO42-
7% 0%
Cl-
using the following equation. 12% 27%

Water Quality Index (WQI) = Ʃ SIi (4)

Table I. Statistics Summary And Relative Weight Of Physico-
Chemical Parameters
Para- Min. Max. Mean Weight Relative WHO
meters (wi) Weight(Wi) (2011)
HCO3
54%
pH 6.69 7.71 7.34 4 0.1 6.5-8.5
Fig. 5. Percentage contribution of major anion
EC 434 1331 764.3 4 0.1 500

TDS 217 667 382.5 5 0.125 500

Ca2+ 26.7 118 58.90 2 0.05 75

Mg 2+
8.56 59.7 19.34 1 0.025 50

Na+ 17.5 116.45 50.55 2 0.05 200

K+ 0.26 4.53 2.28 2 0.05 200

Cl- 27.6 444.92 112.3 3 0.075 250

HCO3 -
163 291 219.2 3 0.075 500

SO42- 14.8 212.81 81.81 4 0.1 250

NO3- 4.30 144.85 28.04 5 0.125 45 Fig 6. Box-whisker plots of physicochemical parameters
The concentrations, mean, maximum and minimum of
F- 0.33 1.53 0.57 5 0.125 1.5 physicochemical parameters are presented in box-whisker
Ʃ wi Ʃ Wi =1=40 plots are shown in Fig. 6.In this diagram, the highest and
All the concentration values expressed in mg/l except pH and EC. lowest concentration value was showed by EC (764.3) and
IV. Result & Discussion Fluoride (0.57).

A. Major cation and anion chemistry B. Statistical correlation of the Groundwater

The physicochemical parameters of the groundwater Correlation analysis measures the closeness and the degree
of linear association between independent and dependent
samples were statistically analyzed, and the results are
variables [26]. The correlation coefficient (r) is a major
given in Table I. The cations and anions chemistry of the
indicator of how well the points fit to a straight line. An ‘r’
analyzed groundwater samples of the singrauli coalfield value close to +1 or -1 indicates a close fit to a straight line
region showed that Calcium was generally major dominant (e.g. a ‘‘strong correlation’’). An ‘r’ close to zero indicates
in cation and Bicarbonate in anions. The order of mean a very poor fit to a straight line or little or no correlation.
abundance of major cations is Ca2+>Na+> Mg2+ >K+, while The correlation coefficient (r) matrix of physicochemical
that of anions is of the order HCO3>Cl>SO42->NO3->F-. parameters is tabulated in Table II.
Percentage contributions of individual cations and anions Table Ii. Correlation Coefficient Matrix Of Physico-Chemical Parameters.
in groundwater have shown in Fig 4 & 5.
Parameters pH EC TDS Ca Mg Na K Cl HCO3 SO4 NO3 F
CATIONS pH 1
K+
2%
EC -0.390 1
TDS -0.388 1.000 1
Na+
38%
Ca2+ Ca -0.006 0.804 0.805 1
45%
Mg -0.080 0.523 0.525 0.594 1
Na -0.051 0.736 0.737 0.811 0.620 1
K 0.073 -0.263 -0.263 -0.328 -0.012 -0.258 1
Cl -0.174 0.821 0.822 0.780 0.478 0.682 0.121 1
Mg2+ HCO3 0.095 -0.368 -0.368 -0.290 0.088 -0.277 0.634 -0.155 1
15%
SO4 -0.386 0.933 0.934 0.820 0.735 0.748 -0.281 0.751 -0.307 1
Fig. 4. Percentage contribution of major cations NO3 -0.143 0.700 0.701 0.722 0.890 0.628 -0.237 0.601 -0.160 0.873 1
F 0.212 -0.100 -0.099 0.311 -0.117 -0.053 -0.271 -0.061 -0.024 -0.033 0.014 1

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

The high positive correlation is observed between TDS GW-11 24o07’02’’ 82o42’46’’ 55.35 Good water
and EC (1.00), SO42-and EC (0.933), Cl- and EC (0.821),
GW-12 24o05’1’’ 82o34’21’’ 57.47 Good water
Ca2+ and TDS (0.805), Na+ and Ca2+ (0.811), NO3- and
Mg2+ (0.890), NO3- and SO42- (0.873).The high Negative GW-13 24o05’26’’ 82o33’19’’ 68.79 Good water
correlation is observed between the EC and pH (-0.390) are
GW-14 24o06’31’’ 82o32’10’’ 124.31 Poor water
shown in Table II.
GW-15 24 12’30’’
o
82 36’52’’
o
69.52 Good water
C. Water Quality Index (WQI)
In the present study, A total of 16 groundwater samples and GW-16 24o12’01’’ 82o35’58’’ 108.80 Poor water
twelve water quality parameters such as pH, EC TDS, Na+,
K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, NO3-,Cl--,SO42- and F- were considered for D. Groundwater quality for irrigation purposes
computing WQI. The computed WQI values range from The suitability of groundwater for irrigational applications
38.16 to 124.31. depends on mineral constituents of water and its potential
Table Iii. Range Of Wqi And Type Of Water [27] impacts on the soils and the plants [28]. Excess amounts of
salts in water could affect the structure and texture of the
WQI Range Type of water
soil and result in changes in soil permeability and aeration,
50 Excellent water thereby impacting plant growth [28, 29].To estimation
50-100 Good water of the suitability of groundwater for irrigation purposes
by sodium percentage (Na%), sodium absorption ratio
100-200 Poor water
(SAR), and Kelly’s Index were computed. All determined
200-300 Very poor water groundwater concentrations used in these computations
>300 Unsuitable for drinking purposes were in meq/l.

E. Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR)

The water quality classification based on WQI values is
shown in Table III. The calculation of the Water Quality
Index (WQI) for groundwater samples is shown in Table
IV. Among these, 37.5 % of the samples showed excellent
water, 50 % of the samples fall under good water category
and 12.5 % of the samples (GW-14 & GW-16) showed poor
water category respectively. This may be due to the effective
leaching and dissolution process of rock salt.
Table Iv. Water Quality Index (Wqi) Classification Of The Study Area
Sample
Code Latitude Longitude WQI Description
The U.S. Salinity Laboratory (USSL) recommends using the
sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) to evaluate the alkalinity
hazard or sodium hazard of water for irrigation [30]. Excess
amount of salinity reduces the osmotic activity of plants
and prevents water from reaching the branches and leaves
of plants resulting in inferior production [31]. Irrigation
waters are classified into four alkali categories (S1–S4) on
the basis of SAR: low (0–10), medium (10–18), high (18–
26), and very high (> 26) (USSL 1954).
SAR is calculated using the following equation [32].

GW-1 24o06’56.’’ 82o44’13’’ 46.43 Excellent water

GW-2 24o07’15’’ 82o45’35’’ 39.60 Excellent water

GW-3 24o05’17’’ 82o36’43’’ 40.06 Excellent water

(5)
GW-4 24o06’44’’ 82o38’16’’ 42.32 Excellent water
Where all the ions are expressed in milliequivalents per
GW-5 24o12’13’’ 82o39’30’’ 70.71 Good water liter.
GW-6 24o11’57’’ 82o38’38’’ 67.89 Good water The computed SAR values of the groundwater in the study
area ranged from 3.85 and 15.72 meq/l with an average
GW-7 24o11’04’’ 82o38’47’’ 44.49 Excellent water
value of 7.87 meq/l. The combined effect of SAR and EC is
GW-8 24o11’46’’ 82o42’06’’ 38.16 Excellent water shown in Fig 7.
GW-9 24o11’48’’ 82o45’58’’ 54.93 Good water

GW-10 24o07’29’’ 82o40’45’’ 66.41 Good water

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

(6)

Where all ions are expressed in milliequivalents per liter.

Irrigation water quality based on sodium percentage (%Na)
is classified into five categories [37], see Table VI. Na% of the
analyzed groundwater samples varied from 27.86 to 51.88
%. Based on Wilcox’s (1955) plot, groundwater samples
were classified as excellent (50 %) and good to permissible
(50 %). Hence, it is suitable for irrigation purposes are
shown in Fig.8.

Fig. 7. US Salinity diagram for classification of irrigation water

The SAR plot indicates that 37.5% of the samples fall in

the medium salinity to high sodium category (C3-S2) and
31.25% of the samples fall in the C2-S1 category that has
low salinity and medium sodium content. About 18.75% of
the samples fall in the C2-S2 category (medium salinity and
medium sodium) and 12.5 % of the samples fall in the C3-
S3 category. The classification of water samples of the
study area based on salinity and alkalinity hazard are
given in Table V.
Fig. 8. Classification of irrigation water based on the Wilcox plot
Table V. Classification Of Water Samples Based On Salinity And
Alkalinity Hazard Table Vi. Classification Of Water Suitability For Irrigation Based On Na%

Classification SAR/EC Description No. of Percen- %Na Classification Sample ID Percentage

Samples tage
C2-S1 SAR Medium, EC Low 5 31.25 20 Excellent Nil 0

C2-S2 SAR Medium, EC Medium 3 18.75 20-40 Good GW-1,4,8,9,10,11,14,16 50

C3-S2 SAR High, EC Medium 6 37.5 40-60 Permissible GW-2,3,5,6,7,12,13,15 50

C3-S3 SAR High, EC High 2 12.5

60-80 Doubtful Nil 0

>80 Unsuitable Nil 0

F. Sodium Percentage (%Na)
Sodium Percentage is also used to assess groundwater
suitability for irrigation purposes [33]. Excess amount of
sodium content in water reduces soil permeability [34].
Excess Sodium concentrations tend to be absorbed by
clay grains, displacing Mg2+ and Ca2+, which reduces the
permeability of soils [35]. The sodium percentage can be
calculated using Eq. 6 [36].:
G. Kelly’s Index (KI)
The level of sodium measured against calcium and
magnesium is known as Kelley (1997) [38] index. Kelly’s
Index (KI) is used to examine whether the groundwater is
suitable for irrigation or not. The KI is based on the ratio
of the concentration of sodium to calcium and magnesium.
The KI was calculated using the following formula [39]:

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Kelly’s Index (KI) = Na+/ (Ca2+ +Mg2+) (7)
Where all the ionic concentrations are expressed in
milliequivalents per liter. The groundwater having Kelly’s
index > 1 is not suitable for irrigation [9, 24]. Kelly’s
index of the study area ranges from 0.37 and 1.06.Only
sample no. GW-15, KI values were found >1 and it is not
suitable for irrigation uses. Based on Kelly Index values,
about 93.75% of groundwater samples have suitable for
irrigation uses.
V. Conclusion
In the present study, sixteen groundwater samples were
collected from the Singrauli coalfield region. On the basis
of the physicochemical analysis of groundwater, it has been
found that the majority of groundwater samples for the
majority of parameters lie in the acceptable limits set by
WHO standard [25]. The groundwater of the study area
is faintly alkaline by nature. The Concentration values of
major ions were showed that Ca2+ and HCO3- are the most
dominant cations and anions in the groundwater samples.
The order of mean abundance of cation and anion which
is Ca2+>Na+> Mg2+ >K+ and HCO3>Cl>SO42->NO3->F,
respectively. In correlation matrix, the maximum positive
correlation coefficient is observed between TDS & EC
(r =1.00) and maximum negative observed between EC
& pH (r= -0.390).The water quality index (WQI) of the
study area ranges from 38.16 to 124.31. About 87.5% of
samples come under excellent and good water category, it
is suitable for drinking purpose and rest 12.5% under poor
water category. As per the classification of groundwater
for irrigation purposes by using various indices, such as
SAR, % Na, and KI. The majority of the water samples are
suitable for irrigation uses.
References
[1] Chaulya, S. K., and M. K. Chakraborty. “Perspective
of new national mineral policy and environmental
control for mineral sector.” In Proceedings of national
seminar on status of mineral exploitation in India,
New Delhi, India, pp. 114-123, 1995.
[2] Joader MAM, Raihan F, “Alam JB, Hasanuzzaman S
(2008) Regression analysis of ground water quality
data of Sunamganj district, Bangladesh.” Int J
Environ Res 2(3):291–296, 2008.
[3] Saravanakumar K,Ranjith KR . “Analysis of water
quality parameters of groundwater near Ambattur
industrial area, Tamil Nadu, India. Indian J Sci
Technol 4(5):660–662, 2011.
[4] Elango, L. “Impact of recharge from a check dam on
groundwater quality and assessment of suitability
for drinking and irrigation purposes.” Arabian
Journal of Geosciences 7, no. 8, 3119-3129, 2014.
[5] Ayers RS, Westcot DW.“Water quality for agriculture.
FAO irrigation and drainage, Rome.” 29, p 97, 1976.
[6] Kacmaz H, Nakoman ME. “Evaluation of shallow
groundwater quality for irrigation purposes in
the Koprubasi uranium area (Manisa, Turkey)”.
BALWOIS 2010—Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia,
25–29 May, 2010.
[7] Eaton FM, “Significance of carbonates in irrigation
waters.” Soil Sci 39:123–133, 1950.
[8] Mahida UN, “Water pollution and disposal of
wastewater on land.” Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing
Company Limited, New Delhi. 1981
[9] Sundaray SK, Nayak BB, Bhatta D. “Environmental
studies on river water quality with reference to
suitability for agricultural purposes: Mahanadi river
estuarine system, India—a case study.” Environ
Monit Assess 55:227–243, 2009.
[10] Al-Taani AA, “Seasonal variations in water quality of
Al-Wehda Dam north of Jordan and water suitability
for irrigation in summer.” Arab J Geosci, 2011.
[11] Vasanthavigar M, Srinivasamoorthy K, Ganthi GR,
Vijayaraghavan K, Sarma VS. “Characterisation
and quality assessment of grounwater with a special
emphasis on irrigation utility: Thirumanimuttar
sub-basin, Tamil Nadu, India.” Arab J Geosci 5:245–
258, 2012.
[12] Ramesh K, Elango L. “Groundwater quality and
its suitability for domestic and agricultural use in
Tondiar river basin, Tamil Nadu. India” Environ
Monit Assess 184(6), pp.3887-3899, 2012.
[13] Jagadeshan G, Elango L. “Groundwater quality
assessment in a part of Vaniyar River basin, Tamil
Nadu.” Indian J Environ 32(90):772–777, 2012.
[14] Sonkar, A K and Jamal, A “Physico-chemical
characteristics of groundwater around singrauli
coalfield areas, Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh
(India)” Rasayan J. of Chem, 12 (2), 608 – 615, 2019.
[15] BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) (1987) Method of
sampling and test (physical and chemical) for water
and wastewater. IS: p 3025
[16] APHA (2005) Standard methods for the examination
of water and waste water, 20th edn. American Public
Health Association, Washington, DC
179

Comparison of Mine Closure Cost Estimation
Technique Globally
Ashish Agrawal
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT BHU
Varanasi, India
Abstract - In the past few decades, mine closure has become
a significant part of the legislation concerning mining laws.
The experience of countries pioneer in mining shows that the
actual cost of mine closure is much higher than the cost calcu-
lated using the method of generalized cost per unit area basis.
The various academic articles and reports also suggested that
mine closure and the risk associated with it are site-specific
and cannot be generalized. The incorporation of closure cost
into the mine planning process can play a significant role in
the profitability of mining operations in each stage. The clo-
sure cost is mostly incurred at the latter stage of a mine life
during which the profitability of mine is low as compared to
the earlier stage. Therefore prior scientific estimation of clo-
sure cost should be done which will be helpful in developing
a better budgetary plan for mining operations in each stage
of a mine life. In this article, a comparison of the closure cost
estimation methodologies of mining pioneer countries like the
USA, Australia, South Africa, and India have been reviewed
for better understanding which may be helpful to mining in-
dustries to adopt a more scientific method.
Keywords-mine closure; closure cost estimation; financial
assurance
I. Introduction
Mine closure is a complex process that involves the cessation
of mining operations, reclamation (physical and biological)
of the mine site, decommissioning of infrastructures,
including the rehabilitation of environmental and social
damages and site relinquishment [1][2]. Since these closure
obligations could require a large sum of money which from
the company’s perceptive could be counterproductive as
they cut into profits[3], and also the date of mine closure
is uncertain due to expansion of ore reserves and global
economic cycles, some mine operator believes that security
is not needed at the early stage of mine. However, the
latter stage of a mine life may be of low profitability and
failure of the company to fulfill the task of mine closure
could result in adverse environmental and socio-economic
impacts[4] [5], and eventually, the burden could fall upon
the government and taxpayers.
180
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Dr. Nawal Kishore
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT BHU,
Varanasi, India
In the last few decades, a large no. of mines across the world
have been closed without proper closure practice leaving
behind serious environmental liabilities whose clean-up
cost has befallen upon the respective governments.
According to an estimate, there are around 5700 derelict
mines in South Africa whose estimated rehabilitation cost
is Rand800 Billion. Another study suggested the presence
of more than 50000 abandoned mines in Australia[6].
When the regulatory authorities took up the closure
implementation, it was found that the financial assurance
supplied by the mining companies were inadequate in
almost every case[7]. Subsequently, in several countries
like the USA, Australia, South Africa, and India, significant
development started related to mine closure laws. One of
the major aspects of mine closure laws that these countries
considered was the methodology to calculate the mine
closure cost for financial assurance to ensure funds for
closure liabilities if the company bailout.
In this paper, the author has tried to review the cost
estimation methodology of mining pioneer countries such
as the USA, Australia, South Africa and India and provides
similarities and dissimilarities of closure cost estimation
methodology.
II. Closure Cost Estimation
Calculating closure and reclamation cost is one of the most
significant challenges of mine closure management. Also
there is limited no. of literature or work in mine closure cost
estimation, especially for a particular mining method due
to limited no. of mine sites that are closed in a safe way and
also because the cost related to closure such as reclamation,
rehabilitation, decommissioning among others is hard to
quantify[8][9].
Because of the past experience and also from the experience
of other countries, some countries have developed closure
cost methods and guidelines and are improving that
continuously. But as of now, there is no universal or global
arrangement related to the use or methods of closure cost
estimation. These guidelines help regulatory authorities to
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
calculate the quantum of closure cost that the government
would incur to execute the mine closure safely if the
company fails to do so.
According to the report of World Bank and International
Finance Corporation mine closure cost is site-specific and
varies greatly depending on the location, type of mineral to
be extracted[10].
Various case studies, research articles show that mine
closure cost is site-specific and the accuracy of the closure
cost estimate is highly dependent on the details provided
in the closure plan, configuration of waste dumps, tailing
impoundments and other facilities of the mine site,
among other things. A hypothetical copper mine model
developed by M Nehring et al. suggests that mine closure
cost is site-specific and depends on the type of facilities
used and equipment deployed. A similar type of study
using simulation technique to estimate closure time and
closure cost by Morteza Paricheh et al. highlights that
the chemical characteristics of mine waste changes over
time and therefore the closure cost will depend on the
final configuration of tailing impoundments, physical and
chemical characteristics of waste, final land use pattern,
etc[11]it is often not to the extent that it should be. This
paper seeks to quantify the value that may be lost if closure
planning is not adequately considered in life of mine
planning and the difference in the mine plan between
scenarios that adequately consider closure costs and those
that do not. To demonstrate this, a case study is introduced
for the purpose of investigating the effect of mine closure
on various aspects of the mine design of a two dimensional
copper deposit. Results indicate that mining operations
may benefit from an altered mine plan whereby mine life is
extended due to the time value of money aspect associated
with closure. In addition to increasing the Net Present
Value (NPV[12][13].
III. Brief Description of the Closure
Cost Guidelines
A brief description of the closure cost estimation guidelines of
Australia, USA, South Africa, and India is presented below.
A. Queensland closure cost guidelines
The document named “Estimated Rehabilitation Cost
(ERC) Calculator” for mining activities commenced in
April 2019 replacing the Financial Assurance Calculator.
This ERC calculator opens in MS Excel. User input sheets are
provided to fill the details (such as area, length, the volume
of material to be handled, risk category of tailing facilities/
dump, etc.) of the mining facility such as infrastructure
(roads and tracks), overburden dumps, tailing storage
facilities, etc. There are predefined default rates for different
mining facilities and activities but flexibility has been
provided to the user to enter site-specific alternate cost/rate
for many the facilities/activities given that user provides
justification for that alternate cost.
Waste Rock Dumps, Heap Leach Pads, and Tailing Storage
Facilities have been categorized into four risk categories
that are high/medium/low/very low-risk category based
on the physical and chemical properties and different
rates are there for different categories according to the risk
associated with it.
Project management, contingency, environmental
maintenance, and monitoring costs are defined as
10%,10%and 5% of total estimated rehabilitation
cost respectively but the user can enter site-specific
multiplier[14].
B. Nevada closure cost guidelines
The state of Nevada (USA) uses Standardized Reclamation
Cost Estimator (SRCE). Since 2002, the Nevada government
and mining professionals are continuously working on
the reclamation cost calculator and have released many
models to date to improve the consistency of closure cost
estimates. The latest model SRCE 2.0 that was released in
December 2017 is awaiting validation by any third party or
government reviewers.
The model requires two types of data that is cost data (such
as material rates, labor cost, hourly equipment cost) and
project data (such as height, area, slope angle, specification
of facilities, etc.). The flexibility of including site-specific
costs is also available to the user[15].
C. South africa closure cost guidelines
The government of South Africa published this
guideline in 2005. Quantum of closure is based on 18
closure components each with its own master rate. One of
the eighteen components is the post-closure maintenance
cost for two to three years.
Mine is categorized into three types that are A, B and
C type depending upon the risk (high, medium and low)
that it possesses which depends on the nature of mineral
processed, saleable ore by-product, processing rate and type
of facilities. For high and medium risk mine, depending
upon the biophysical, economic and social setting a
sensitivity factor is applied for the particular mine site.
For low-risk mine sites, the cost could be calculated based
on the minimum amount per hectare. Another weighing
181
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

factor based on the terrain such as flat, undulating and The default rates for opencast and underground coal
rugged and proximity to the urban area has been used mine are rupees 6 lakh and rupees 1 lakh per hectare
for cost consideration. Contingencies are calculated as a respectively[17]. While the default rates for category “A”
percentage of direct costs[16]. and “B” mine are 3 lakh and 2 lakh rupees per hectare of
the mining lease area respectively[18].
A flow chart (Fig. 1) has been given for a better understanding
of South African financial assurance guidelines. The above default rate also covers the post-closure costs
such as environmental monitoring, maintenance, and other
Step 1
Determine mineral mined/
miscellaneous charges.
processed and saleable by products

IV. Discussion
Step 2 Step 3 While in Nevada and Queensland regulatory authorities
Determine risk class Determine area sensitivity
have used bottom-up, first principle method for calculation
of different activities associated with mine closure, India’s
and South Africa’s government guidelines calculate the
Class A and B mines Class C mines closure cost on the basis of the total lease area. However
regulatory authority in South Africa has also divided the
Step 4.1
Determine level of
closure cost on the basis of facilities present in mine site and
information sensitivity of mine area but the flexibility to mine owner
has not been provided to enter site-specific cost based on
Route 1 Route 2 first principle method of cost calculation.
Extensive Limited
The major dissimilarity between India and the other aforesaid
Option 3:”Rules
Option 2: “Rules
based approach”
countries can be distinguished using the following points:
based approach”

Step4.2
Route3 : Flat Rate/hectare
(i) In India closure cost is solely based on the extent of
Determine closure components
mine lease area;
Step 4.3
Determine unit rates for each Step 5.1
(ii) No consideration has been given to mine site sensitivity,
closure components Determine minimum rate per
hectare for closure
waste material characteristics, stripping ratio, type of
equipment deployed or the type of facility present in
Step 4.4
Determine an apply weighting
Step 5.2
the mine site, among other things;
factors
Determine overall size of mine
(iii) Lack of flexibility for a mine owner to enter the site-
Step 4.5 Step 4.7
Step 4.6
Step 5.3
specific cost.
Identify site specific
Determine areas Calculate closure Calculate closure
closure costs from
of disturbances costs
specialist studies
costs
V. Conclusions
The past experience of other mining pioneer countries such
Level 1
Option 1: Accept quantum or
Level 2
“Rules-based” assessment of
Level 3
“Quick” assessment of
as the USA shows that the amount of closure cost based
Option 2: Independent
review
the quantum quantum
on average cost per area does not work but the actual cost
is site-specific. Accurate estimation of mine closure cost
is highly dependent on the details provided in the mine
Step 6
Commission independent review ( if closure plan.
required)

As a number of mines are going to be closed in India, it

Fig.1. Flow chart of South Africa mine closure quantum is of urgent requirement to estimate mine closure cost
calculation guidelines using some empirical method by considering stripping
D. India closure cost guidelines ratio,euipments deployed at the mine site final land
For calculating mine closure cost the Indian government use pattern, social status of nearby population among
has defined a default rate based on per hectare basis. The other things.
default rate has been divided under 4 categories according
to the type of mine. Default rates for Coal and lignite mines
are based on whether it is an opencast or underground
mine. While the default rate of metalliferous mine is based
on whether it is category “A” mine or Category “B” mine.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
An Evaluation of Leachability from Stabilized Flyash,
Mine Overburden, and Lime Mixtures under Modified
Leaching Conditions
Sunil Kumar*
Department of Mining Engineering,
IIT (BHU),Varanasi, 221105, India
sunil.rs.min13@itbhu.ac.in
Brind Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering,
IIT (BHU), Varanasi, 221005, India
kumar_brind.civ@iitbhu.ac.in
Abstract - Fly ash from coal-burning consists of microele-
ment, which, on disposal or utilization, Leach may out, and
consequently be a potential environmental risk. Environ-
mental problems have a significant impact on the mobility
of fly ash components as well as the chemical and physical
properties of the fly ash. Disposal of fly ash on land quantities
compromising valuable land area. Recycling of fly ash is one
of the techniques for fixing the disposal issue. Its rewarding
application is being evaluated in numerous places. An exper-
imental analysis had been accomplished to convert fly ash in
the mix with another waste product for mining applications.
This paper highlights the microstructure as well as leaching
features of the industrialized fly ash, mine overburden, and
lime mixtures. Fly ash were collected from NTPC Singrauli,
and mine overburden from the Jayant Opencast coal mine of
NCL, India. These were then defined, mixed with lime in var-
ious proportions, and compacted to different values. The com-
pressed specimens for California bearing ratio (CBR) tests
were cured for 7, 28 and 56 days. Geotechnical assessments
conducted include the California bearing ratio (CBR), Con-
sistency limits, Grain size distribution, and Proctor compac-
tion tests. The CBR values and microstructural examination
were determined to know the effect of curing. The morpholo-
gy of all the mixtures revealed the improvement of hydrated
gel at 56 days curing period. Evolving hydrates filled the voids
among the particles during the curing period. Microanalysis
validated the formation of fresh cementitious substances such
as calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) gel and calcium aluminate
hydrate (CAH) gel, which increased the California bearing
proportion of the product gradually. It is detected from the
leachate analysis that the concentration of Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Fe,
Hg, Mg, Cd, Cr, and Pb in the leachate effluents were below
threshold limit hence appropriate for impurities flowing fac-
tual into groundwater.
Keywords— Fly ash; Leachate effluent; Microstructure;
Mine Overburden, CBR
I. Introduction
Coal-derived power consists of over 39% of the world’s
power production. Therefore, a mass the quantity of coal
combustion by-products are produced and shifted the
additional burden onto the economic situation and also
Sanjay Kumar Sharma
Department of Mining Engineering,
IIT (BHU), Varanasi, 221105, India
sksharma.min@iitbhu.ac.in
the environment. Circulating fluidized bed combustion
(CFBC) is a clean and ultimate modern technology for
India coal-fired power plants to have reliable power
generation from low-grade imported coal with decreased
exhausts[1]. Due to the ever-increasing demand for power
for progression purposes, the production of fly ash is
rising rapidly, while producing electric power by thermal
power plants. The increase in the production of fly ash
and its disposal in an eco-friendly manner is increasingly
transforming into an issue of global concern. This huge
amount of fly ash demands massive land, depriving any
country of the precious land space. Therefore, the best
way of disposing of fly ash is to utilize it, after converting
it into a non-hazardous product through an economic
process, for the requirements of humanity. In fig1 showed
that’s the different nation production and utilization of fly
ash. Fly ash stabilizing with additives might reduce the
issue of leaching and dusting. Fly ash may be used as bulk
fill product in geotechnical fill, such as in the construction
of dams, dikes, and roadway subgrade. For the effective
application of fly ash as fill material in civil engineering
construction, knowledge of compaction characteristics of
the fill material is essential to attain effective compaction
in the field. In India, non-cementitious fly ash (Class F
type) are produced in a major amount than cementitious
fly ash (Class C type) because of the burning of bituminous
coals in thermal power plants. These kinds of fly ashes
consist of a higher amount of SiO2 along with Al2O3[2].
These chemicals react with an activator rich in CaO, for
example, lime, cement, lime kiln dust, or cement kiln dust
within sight of dampness to frame cementitious mixes for
parameter applications. Various entrepreneurs studied
the improvement of the strength of fly ash as a result of
activities between fly ash and lime. They combined fly
ash (40%) with sandy soils with plastic fines contents
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

and also triggered the mix with 7% cement and obtained of continuous leaching on the performance and service
a California bearing ratio (CBR) of 140%. The class-F life of lime stabilized lateritic soils for usage as sub-bases
fly ash after stabilizing with 10% lime and 1% gypsum and also subgrades in the design and construction of
accomplished a CBR value of 172% at 28 days curing pavement framework.
reported by Ghosh and Subbarao[3]. Ghosh and Subbarao
reviewed the microstructural characteristics of Class F fly
ash maintained with lime (6 and 10%) and gypsum (1%).
Country
Stabilization of fly ash with proper ingredients was among 120 Utilization of Fly ash 120

the promising methods to mitigate the problems of

100 100
dusting and leaching[4]. The overburden (O/B) material

Production of Fly ash(M/T)

is an essential raw material that has been typically used

Utilization of Fly ash(%)

80 80
in a limited method practically restricted to the mine
itself. Usually, it is disposed of back to voids created by
60 60
surface mining procedures. In the table, I and figure 2
showed the production of Overburden in different mines
40 40
data (2014-2015) in India[5]. It causes environmental
and geotechnical problems on random disposal. The
20 20
overburden is extremely dissimilar. It usually contains
a mixture of coarse-grained particles to rock fragments 0 0
and also fine-grained particles.Particles Gradation results India China USA Germany UK AustraliaCanada France Denmark ItalyNetherlands

recommend that fines and coarse grains are around equally Country
represented in the soil. This research study investigates
the performance of fly ash overburden and lime- Fig.1 Production and utilization of fly ash in a different country
stabilized lateritic subgrades under continuous leaching Table I. Overburden Removal In Indian Mines (2014-2015)
by concentrating on adjustments in the engineering
properties of the natural soil together with those treated Name of No. of surface Annual production of
with differing percentages of lime. Geotechnical tests company mine overburden (Million m3)
performed consist of California bearing ratio (CBR), BCCL 15 103.901
Atterberg limits, particle size evaluation, and Proctor
compaction tests. The leaching assessment was carried CCL 35 97.378
out by utilizing an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer
for 28 days. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) is ECL 18 94.047
a Spectro analytical treatment for the quantitative and
qualitative resolution of chemical components utilizing MCL 14 89.221
the absorption of optical radiation (light) by free atoms
in the gaseous state. The technique is used to determine NCL 08 210.614
the concentration of a specific component in a sample.
NEC 02 10.185
It assesses the concentration of components in a liquid
sample based upon energy absorbed from particular
SECL 19 158.268
wavelengths of light (usually 190 to 900 nm). Atomic
absorption spectrophotometer typically consists of a
WCL 33 122.914
flame burner to atomize the specimen (most frequently
a hollow cathode lamp), a monochromator, and a photon Grand Total 144 886.5
detector[6]. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) was carried
out on the obtained leachates combined with various other
physicochemical tests such as pH, electrical conductivity
(EC), and calcium and potassium concentrations.
Physicochemical evaluations showed a significant
decrease in EC, calcium, and potassium concentrations
from the pore fluid of the soil-lime mixtures. Therefore,
this research analysis aims at investigating the influence

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TIO2 0.52 0.68 ---

Na2O 0.3 --- 0.12
P 2O 5 0.12 --- 0.04
SO3 --- --- 0.26
LOI 1.55 9.5 21.55

Table Iii. Consistency Limits & Grain Size Distribution Of Fly Ash &
O/B

Property Fly ash Overburden

Specific gravity 2.13 2.62
Consistency limits
Liquid limit (%) 31.47 26.28
Plastic limit (% Non-plastic 16.05
Shrinkage limit (%) ---- 15.87
Plasticity index (%) ---- 10.23
Particle size analysis (%)
Gravel (>4.75 mm) ---- 08.52
Sand (4.75 mm – 0.075 mm) 21.67 30.45
Fig.2 Overburden removal in Indian Mines (2014-2015) Silt (0.075 mm – 0.002 mm) 75.41 49.78
Clay (<0.002 mm) 2.92 11.25
II. Materials And Methods
b. Lime
A. Materials
The additives selected were commercially accessible
a. Fly Ash- premium quality quick lime (make: Rajasthan Lime, Goyal
Fly ash utilized in the here, and now analysis was obtained Udyog, India). The quick lime was used throughout the test
from Singrauli Thermal Power Station (STPS), Uttar program for stabilizing the fly ash and overburden. The
Pradesh, India. This fly ash, generally referred to as raw pureness of the lime was 75 %[4].
fly ash at the power plant but referred to as fly ash in
this research paper, was accumulated in a dry state by an c. Overburden
electrostatic precipitator. The chemical composition and In mining, overburden is the component that lies over a
physical properties of the fly ash are given in Tables II location that provides itself to economic exploitation, such
& III. The predominant chemical constituents in the fly as the rock, soil, and environment that lies above a coal
ash were alumina, iron, and silica. Calcium was present joint or ore body. Overburden is particular from tailings,
in an extremely low percentage, and according to ASTM the material that remains after financially valuable elements
specification C 618-89 (1992), this fly ash might be classified have been removed from the usually very carefully milled
as Class F type[7]. Low lime substance fly ashes falling in ore. Overburden is eliminated throughout surface mining;
Class F are commonly found in India and many nations all however, it often is not polluted with hazardous elements.
over the world. The overburden removal data in India 2014-15 is given up
in table 2[8]. The overburden used in this research study
Table Ii. Chemical Composition Of Fly Ash, Overburden & Lime was gathered from Jayant, opencast coal mine, at various
Constituents Fly ash Mine Overburden Lime specific locations. The moment dumpers dump those,
SiO2 53.98 49.56 1.98
dozers/spreaders are used to spread out the material.
Specimens for testing were selected and collected that those
Al2O3 34.19 28.98 0.87
represent the average products found in the mine. Sample
Fe2O3 6.98 8.39 0.42 collections were carried out from all parts of the dump
CaO 0.56 1.10 70.58 area. Gunny bags were used to collect the loosened up soil
K2O 1.43 0.42 0.98 sample leaving the gravels, rocks, etc.
MgO 0.67 1.37 3.20
d. Leachate Samples

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

The effluent appearing of the outlet of the hydraulic on IS: 2720 (Part 17) for the collection of leaching effluents.
conductivity mould was accumulated in sampling bottles Samples for the permeability test were prepared following
cleaned with acid and distilled water before collecting the same procedure as discussed for the CBR evaluation. In
the samplings for leachate analysis. Immediately after this case, the wet mixtures of the samples were compacted
collection, to acidify the specimens, 1.5 ml concentrated in the permeameter mould of 100mm inner diameter and
HNO3/L of the sample was contributed to the sample. The 127mm height. After compaction, the samples were cured
leachate samplings were maintained at -10 ° C before usage for 7 days. Permeability tests were carried out at the end of
and to avoid volume change and evaporation[9]. 7 days curing period. The leaching effluents appearing from
samplings with the outlet of the permeability moulds were
B. Methods
accumulated. After the collection of leachate samples, 1.5
Weight portions of fly ash of 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and
ml of concentrated Nitric acid per liter of the sample was
30% were utilized to blend with mine overburden and
included in the leachate samples immediately to acidify
lime. The lime content of 3%, 6%, and 9% by weight of
the samples. The leachate samples were analyzed for the
the total mix was used in the research study. The modified
metals Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Fe, Hg, Mg, Cd, Cr, and Pb by an
Proctor compaction (heavy compaction) assessment was
Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer.
carried out to identify the maximum dry density and
optimum moisture content of the fly ash, overburden
material, and lime as per IS: 2720 (Part 8). Sample
(FA+O/B+LIME) for CBR assessments were prepared at
their corresponding optimum moisture content (OMC),
and maximum dry density (MDD). The specimen, such
as fly ash, mine overburden, and lime, were blended in
the required proportion in the dry state. After that, the
obligated amount of water corresponding to OMC was
added to the mixtures and mixed carefully. The mixture
was left in a closed container for consistent blending and
avoided loss of moisture to the atmosphere. Then the
specimen was statically compacted to 95% of modified Fig. 3. CBR testing apparatus
Proctor maximum dry density in the standard CBR mould
of 150mm diameter and also 175mm height, such that III. Results And Discussion
the height was kept at 127mm. A round metal spacer disc
of 148 mm diameter and 47.7 mm height was utilized to A. Optimum Moisture Content
compact the sample shown in figure 3. California bearing The maximum dry density (MDD) and optimum moisture
ratio (CBR) tests were performed according to IS: 2720 content (OMC) values for fly ash, mine overburden, and all
(Part 16)[10]. The samples were soaked for four days in the mixes up are reported in Table IV. The maximum dry
water and were permitted to drain for 15 min before the test density of fly ash is less than that of mine overburden, as fly
to obtain soaked condition results. The curing durations ash is non-cohesive.
implemented were instant, 7 days (3 days moist curing + 4
days soaking), and similar 28 days (24 days wet curing + 4 Table Iv. Maximum Dry Density And Optimum Moisture Content
days soaking). The CBR tests were carried out at the end Values

of the particular curing period. Two surcharge disks, each

Mix MDD (kg/m3) OMC (%)
considering 2.5 kg, were positioned over a plunger, and
Mine Overburden 2026 9.6
the sample, 50 mm in diameter, was utilized to penetrate
Fly ash 1356 21.85
the specimen at a rate of 1.25 mm/min during the CBR
FA+OB
test. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies were
performed on 28 days of cured samples[11]. Zeiss EVO 10+90 2008 9.80
(Japan) series Scanning Electron Microscope model EVO 15+85 1975 10.25
18 was used to evaluate the morphology of the materials. 20+80 1935 10.87
For XRD-analysis Miniflex600/Dtex Rigaku (japan) 25+75 1889 10.98
utilized in CIF Research lab of IIT (BHU) Varanasi. The 30+70 1868 11.40
permeability procedure conducted a leaching study based

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

35+65 1820 11.58

40+60 1783 11.89
45+55 1748 12.30
50+50 1696 12.98
FA+OB+LIME
10+87+3 1992 9.96
10+84+6 1979 10.10
10+81+9 1970 10.23
15+82+3 1964 10.37
15+79+6 1953 10.95
15+76+9 1942 11.20
20+77+3 1928 10.93
20+74+6 1911 11.21
20+71+9 1894 11.64
25+72+3 1883 12.02
Fig. 3. Effect of lime and curing period on CBR behaviour of
25+69+6 1879 12.61
mixtures in Un-soaked condition
25+66+9 1866 12.97
30+67+3 1858 12.60
30+64+6 1841 12.85
30+61+9 1827 12.89
Note: MDD - Maximum dry density, OMC - Optimum moisture
content, FA - Fly ash, O/B - Overburden, L - Lime.

B. California bearing ratio behaviour

The CBR behaviour assessments of fly ash, overburden, and
lime mixtures increased with the curing period. The CBR
values under soaked (Cured) conditions are less than the
un-soaked condition due to a decrease in effective stresses
and loss of surface tension forces upon soaking. The CBR
values continued the increasing trend at 7 days un-soaked
samples that vary from 50% to 150% and at 28 days cured
samples that vary from 90% to 197% and similar in 56 days
119% to 220%. But in cured (soaked) sample strength is
less to un-soaked condition. In figure 3 showed the graph
of CBR gain variation in un-soaked (Dry) condition
and figure 4 show soaked condition for mixtures. The
percentage gain CBR value varies from 5% to 90% at 7, 28
and 56 days curing period. It is observed that in the un- Fig. 4. Effect of lime and curing period on CBR behaviour of
soaked condition the mixture containing 25% fly ash and mixtures in soaked condition
66% overburden with 9% lime exhibited maximum CBR
value as compared to that of other mixtures at 56 days C. Microstructural behaviour
curing. Similar in soaked condition 10% fly ash, 81% O/B a. Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM)
and 9% lime exhibited maximum CBR value as compared The microstructure characteristics of fly ash, Overburden,
to that of other mixtures at 56 days curing. Its show in and lime were studied by scanning electron microscopic
figure 4 the variant of soaked condition for mixtures. approaches. A small part of the material was held in the
oven at 105ºC for 24 hours for drying. The sampling was
attached to a sampling holder. \ Zeiss EVO series Scanning

187
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Electron Microscope model EVO 18 was used to analyze
the morphology of the materials. The scanning electron
micrograph of fly ash, Overburden, and lime at 5000 times
magnifying. It showed that spherical and smooth particles
of various size ranges were present in the fly ash & mixtures.
It indicated that angular and irregular particles of different
size ranges were present in the fly ash, Overburden, and lime
mixtures. The division of particles is shown in figure 5, show
that the size of lesser than 4 microns was existing, and some
particles of size 8 microns were spotted. The SEM Image of
fly ash, Overburden, and lime reveal that it displays a smooth
surface, rough, and angular shape Surface.
b. X-ray diffraction (XRD)
It is observed from micro-analyses that the new
cementitious substances such as calcium silicate hydrate
(CSH), calcium aluminate hydrate (CAH), and calcium
aluminate silicate hydrate(CASH) were developed around
fly ash, overburden and lime particles as a result of the
pozzolanic reaction at 56 days curing. These hydration
products filled up the pore spaces and preserved a bond
between fly ash spheres and overburden particles. It verifies
that the increase in lime content generates a densified
interlocking network along with the strength development
additionally depends on the number of hydration products
in addition to their interlocking mechanisms. The strength
development is affected by the cementitious gel produced
and subsequently by the amount of lime consumed. The
XRD pattern of un-soaked condition of fly ash, overburden
and lime of varies3%.6%and 9% lime content, shown in
figure 6.

Q
25FA+66O/B+9L
25FA+69O/B+6L Q-Quartz
25FA+72OB+3L H-Hematite
CSH-Calcium Silicate Hydrate
CAH-Calcium Aluminate Hydrate
CASH-Calcium Aluminate Silicate Hydrate
Q
Q
Relative Intensity

Q
CAH CSH CASH Q
CAH CASH H
CSH CSH
CSH CAH CSH
Q

Q Q
CSH H
CASH
Q
CAH CAHCASH CSH Q
CAH CSH
CSH CAH
Q

Q Q
CSH H
CSH Q
CAH CAHCASH CASH CSH
CAH CSH CAH

20 40 60 80
2θ(°)

Fig.6. XRD patterns of (25FA+66OB) stabilised with 9, 6, and 3

% lime
Fig.5. SEM Image of (25FA+66O/B+9LIME)

Table V. Leachate Concentrations (Ppm) On 7th Day Of Flow For 7 Days Curing Period

Mixer Leachate concentrations (ppm)Metal

FA+OB+LIME
Ni Cr Pb Cu Zn As Fe Hg Mg Cd

Allowable limits 0.02 0.05 0.05 1 5 0.05 0.30 0.001 150 0.005

Threshold limits 2 5 5 100 500 5 30 0.10 15000 0.50

10+87+3 0.016 0.183 0.107 0.053 0.097 0.097 0.084 0.099 0.129 0.045

10+84+6 0.023 0.189 0.117 0.070 0.103 0.100 0.097 0.103 0.143 0.049
10+81+9 0.025 0.196 0.163 0.079 0.109 0.107 0.104 0.114 0.152 0.043
15+82+3 0.035 0.219 0.169 0.089 0.117 0.119 0.109 0.121 0.159 0.041
15+79+6 0.039 0.217 0.198 0.093 0.123 0.123 0.115 0.127 0.168 0.039
15+76+9 0.037 0.227 0.203 0.106 0.133 0.127 0.121 0.136 0.173 0.036

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

20+77+3 0.043 0.234 0.243 0.117 0.139 0.129 0.128 0.139 0.189 0.035
20+74+6 0.049 0.239 0.249 0.123 0.143 0.132 0.139 0.143 0.187 0.035
20+71+9 0.058 0.245 0.257 0.136 0.148 0.137 0.143 0.149 0.195 0.033
25+72+3 0.065 0.268 0.261 0.139 0.159 0.139 0.149 0.154 0.203 0.031
25+69+6 0.073 0.273 0.269 0.143 0.167 0.143 0.153 0.159 0.209 0.029
25+66+9 0.081 0.279 0.276 0.149 0.173 0.147 0.159 0.165 0.217 0.028
30+67+3 0.093 0.289 0.292 0.157 0.179 0.151 0.163 0.172 0.223 0.027
30+64+6 0.102 0.297 0.301 0.169 0.187 0.159 0.167 0.181 0.229 0.025

Leaching Behaviour Acknowledgment

The concentration of metals in leachate on the 7th day of
flow analyzed for Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Fe, Hg, Mg, Cd, Cr, and
Pb are presented in Table IV. The threshold value for the
maximum contaminant level is considered as 100 times
the allowable limit reported elsewhere. It is observed
that the leachate effluents consist of Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Fe,
Hg, Mg, Cd, Cr, and Pb between 0.01 to 1.56 ppm. These
concentrations were below the threshold limitations.
There were recommendations that the concentration of
heavy metals in the leachate effluent emanating from the
hydraulic conductivity specimens of stabilized fly ash with
higher proportions of lime or lime with gypsum were
listed below threshold limits acceptable for contaminants
streaming into groundwater.
IV. Conclusion
The results pointed out that the California bearing ratio
of all the mixes up enhanced with the addition of lime
and curing period. The higher CBR value in un-soaked
condition is due to the capillary created at OMC and MDD
condition in addition to the friction resulting the penetration
of the plunger. Mine overburden mixed with 25% fly ash,
66% Overburden, and 9% lime demonstrated maximum
strength in un-soaked condition but in soaked condition
10% FA+81% O/B+9% lime gain more CBR values than
other mixtures at 7, 28 & 56 days curing. The microstructure
& morphology of all the mixtures showed the formation of
hydrated gel at 7, 28 & 56 days curing period. The voids
in between the particles were filled by expanding hydrates
with curing time. Microanalysis validated the formation of
new cementitious substances such as gel calcium aluminate
hydrate (CAH), calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) & calcium
aluminate silicate hydrate (CASH) gel which leads to
enhance the California bearing ratio of the material over
time. It is observed from the leachate evaluation that the
concentration of Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Fe, Hg, Mg, Cd, Cr, and Pb
in the leachate effluents was listed below threshold limits
The authors are especially grateful to the Department of
Mining & Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology
(BHU), Varanasi, for providing technical support during
the whole Research period. The author would like to thank
the reviewers for their valuable comments, which helped
immensely in the cause of the paper.
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Metallurgical & Materials Engineering By,” 2008.
[8] R. Kumar and A. K. Ghosh, “The accident analysis of mobile mine
machinery in Indian opencast coal mines,” Int. J. Inj. Contr. Saf.
Promot., vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 54–60, Mar. 2014.
[9] L. Saria, … T. S.-W. M. &, and undefined 2006, “Leaching of heavy
metals in acid mine drainage,” journals.sagepub.com.
[10] O. Amu, S. Ogunniyi, and O. Oladeji, “Geotechnical properties of
lateritic soil stabilized with sugarcane straw ash,” Am. J. Sci. Ind.
Res., vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 323–331, 2011.
[11] S. A. Naeini and M. Mirzakhanlari, “The effect of geotextile and
grading on the bearing ratio of granular soils,” Electron. J. Geotech.
Eng., vol. 13 J, no. 1996, 2008.

and suitable for contaminants flowing into groundwater.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Assessment of Neutralizing Potential of Co-disposable

Overburden Waste Rock and Fly ash Mixer for the
Development of Environmentally Sustainable AMD
Remediation Process
Saba Shirin* Aarif Jamal
Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute Department of Mining Engineering, Indian
of Technology Institute of Technology
(Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi – 221 005, (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi – 221 005,
India India
sabashirin83@gmail.com ajamal.min@itbhu.ac.in

Abstract — Acid mine drainage is one of the most per- mine, wide variation in quality of water occurs. The pH of
sistent environmental pollution problems affecting the water ranges from very acidic to very alkaline range (Jamal
quality of water in many mines including coal mines all 2008). Among objectionable parameters of water quality the
over the world. In coal mines, the main causes of acidi- low pH value, high level of sulfate, iron and total dissolved
ty of AMD occur due to oxidation of the mineral pyrite
solids are the important parameters (Shirin, 2014). These
(FeS2) and other sulphide metals which occurs as veins,
granular and crystallized forms in coal and shale. In this parameters causes depletion of oxygen content in water
paper, an attempt has been made to examine under lab- and increases the toxicity of mine water by rendering heavy
oratory condition the neutralizing potential of overbur- metals soluble. Such acidic water not only damage the
den rock and fly ash mixer to be used as a fill material in aquatic life but also corrodes pumps and pipes during its
the voids of an abandoned mine filled with acidic mine handling from mine to disposal sites besides decreasing the
water. The results indicate that the optimal mixer of aesthetic of the area
these waste materials may be safely used for controlling
the pollution problems likely to arise from the AMD wa- In this paper, a case study of the utilization of fly ash and
ter filled in the voids of an abandoned coal mine. overburden waste rocks for neutralization of acidic water
of coal mine has been discussed. Theoretical and acid
Keywords: Fly ash, Overburden rock, Acidic mine water,
neutralization potentials of fly ash and OB were determined.
Neutralization, Environmental problem.
The acid neutralization potential of fly ash and OB for acid
water treatment has been tested in the laboratory by using
I. INTRODUCTION fly-ash and waste rock materials and acidic water of field.
In many countries, several rivers, streams and reservoirs The results are encouraging; O/B and fly-ash may prove as
are adversely affected by contaminated water draining a good acid neutralizer of acidic water. Fly ash generation
from mines, both in active and abandoned stages. . Such and utilization in different countries are shows that in table
problems are common in metal sulphides mines. In some 1 (Jamal 2016).
of the Indian coal mines acid water is a serious issues TABLE I. FLY ASH GENERATION AND UTILIZATION IN
adversely affecting the quality both surface and ground DIFFERENT COUNTRIES
water in and around the mining area(Jamal, 2008). In coal
Annual ash
mines, the main cause of acidity is the occurrence of pyrite S.No. Country production, Ash
MT utilization %
and other sulphide metals in the form of a vein, granular
and crystallized form in coal and shale(Jamal, 2015a).The 1 India 112 38
“Zero Discharge Concept” is only true during the non- 2 China 100 45
rainy season and in geologically good water retaining 3 USA 75 65
4 Germany 40 85
terrain. However, mines are always a constant source of
5 UK 15 50
water contamination. As a result of variation in geology
6 Australia 10 85
and mineralogy of coal and associated rocks from mine to

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

7 Canada 6 75 The plateau, which is referred to as Mohar plateau, has

8 France 3 85 step-like scrap faces towards south. The steps appear to
9 Denmark 2 100 represent different stages of pene-planation. The different
10 Italy 2 100 platforms are of remnant type, resulting from erosion of
11 Netherlands 2 100 gently inclined sedimentary strata of varying resistance.
Physio-graphically, the eastern part of the coalfield in
TABLE II. OVERBURDEN REMOVAL IN INDIAN MINES (2018-2019) U.P., is characterized by a cluster of hills and plateau to
the north and undulating plains to the south. The western
Annual production
S.No.
Name of No. of surface
of overburden
part of the coalfield also comprises a platform with a slope
company mine towards east and south, where there are abrupt drops of 50
(Million m3)
to 60m in altitude. Towards southwest, several high peaks
1 BCCL 15 103.901
such as Popari (508m) and Burma (564m) are prominent
2 CCL 35 97.378 topographic features.
3 ECL 18 94.047
Climate, Flora and Fauna
4 MCL 14 89.221 The coalfield experiences a tropical monsoon type climate.
5 NCL 08 210.614 Though, the winters are rather cold (5-100C), the summer
temperature often shoots upto 460c in the day time. The
6 NEC 02 10.185
area enjoys a rather heavy monsoon and the annual rainfall
7 SECL 19 158.268 varies between 125cm and 150cm.the wild animals are
8 WCL 33 122.914 depleting and many have migrated to more remote areas
due to mining and allied activities. The ground especially
Grand Total 144 886.5
the elevated areas, is mostly covered with open forests of
Kendu, Mahua, Bija, A.
II. experimental
Material and Methods Study Area Location and Description of Water Sampling Sites
Singrauli Coalfield is spread across the districts of Singrauli For such a study the sample locations are very carefully
and Sonebhadra in the Indian states of Madhya Pradesh chosen so that they are representative samples. Thus,
and Uttar Pradesh, mostly in the basin of the Son River. samples were collected from various strategic locations. The
The Singrauli Coalfield is located between latitudes 24012’ water sampling locations were identified with the objective
N and 23047’ N. It is spread over nearly 2,200 km2 but only to assess the physico-chemical characteristics of mine
a small part of the coalfield, around 220 km2, has been water across the mine. To get firsthand knowledge of water
identified as promising by the Geological Survey of India. quality in the study area, water samples were collected in
The north-eastern part of the coalfield sits on a plateau the one liter plastic gallons. The location of sampling sites
with an altitude of 500 m above mean sea level, well above were selected in such a way that water analysis data reflects
the lower plains of 280 m altitude. Northern Coalfields the water quality with mining operations at one place
Limited was carved out of Central Coalfields Limited in and also provides actual concentrations of objectionable
1986, to take care of operations in the Singrauli Coalfield. parameters at that particular location. Each location has an
The proved reserves in the Moher basin are about 3 billion identification number after the sample collect from mine.
tonnes out of which 2.3 billion tonnes have already been
Collection of Fly ash
planned for mining, in an area of about 84 km2.
The fly ash used in the present study was collected (Hindalco
Topography power plant, Renusager) in dry state from electrostatic
The Singrauli coal field stands as high plateau over the precipitators. The mineral matter associated with the coal,
surrounding planes covered by Talchir sediment. The such as clay, quartz and feldspar disintegrate or slag to
Barakar sediment projects over the Talchir outcrops as varying degree. The finer particles that escape with flue
scrap faces. Towards North, the Gondwana sediment abuts gases are collected as fly ash using electrostatic precipitators
against Precambrian rocks, which from a series of East- in hoppers and stored. The hoppers have small outlets.
West trending prominent ridge. The Singrauli plateau rises Gunny bags made of strong poly-coated cotton with 50kg
to a height of over 500m. Above mean sea level, (M.S.L.) capacity each were used to collect the dry fly ash. The chute
from the Southern plane, which has a general level of about of hoppers was slowly opened and the bags were filled. The
275m.from above M.S.L. mouth of each bag was sealed immediately after collection

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

and the same was again inserted in another polypack to laboratory crushing, grinding and sieved to discard gravels,
prevent atmospheric influences. The bags were transported pebbles etc.
with almost care from the plant to laboratory and kept in a
secure and controlled environment. Samples of fly ash were III. Laboratory Work
taken out as per requirement of test.

Physical Characteristics of Fly ash Analysis

Fly ash is spherical particles makes up 10 to 85% part of the
total coal ash residue, usually ranging in diameter from 0.5
to 100 microns(Jamal, 2008). It is a heterogeneous material
primarily consisting of amorphous alumino-silicate spheres
with minor amounts of iron-rich spheres, some crystalline
Figure 1. Overburden rocks separate from different size of sieves
phases, and a small amount of unburned carbon. Chemical
in department mineral crushing laboratory.
composition of fly-ash as given table 3.
TABLE IV: PHYSICO-MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF OB DUMP
MATERIALS (SINGRAULI AREA)
TABLE III. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FLYASH
S.NO Proporties Value
Component Bituminous Subbituminous Lignite
1 Optimum moisture content (%) 10
SiO (%) 20-60 40-60 15-45
2
Al O (%) 5-35 20-30 20-25 2 Dry density (g/cc) 2.08
2 3
Fe O (%) 10-40 4-10 4-15 3 Wet density (g/cc) 2.28
2 3
CaO (%) 1-12 5-30 15-40
4 Specific gravity 2.56
LOI (%) 0-15 0-3 0-5
Characteristics of Overburden Waste Rock 5 Direct shear test (degree) 35
The overburden rocks in the study area are friable, loose, and 6 Cohesion (MPa) 1.07
non-cohesive in natural and the size varies from boulder
7 Triaxial test (degree) 35
to clay. In the present study area mine has been divided
in to two sections the east and the west with a central exit 8 Plastic limit -
ramp. Both the external and internal overburden dumping 9 Liquid limit -
methods are adopted during the mining processes. During
10 Permeability (K) (cm/sec) 1.71x10-5
external overburden dumping, contour strip benches are
prepared to stabilize overburden dumps (Jamal, 2015b). TABLE V: TEXTURE ANALYSIS OF OVERBURDEN
These benches improve dump stability against slope failure
Grain Size Analysis of O/B Sample{Sieve Size(mm)}
and reduce surface erosion by reducing slope length
(Chaulya, 1999). The initial overburden dump of 97 million 4.75
cubic meters has been removed as external overburden 2
dumps on the east and the west side of excavations. These 1
0.425
fill the southern boundary valley and extend over the plain
0.212
to south. Samples for testing were selected and collected
0.15
that those represent the average materials found in the 0.075
mine. The table of Physico-mechanical properties of OB
dump materials and Texture Analysis of Overburden are
shows in table no 4 & 5.
Collection of Overburden Waste Rocks
Sample collections were carried out from all parts of the
dump area. Gunny bags were used to collect the loose soils
sample leaving the gravels, boulders etc. aside. The process
followed for fly ash collection was also repeated to collect
overburden material.The sample were properly packed and
brought carefully to laboratory at IIT,BHU for physical
and chemical analysis. The material was explored in the Figure 2. SEM analysis of fly ash

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Two samples of each 100 ml volume of mine water (pH

2.54) taken in two containers viz. flask. Both containers
are separately added with 10 gm of overburden and fly
ash. The readings of pH value were taken with respect to
time. According to the above data graphs (pH vs. Time of
Interaction) were plotted. It can be concluded from the
figure 4 and 5 that the rate of change of pH with respect
to time is changed after mixing the fly ash and overburden
(sandstones) into the acidic water.
It can also be observed from figure 5 that the increase in pH
of acidic water (2.54) after putting fly-ash in acidic water.
The range of pH is increased from 2.54 to 3.69. The range of
pH is varying from 2.54 to 3.69 after traveling no of times.
The pH is increasing from figure 5 the pH value after 0
minutes at 10 min is 2.58, at 30 min 2.65 at 12 hours 3.04
at 24 hours 3.22 at 36 hours 3.34 at 48 hours 3.69. Indicates
that the rate of increase in pH with reference to increasing.

Fig. 3. Sample preparation in laboratory
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
It can also be observed from figure 4 that the increase in pH
value of acidic water(2.54) increases while it is following
through after putting the overburden (white sand stone)
inacidic water. The range of pH is increased from initial 2.54
to 2.89 after travelling no of times .The pH is increasing from
figure 4 the pH value after 0 minutes at 10 min is 2.54, at 30
min 2.55 at 12 hours 2.59 at 24 hours 2.69 at 36 hours 2.81 at
48 hours 2.89. Indicates that the rate of increase in pH
3.0
2.9
2.8
2.7
pH
V. CONCLUSION
Acid mine drainage (AMD) is widely recognized as the
single largest environmental issues faced by the global
mining industry. Fortunately, this problem is less common
in India. Successful management of acid water drainage
can play a significant role in improving the ecosystem,
them the environment surrounding as well as the long term
sustainability of mine site.
In this paper, an attempt, therefore, has been made to
suggest mitigation measures and the ways how to manage
the pollutants in a way so that the ecosystem of the area
gets least disturbed by the associated mining activity. The
laboratory investigation of the R-pH value of overburden
indicates that the overburden (sandstone) is alkaline
in nature. We can say that the OB can be used for acid
water treatment. Fly-ash and OB (sandstone) both are
appreciable neutralization potential and may effectively be
used for acid neutralization.
The use of fly ash and waste rock will further improve the
gainful utilization of fly ash and OB for improvement in
water quality also. The above study on laboratory scale
suggests that the acid neutralizing property of fly ash and

2.6 pH
OB will be an asset for coal mines suffering with slight to
2.5
moderate acid drainage problem both at exploitation and
2.4
2.3
abandoned stages.
0 min 10 min 30 min 12
hours
24
hours
36
hours
48
hours
Acknowledgement
Time
Corresponding author would like to thanks Department
with reference to increasing time. of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology
Fig. 4. graph of time interaction v/s pH value of acidic water (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi and thanks to
4.0 Ministry of Human Resource
3.0
Development, Government of India, for providing Institute
Assistantship and thanks also they have support to his with
2.0
pH

pH the research on which this article was based.

1.0
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORK
0.0
0 min 10 min 30 min 12 hours24 hours 36 hours48 hours The acidic water in sump of abandoned mines may be
Time neutralized by dumping of alkaline overburden (mainly
sandstone) and flyash to retard the ground water pollution
Fig. 5. graph of time interaction v/s pH value of acidic water
problem by infiltration of acid drainage.

193

Performance Evaluation of PV Panel Under Different
Dust Pollutants- An Experimental Approach
Abhishek Kumar Tripathi
Department of Mining Engineering, Aditya
Engineering College, Surampalem, Kakinada, India
abhinitrkl12@gmail.com
Abstract — In the recent times, mining industry has in-
troduced the solar renewable energy technologies to resolve
power supply problems in mines which are operating in the
remote location. In solar energy system, the conversion of
sunlight into useful electrical power is possible with the help
of photovoltaic (PV) panels. These PV panels have a negative
impact with the deposition of dust on its surface. Therefore,
proper care should be taken when a solar photovoltaic panel
is installed in the dusty region, like mining industry. In this
paper, a laboratory experiment was demonstrated to under-
stand the effect of dust pollutants (which are collected from
different mining industries) on PV panel performance. In
order to perform this study, a 20W polycrystalline solar PV
panel of surface area 0.1489m2 was used and three types of
dust pollutants namely, limestone, red soil and iron ore were
selected. Among the three types of dust pollutants, with 11gm
(73.87gm/m2 dust density) of dust deposition on the panel sur-
face, the reduction in maximum power output was high with
red soil dust deposition (reduction was 61.20%), which is fol-
lowed by lime stone dust (reduction was 51.60%) and iron
ore dust (reduction was 41.90%). The results of this study re-
vealed that the performance of PV panel is not only affected
by the mass of dust deposition on its surface but it also influ-
enced by the type of dust pollutants.
Keywords— PV panel; Dust; Mining industry; Maximum
power output.
I. Introduction
The key sources of electric power in mines are the fossil
fuels, such as coal, gas and oil. Due to the continuous
increment in the cost of fossil fuels and its negative impact
on the environment, these power sources can not be treated
as a sustainable source of electric power [1]. Further,
the remote location of many mines creates the difficult
circumstances for accessing the electric power into the
mines and also it is very expensive [2]. In this regard, the
introduction of solar energy system in the mining industry
could be a good choice for providing electric power in the
mines, especially those mines located in remote locations.
In solar energy system, the conversion of solar power into
electrical power is happening due to the application of
solar photovoltaic (PV) panels [3]. These panels work on
the principle of photovoltaic which states that the incident
194
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Mangalpady Aruna
Department of Mining Engineering, National
Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal,
Mangalore, India
arunamangalpady@gmail.com
sunlight over the surface of PV panel (which is made up of
silicon semiconductor) creates free electron and hole pair
inside the silicon crystal [4]. This creation of free electron
and hole pairs are the prime reason for generating electric
power through PV panel technology. This conversion of
sun light into electric power is highly depended on the
quantity of sunlight reaching to the panel surface i.e., solar
radiation [5]. The quantity of solar radiation coming over
the panel surface strongly affected by the deposition of
dust on its surface [6]. Thus, the yield of PV panel is highly
affected due to the gathering of dust particles over the panel
surface [7-8].
Looking at the worst condition encountered in the mines
the mining area can be treated as the highest dusty area
when compared to other industrial area. The exposure
of PV panel under such dusty area promotes more dust
accumulation over its surface. As a result of this, the
improper utilisation of solar PV panel will be occurred.
This improper utilisation of solar PV panel degrades the
performance of PV panel under the mining environment.
Moreover, the process of dust gathering on the panel
surface not only reduces the performance of solar panel
but also degrades its life span. The accumulation of dust on
the panel surface increases its surface temperature which
creates local hot spot. This creation of local hot spot may
be capable of damaging the cells of the panel if the duration
of dust accumulation is longer. Therefore, the performance
of PV panel needs to be studied under the highly dusty
condition prior to its installation in the mining area.
The main aim of the present work is to address the influence
of different types of dust pollutants on the performance of
PV panel. In order to perform this research, three type of
dust pollutants, namely red soil, limestone and iron ore
were collected from the mining area and the experiment
was carried out in the laboratory under the controlled
environmental condition (i.e., constant solar radiation,
ambient temperature and wind speed). An artificial dusty
environment was created over the PV panel surface using
a strainer. Thereafter, the performance of the panel was
examined under the deposition of three different dust
pollutants. This paper contains five sections, where Section
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

I discuss the introduction of the paper, which is followed surface was measured with solar power meter (Model TM-
by the impact of dust on PV panel performance in Section 207). During the entire course of study, the intensity of
II. Section III of the paper presents the experimental set-up artificial light was maintained at 567W/m2.
and adopted methodology. Section IV of the paper presents
To comprehend the effect of dust pollutant types on the
the results and discussion, which is followed by the Section
performance of PV panel, three type of dust pollutants, of
V i.e., conclusions of the paper.
sieve size less than 75µ, namely iron ore dust, limestone
II. Impact Of Dust On PV Panel dust and red soil dust were used, which are shown in Figure
Performance 2. In order to distribute the dust over the panel surface the
Because of the quick industrialisation and urbanization, the strainer was used. Once the dust pollutants get distributed
impression of air pollution is turning into an intense issue over the panel surface its electrical responses were measured
in the region of solar energy usage. On account of the air with the help of electrical circuit diagram, which is shown
pollution, the airborne residue particles get accumulated in Figure 3. As shown in Figure 3, two multi-meters (one act
on the outside of the PV panel, and this is the primary as an ammeter and other act as a voltmeter for the circuit)
source for its performance degradation. In one study, it and one 320Ω rheostat (for output load) were used for the
was found that due to the gathering of dust over the panel measurement of electrical responses (i.e., output current,
surface the power generation capacity and output efficiency output voltage and output power) of PV panel. For each
of PV panel reduces to 92.11% and 89%, respectively [9]. dust type, the electrical responses of panel were measured
Similarly, a study on impact of dust pollutants on panel for three different quantity of dust distributions on panel
performance confirmed that the energy loss of PV module surface, i.e., 5g, 8g and 11g in mass. The electrical responses
due to red soil, lime stone and ash was respectively, 19%, were also recorded for a clean panel.
10% and 6% [10].
A study carried out on PV panel in open atmosphere shown
a remarkable reduction of 28.6% and 30.6%, respectively
in short circuit current (Isc) and maximum power output
(Pmax) for the exposure span of 12 days [11]. A similar type
of study reported that 40% and 34% reduction in Isc and
Pmax due to the deposition of sand dust on the panel surface
[12]. One more study shown 10%, 16% and 20% drop in PV
panel yield efficiency due to, respectively 12.5 g/m2, 25g/m2
and 37.5 g/m2 of dust gathering over the panel surface [13].
Similarly, another study observed that there was power loss
up to 3% to 4% due to five weeks of exposure of panel to Fig.1. Photographic view of the experimental set-up
open environment (i.e., dusty condition) [14].
An experimental work carried out to study the influence
of dust on transmittance of panel glass shown that there is
a reduction in transmittance which ranges from 12.38% to
52.4% for 4.48 to 15.84g/m2 of dust deposition [15]. Another
study, based on five different types of dust pollutants,
reported the minimum reduction of 0.9 volt and maximum
reduction of 4.7V in the panel output voltage due to the
deposition of sand dust and ash, respectively [16].
(a) Limestone (b) Red soil (c) Iron ore
III. Experimental Set-Up And
Methodology Fig.2. Three types of dust pollutants used in the experiment

The experimental set-up used in this study is shown in IV. Results and Discussion
Figure 1. This set-up having a stand of 1m height and a
In total there were ten trials i.e. three each for three types
horizontal frame to hold the panel. A set of light sources
of dusts and one for a clean panel. The yield characteristics
which are acting as a solar simulator was placed above the
of PV panel for all the three dust pollutants were plotted,
panel surface to produce an artificial solar radiation inside
which are shown in Figure 4 to Figure 9. The drop in the
the laboratory. The solar radiation reaching the panel

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

value of Isc, Voc and Pmax were calculated (when compared

to a clean panel) for the deposition of all the three types
of dust pollutants. The reduction in electrical responses
is presented in Table I to Table III, respectively for iron
ore, limestone and red soil dusts. The results indicate
a remarkable reduction in Isc and Pmax, whereas a low
reduction was observed in case of Voc.

Fig.7. P-V characteristics of the PV panel due to deposition of

iron ore dust

Fig. 4. I-V characteristics of the PV panel due to deposition of iron ore

dust

Fig. 8. P-V characteristics of the PV panel due to deposition of limestone

dust

Fig. 5. I-V characteristics of the PV panel due to deposition of limestone

dust

Fig. 9. P-V characteristics of the PV panel due to

deposition of red soil dust
Fig. 6. I-V characteristics of the PV panel due to deposition of
red soil dust

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Table I. Reduction of PV panel performance due to iron ore dust

Mass Reduction in I­sc Reduction Reduction in

deposition (%) in Voc Pmax
(g) (%) (%)

5 8.30 2.80 6.50

8 16.70 3.80 19.40

11 25.00 4.80 41.90

Table II. Reduction of PV panel performance due to lime stone

Mass Reduction Reduction Reduction in

deposition in I­sc in Voc Pmax
(g) (%) (%) (%)

5 13.80 3.00 19.30

8 25.00 4.00 29.00

Fig. 10. Reduction in Pmax of PV panel w.r.t three type dust deposition
11 33.30 6.00 51.60

V. Conclusions
Table III. Reduction of PV panel performance due to red soil The prime concern of this study is to demonstrate the
influence of size of dust on the performance of PV panel.
Mass Reduction Reduction Reduction in
deposition in I­sc in Voc Pmax
Among the three dust pollutants, namely iron ore dust,
(g) (%) (%) (%) lime stone dust and red soil dust, with deposition of 11gm
(73.87gm/m2 dust density) of dust over the panel surface,
5 22.20 3.80 25.80
the reduction in Pmax was high with red soil dust (reduction
8 33.30 4.80 45.10 was 61.20%), which is followed by lime stone dust (reduction
11 44.40 6.80 61.20 was 51.60%) and iron ore dust (reduction was 41.90%). The
results of this study revealed that the performance of PV
The reduction in Pmax of PV panel due to the gathering panel not only affected by the mass of dust deposition on its
of iron ore dust, limestone dust and red soil dust is surface but it also influenced by the type of dust pollutants.
presented in Figure 10. It is observed in Figure 10 that This study would help in planning a scheme for cleaning
the reduction in Pmax is higher with the deposition of red of panel surface (especially frequency of cleaning), which
soil dust, which is followed by limestone dust and iron ore would improve the PV panel performance under dusty
dust. In this study it was observed that with 11g (73.87g/ environment, likely encountered in surface mines.
m2 dust density) of dust the drop in Pmax was high with
red soil dust deposition (reduction was 61.20%) which
is followed by lime stone dust (reduction was 51.60%)
and iron ore dust (reduction was 41.90%). This trend in
reduction of P­max demonstrates that the performance of
PV panel not only depends on the mass of dust but it
is also influenced by the type of dust. This variation in
degradation of performance of PV panel among different
types of dust pollutants may be due to the discrepancy in
their reflectance or transmittance of dusts.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Vetiver System - An Appropriate Tool for Dump Slope

Stabilization in Surface Mining
D.K. Khanda B.K. Pal
Department of Safety & Rescue, Department of Mining Engineering,
MCL, Sambalpur, India NIT Rourkela, India
dkkhanda65@gmail.com bkpal@nitrkl.ac.in

M.R. Mahanda
PG Dept. of Environmental Sciences,
Sambalpur University, Sambalpur, India
malaya_env@rediffmail.com
Abstract-- In surface mining, be it coal mining or non- dump slope stabilization, but Vetiver System (VS) is a very
coal mining, there is huge generation of waste materials and simple, easy, practical, inexpensive, low maintenance and
ultimately dumped outside the mine as external dump (initial very effective means of dump slope stabilization in surface
stage) and inside the mine extracting the mineral as internal mining. From the results obtained from the researches and
dump. Many often overburden dump fails due to lack of slope
the successes of numerous applications, we can go for Vetiver
stabilization and leads to catastrophic situation. There are
different methods of dump slope stabilization. Vetiver System
System (VS) for stabilization of dump slope in the opencast
(VS) is a very simple, practical, inexpensive, low maintenance mine with particular emphasis on the rehabilitation of
and very effective means of dump slope stabilization in sur- disturbed land caused by surface mining beyond the soil
face mining. From the results of research and the successes and water conservation applications in agricultural lands
of numerous applications, it is clear that we now have enough for the protection of the environment in general.
evidence that VS is ready to move out of the farm gate, be-
yond the soil and water conservation applications in agricul- II. Vetiver & its Origin
tural lands to the protection of the environment in general, Vetiver is a tropical and perennial bunch grass of the family
with particular emphases the rehabilitation of disturbed land Poaceae, native to India [Fig.19(a) & (b)]. It is generally
caused by civil construction, contaminated lands, mining accepted that there are basically two types of vetiver grass:
wastes. For successful application of vetiver system in the sta- the wild type from North India and the “domesticated”
bilization of dump slope of opencast coal mine, a full under- type from South India. The North India type produces
standing of the chemical properties of the materials requiring fertile seed while the South India type is essentially sterile.
rehabilitation is needed for best results. Only getting the sap- Its scientific name is Vetiveria Zizanioides (L.) Nash
ling and planting with some manure is NOT Vetiver System. (plant symbol is VEZI80) and currently reclassified as
Keywords: vetiver, dump slope, stabilization, chrisopogon Chrysopogon Zizanioides ( L.)Roberty and plant symbol
zizanoides is CHZI. It is commonly known as the Khas-Khas, Khasor
Khus, Garara, Vetiver and so on.
I. Introduction
This grass is described as a densely tufted grass with the
Mining is the back bone of human civilization. Hence, culms arising from an aromatic rhizome. It is up to two
mining of minerals including coal will remain till the metres tall with the stout roots and dense and aromatic. Its
existence of mankind in this planet earth. To meet energy leaves are narrow, erect, keeled with scabrid (rough to the
demand of the country, there is need of bulk production touch) margins.
of coal and it is possible by surface mining. Extraction
of coal and other minerals results in huge generation of
waste materials so called overburden. In the initial phase of
surface mining, it is dumped outside the mine as external
dump and subsequently inside the mine internal dump after
the decoaled or mined out land is available. In the process
of mining by opencast method, it is very much essential
to stabilize the dumps for safety. Many often overburden
dump fails due to lack of slope stabilization and leads to
catastrophic situation. There are different methods of
Fig.1. (a) Vetiver Grass

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Fig.1. (b) Vetiver Grass
Vetiver (Chrisopogon Zizanoides) is known for its long
penetrating roots and survival under extreme conditions. It
has been used for natural slope stabilization. Experiments
were done for its applicability in erosion protection and
slope stabilization for iron ore overburden dumps.
This grass has wonderful properties and since 1990 it has
been introduced in different countries by initiatives of
World Bank for agricultural land management. During the
last three decades number of studies was carried out on this
grass. These have revealed that it can be used as a system
of bioengineering technique. This technique is gradually
getting its greater applications for stabilization of steep
slope.
III. Vetiver System (VS)
The Vetiver System (VS) is a system of soil and water
conservation whose main component is the use of the vetiver
plant in hedgerows. It is promoted by the Vetiver Network
International (TVNI), an international non-governmental
organization. This system is used in more than 100
countries across the globe for soil and water conservation,
infrastructure stabilization, pollution control, waste water
treatment, mitigation and rehabilitation, sediment control,
prevention of storm damage and other environmental
protection applications through bioengineering and
phytoremediation.
Vetiver usage for slope protection and reinforcement of
embankments and cuttings outside of farmlands is in vogue
since the early 1900‘s in the West Indies, South Africa
(NRC, 1993), Brazil (Grimshaw, 1994) and Fiji (Truong
and Gawander, 1996), etc. In 1931, it was on record that
vetiver was grown at Serdang (near Kuala Lumpur),
Malaysia, where it is used for holding up steep banks.
It is well known to be good for this purpose (World
Bank, 1995). These applications of vetiver, however, were
based on past experiences that showed them to be
effective but without any quantitative engineering data to
back them up. To lend technical credence to its
introduction, researches have been conducted on the roles
of vegetation in relation to slope stability, in particular
on tree roots which the main factor are contributing to
slope stabilization (Greenway, 1987; Coppin and Richards,
1990; Gray, 1994;).
The Vetiver plant, Chrysopogon zizanioides, is the main
component to all Vetiver System bioengineering and
conservation applications. It can be used in the tropics and
semi-tropics, and areas that have a Mediterranean climate
where there are hot summers, and winters are temperate.
The Vetiver System (VS) or Vetiver Grass Technology
(VGT) or Vetiver System Technology (VST) was first
developed for soil and water conservation in farm lands.
While this application still plays a vital role in agricultural
lands, vetiver grass unique morphological, physiological
and ecological characteristics including its tolerance
to highly adverse conditions has a key role in the area
of environmental protection. Unique morphological
characteristics include a massive, finely structured, deep
root system capable of reaching 2 to 3meter.
In addition, its massive root system increases the shear
strength of soil (thus providing improved stability of soils
on steep).
Vetiver System (VS) is a very simple, easy to adopt,
inexpensive, low maintenance and very effective means
of soil and water conservation, sediment control, land
stabilizations and rehabilitation, and phyto-remediation.
Being vegetative, it is also environmentally friendly.
When planted in single rows, Vetiver plants form a hedge
which is very effective in slowing and spreading runoff
water, reducing soil erosion, conserving soil moisture
and trapping sediment and farm chemicals on site.
Although any hedges can do that, Vetiver Grass, due to its
extraordinary and unique morphological and physiological
characteristics as mentioned below, can do it better than
all other systems already tested. In addition, the extremely
deep and massively thick root system [Fig.2(a) & (b)] of
Vetiver grass binds the soil and at the same time makes it
very difficult for it to be dislodged under high velocity of
water flows. This very deep and fast-growing root system
also makes Vetiver very drought tolerant and highly suitable
for steep slope stabilization. New shoots develop from the
underground crown, making Vetiver resistant to fire, frosts,
traffic and heavy grazing pressure. Vetiver Grass is not
affected to any significant extent by pests and diseases, nor
does it act as a host for pests or diseases that might attack
crop or garden plants.
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Fig.2. (a) Vetiver Grass Clump
Fig. 2. (b) Vetiver Grass Root
IV. Special Characteristics of Vetiver
Grass
A. Morphological Characteristics
Vetiver grass does not have stolons (i.e. horizontal
connections between organism) or rhizomes (modified
stem arising from an adventitious bud in the crown zone).
Its massive, finely structured root system can grow very
fast, in some applications, rooting depth can reach 10-12
ft (3-4 m) in the first year. This deep root system makes
the Vetiver plant extremely drought tolerant and difficult to
dislodge by strong current. It also has stiff and erect stems,
which can stand up to relatively deep-water flow. Stiff and
erect stems which can stand up to relatively deep-water
flow (0.6-0.8m). Dense hedges when planted close together
reduce flow velocity and form a very effective filter. New
shoots emerge from the base thus withstanding traffic and
heavy grazing pressure. New roots are developed from
nodes when buried by trapped sediment.
B. Physiological Characteristics
Stiff and erect stems of vetiver grass form a dense hedge and
is capable of reducing flow velocity and trapping sediment.
Its deep, massive and penetrating root system (up to 4m
depth), with tensile strength equivalent to 1/6 of mild
steel reinforcement, holds sloping land in place and resists
landslips and gulling (Hengchaovanich, 1999). It is tolerant
to extreme climatic variation such as prolonged drought,
flood, submergence and extreme temperature from -100C
to 480C in Australia and the extent of tolerance is even
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
higher in India and Africa.
Vetiver grass has ability to regrow very quickly after
being affected by drought, frost, salt and other adverse
soil conditions when the adverse effects are removed. It
has tolerance to wide range of soil pH from 3.3 to 12.5
without soil amendment. It is highly tolerant to growing
medium high in acidity, alkalinity, salinity, sodicity and
magnesium. At the same time, it is highly tolerant to
toxic levels Al, Mn and heavy metals such as As, Cd, Cr,
Ni, Pb, Hg, Se, Zn and Cu in soils. It has also high level of
tolerance to herbicides and pesticides. It is highly efficient
in absorbing dissolved nutrients such as N and P and heavy
metals in polluted water.
C. Ecological Characteristics
Although vetiver is very tolerant to some extreme soil
and climatic conditions, it is highly intolerant to shading.
Shading will reduce its growth and in extreme cases, may
even eliminate vetiver in the long term. Therefore vetiver
produces best growth in the open and weed control may
be needed during establishment phase. Therefore vetiver
grows best in an open and weed free environment, weed
control may be needed during establishment phase. On
erodible or unstable ground vetiver first reduces erosion,
stabilizes the erodible ground (particularly steep slopes),
then because of nutrient and moisture conversion, improves
its micro-environment so other volunteered or sown plants
can establish later. Because of these characteristics vetiver
can be considered as a nurse plant on disturbed lands.
D. Genetic Characteristics
There are two species of vetiver originating in Indian
subcontinent: Chrysopogon Zizanioides and Chrysopogon
Lawsonii.
Chrysopogon Zizanioides has many different accessions.
Generally those from south India have been cultivated
and have large and strong root systems. These accessions
tend towards polyploidy and slow high levels sterility and
are not considered invasive. The north Indian accessions,
common to gangetic and Indus basins, are wild and
have weaker root systems. These accessions are NOT
recommended under the Vetiver System. It should also
be noted that most of the research into different vetiver
applications and field experience have involved the south
Indian vetivers that are closely related (same genotype) as
Monto and Sunshine. DNA studies confirm that about 60%
of Chrysopogon Zizanioides used for bio-engineering and
phyto-remediation in tropical and sub-tropical countries
are of Monto/Sunshine genotype.
E. Weed Potential
It is very important that any plants used for environmental
protection will not become a weed. From the three vetiver
cultivars present in Australia, a sterile line was selected and
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
rigorously tested for its sterility. This cultivar was registered
in Queensland as Monto vetiver to commemorate the
Monto district where the first field trial was conducted
in 1990 (Truong,1996). In Fiji where vetiver grass was
introduced to the country for more than 100 years and
it has been widely used for soil and water conservation
purposes for more than 50 years, it has not shown any
weed potential (Truong and Creighton, 1994).
V. How to Use the Vetiver System (Vs)
for Soil Conservation & Dump Slope
Stabilization?
A very important characteristic of the “domesticated”
Vetiver varieties from southern India used in The Vetiver
System is that it does not produce seed and stays where
it was planted. In some countries, Vetiver has ever been
used to define property lines and hedgerows do not
invade other areas of the property. Vetiver hedges are a
natural, soft bioengineering technique - an eco-friendly
alternative to rigid or hard structures. Being vegetative, it
is also visually acceptable in any neighborhood.
When used in the case of soil conservation and slope
stabilization [Fig.3. (a) & (b)], Vetiver provides a simple
and economical method to bind the soil with a deep and
massive finely-structured root system. Vetiver roots are,
per unit area, stronger and deeper than tree roots.
Fig.3. (a) Vetiver used for soil conservation & slope stabilization
Fig.3. (b) Vetiver used for soil conservation & slope stabilization
When multiple hedgerows are required, each row must
be planted with the same separation of 6 inches (15
cm) between plants. The separation between rows will
depend on the slope, soil condition and composition, and
the severity of the problem. As a rule of thumb, typical
distances in domestic environment should range between
three and six feet. Some published guidelines recommend
a distance between rows of about 5.7 ft. (1.7 m) for a 30°
slope, and about 3 ft. (1.0 m) for a 45° slope.
A good hedge reduces rainfall run off by as much as 70%
and sediment by as much as 90%. A hedgerow stays where
it is planted and the sediment that is spread out behind the
hedgerow gradually accumulates to form a long-lasting
terrace with Vetiver protection. It is a very low cost, labor
intensive technology with very high benefit/cost ratio.
When used for civil works protection, its cost is about 1/20
of traditional engineered systems and designs. Engineers
compare the Vetiver root to a “Living Soil Nail” with an
average tensile strength of 1/6 of mild steel. Vetiver hedges
are fully effective only when plants form closed hedgerows.
VI. Fundamental Rules For Laying Out
The Plants
There are three fundamental rules for a well-planned
conservation project as stated below.
A. Plants must always be set in continuous hedges
following surface contours.
The hedge should provide an even barrier to the surface
water flow, and create a filter that will retain the soil and
allow the water to pass at a reduced speed. An improperly
leveled hedge could direct the water flow to its lowest
elevation, resulting in increased soil losses in that location.
B. New plants should be set at a separation of 4 to 6
inches (10 to 15 cm) within the hedge.
The most effective way to start a new hedge is by using
small, well-rooted plants that have been grown in a healthy,
pest-free environment. A good root system in the new
plant will ensure nearly 100% survivability and kick-start
the project by 2 to 3 months.
Alternatively, a slip (clump) of 3 bare-root tillers (growing
root sections) can be planted directly on the soil every 4
to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm). Bare-root slips have a very high
mortality when planted in poor soils, and this method is
only viable when a large supply of mature plants is available
for division. Allow for an additional three months of project
completion when using this method. Vetiver hedges are
fully effective only when plants form closed hedgerows.
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Gaps within clumps must be quickly replanted with new or
relocated plants.
C. Multiple hedges may be required to stabilize a
slope.
A single hedge at the top of the slope is usually not enough
to stabilize a slope, and does nothing for surface soil erosion.
Multiple rows are required, and the separation between
them will depend on the slope, soil type, and the current
erosion/stability conditions. There is no magic formula to
determine the proper row separation in a new project. The
Vetiver Systems Applications-Technical Reference Manual
provides some guidelines in sec 3.9:
(i) a 30° slope requires six plants per square meter (i.e.
7-10 plants per linear meter) and a distance between
rows of about 5.7 feet (1.7 meter).
(ii) a 45° slope requires 10 plants per square meter (i.e.
7-10 plants per linear meter) and a distance between
rows of about 3 feet (1 meter).
VII. How Does Vs Works To Stabilize
Dump Slope?
When planted in rows Vetiver plants will form a hedge,
a living porous barrier which slows and spreads runoff
water and traps sediment. As water flow is slowed down,
its erosive power is reduced and at the same time allows
more time for water to infiltrate to the soil, and any eroded
material is trapped by the hedges. Therefore an effective
hedge will reduce soil erosion, conserve soil moisture and
trap sediment on site.
A. Causes of slope instability
The main reasons for slope instability are surface erosion
and structural weakness of the slope. While surface erosion
often leads to rill and gully erosion, structural weakness
will cause mass movement or land slip. Normally a good
vegetative cover provided by hydro mulching is very
effective against surface erosion and deep rooted plants
such as trees and shrubs can provide the structural re-
enforcement for the ground. However on newly constructed
slopes, the surface layer is often not well consolidated, so
rill and gully erosion often occurs on even well covered
slopes. For these, structural re-enforcement is also needed
very soon after construction, but trees are slow and often
difficult to establish on such hostile environment.
Vetiver grass is fast growing and with its very extensive
and deep root system can provide the structural strength
needed in a relatively short period of time. In fact, vetiver
roots have been found to have average tensile strength
equivalent to 1/6th of mild steel.
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B. Engineering applications
Due to its unique characteristics mentioned above,
vetiver has provided a very effective means of steep slope
stabilization and flood mitigation. Root tensile strength,
shear strength and Steep Slope Stabilization batters of both
cut and fill slopes can be effectively stabilized by establishing
vetiver on contour lines. The deep root system provides
structural re-enforcement and stabilizes the slope while the
hedges spread run-off water, reduce rill erosion and trap
sediment, providing a more favorable environment for the
colonization by local volunteer species.
In the soil block shear test, they found that root penetration
of a two year old Vetiver hedge with 15cm plant spacing
can increase the shear strength of soil in adjacent 50 cm
wide strip by 90% at 0.25m depth. The increase was 39%
at 0.50m depth and gradually reduced to 12.5% at 1m
depth. Moreover, because of its dense and massive root
system it offer better shear strength increase per unit fibre
concentration (6-10 kPa/kg of root per cubic metre of soil)
compared to 3.2-3.7 kPa/kg for tree roots.
The first trial on batter stabilization in Queensland was
conducted on a very steep (1:1) railway cutting in 1992
on a highly erodible sodic soil near Babinda, north
Queensland. Monto vetiver planted stabilized the batter
in the first 6 months and the inter-row spaces were then
completely colonized by local vegetation later. After
fifteen months this highly unstable slope was stabilized
by a mixture of vetiver and local native vegetation.
Another trial was started in 1995 to compare the effectiveness
of a native Australian vetiver (Vetiveria filipes), Lomandra
longifolia and Monto vetiver (V. zizanioides) in batter
stabilisation on an access road to Teemburra Dam near
Mackay. After two years all three species established well
but following a prolonged rain period in March 1997 (with
400 mm over two weeks), the sections planted with the
Lomandra and native vetiver collapsed while the Monto
vetiver section remained intact. These results clearly show
the unique characteristics of Monto vetiver as compared
with other vetiver species.
Although Malaysia is currently leading the world in the
application of Vetiver for erosion and slope stabilization in
highway engineering, Hengchaovanich conceded that the
design is still somewhat conservative, treating Vetiver as `a
bonus’ or added assurance. Once more design parameters,
especially the evapotranspiration and hydraulic aspects,
and track records come to light, bolder and more innovative
designs maximizing the full potential of vetiver grass
should be adopted (Hengchaovanich,1996).
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
VIII. Coir Matting For Slope Protection
Coir mats have been used for slope protection at many
places specially in coal mines. They have also been used
to protect high overburden dumps of fly ash and it has
been possible to establish vegetation over the dump. An
interesting case study where the effectiveness of Gabions
and Coir mat has been successfully implemented,
is the stabilization of overburden dumps at coal mines of
Singrauli. A huge dump of 120 m high could be stabilized
by combination of Gabion walls and Coir mats on slopes.
Of course an in-depth study of strata along with stability
analysis combined with quality work at site, all in
collection has contributed to the success of the project.
Use of Coir matting for slope protection of dump slope
in iron ore mines of Joda circle was not successful. A few
photographs of typical failure of coir matting in the iron
ore mines of Joda is shown in [Fig. 4(a),(b) & (c)].
Fig.4. (a) Installation of Coir Mat
(b) (c)
Fig.4. (b) & (c) Typical failure of Coir Matting
A. Disadvantage of coir matting
It is not fully successfully implemented in the iron ore
mines of Odisha state due to the following reasons.
i. Poor binding properties with the different size of
dump materials
ii. It requires huge quantity of water during the seeding
process till plantation
iii. Not a suitable option for large and steep slope of
dump area.
iv. There is no use of end product.
v. Poor stabilizing qualities rather than Indigenous
plant.
vi. Poor stabilization of failure surface during heavy rain
& wind due to its poor binding properties.
IX. Application Of Vetiver System
Technology For Dump Slope
Stabilization In Surface Mining
Vetiver (Chrisopogon Zizanoides) known for its long
penetrating roots and survival under extreme conditions
has been used for natural slope stabilization were
experimented for its applicability in erosion protection
and slope stabilization for iron ore overburden dumps as
shown in [Fig.5. (a),(b),(c) &(d)].
Rehabilitation of old quarries where very few species can
be established due to the hostile environment. Vetiver is
able to stabilize the lose surface first so other species can
colonize the areas between hedges.
Stabilization and rehabilitation of overburden and highly
saline and alkaline (pH 9.5) tailings of coal mines and
highly acidic (pH 3.5) tailings of a gold mine.
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
Fig.5. (a),(b),(c) &(d): Application of Vetiver System Technology
203

for natural slope stabilization of in iron ore OB dump
X. Establishment Requirements
Although vetiver grass is very tough and resilient when
fully established, it needs special care during establishment
phase.
A. Planting materials
As mentioned earlier vetiver grass has to be established
vegetatively by root subdivision (slip). Each slip normally
consists of 2-3 tillers. At the moment there are 4 types of
planting material available:
1. Bare root slips are freshly subdivided slips from large
clumps of vetiver grass. These slips are for immediate
planting.
2. Bare roots plantlets are 4-5 weeks old plantlets which
were raised in sand beds and supplied fresh for
planting within a week.
3. Tube stocks are tubed or potted plants (4-5 week
old) which can be kept in nursery and planted when
needed.
4. Strip or band slips are strips of 1m in length, raised in
special containers for 2-3 months and can be kept for
a few weeks in nursery before planting.
B. Advantages and disadvantages of different planting
materials
The bare root slips are the cheapest but required splitting the
large clumps before planting. These materials require most
intensive watering during hot and dry periods and
therefore not recommended for large scale application.
The bare root plantlets are more expensive but arrived on
site ready for planting. In large projects, these plantlets can
be raised in sand beds on site to reduce costs. These also
need intensive watering during establishment phase.
Tube stocks cost approximately the same as bare root
plantlets, but they are more bulky and heavier to
transport to sites. Root damage may occur during
planting and they require less intensive watering.
The main advantages of the strips are the vetiver plants
were established close together (50-70mm apart), the
roots damages are minimal during planting. The other
advantages are lower planting costs as they are planted in 1m
band a time and easier to plant especially on steep slopes.
Because of the smaller gaps between plants and older plants
these strips provide protection sooner than other planting
materials. The strips also require less intensive watering
and the main disadvantage is their slightly higher costs. To
reduce cost they can also be prepare on sites.
C. Layout design
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
In general for slope stabilization vetiver are planted on
contour lines to spread runoff water and trapping sediment.
Row spacing normally varies between 2 and 0.8m VI
(Vertical Interval ), but the exact layout varies between sites,
depending on soil type, slope gradient, slope length and
most importantly local weather.
Plant spacing is recommended at 0.15m apart (averaging 7
plants per linear metre). For sediment trapping in drainage
lines closer spacing is recommended.
D. Watering
It is best to plant vetiver grass into wet soil, when planted
into dry soil it needs to be watered soon after planting (
within that day ). Therefore pre watering the day before
is highly recommended. If no rain occurred watering is
needed daily for the first week and every 2 or 3 days for
the next 2 weeks depending on the weather ( hot and dry
weather requires more watering ) and 2 to 3 times a week
until rain.
E. Maintenance
It is important to have to the topsoil and base materials
tested to determine the fertilizer requirement at planting
and subsequent maintenance. In general 150g/m of DAP
(Di Ammonium Phosphate ) is needed at planting and
once again 5-6 weeks later. For the next two years twice
during the summers.
As vetiver is particularly intolerant to shading, especially
during establishment phase, weeding may be required
during the first year, particularly climbing plants such as
belle vine and Siratro.
Vetiver is extremely sensitive to Roundup weedicide
(glyphosate), therefore vetiver should not be exposed to
this weedicide. Any other herbicides, pre-emergent or
post- emergent such as 2,4 D based chemicals can be used
for broad leaf weeds.
F. Quality control
The most important factors that determine the success or
failure of the application of VGS in mining areas are in
the following order:
i. Good quality planting materials
ii. Appropriate design layout
iii. Adequate watering during establishment phase
iv. Chemical analyses of both base material and topsoil
to determine fertiliser requirement and possible soil
amendment prior to planting.
v. Weed control when required
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
XI. Other Benefits of Vetiver Grass
A. Phyto-remediation and bioremediation
Vetiver grass has been shown to enhance the degradation
of heavy metals such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium,
copper, lead, and nickel and polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons in the soil. It is used for wastewater treatment
and rehabilitation of old mines.
B. Perfumery
Vetiver grass roots contain an essential oil that has been
known in India since ancient times and considered a high-
class perfume [Fig. 6 (b)]. Copper plate inscriptions have
been found that list the perfume as one of the articles used
by royalty. The famous French perfume was introduced in
1921 and is still in production. The annual world trade in
vetiver oil is estimated to be approximately 250 tons with
Brazil, China, Haiti, India, Japan, Java, and Reunion being
the main producers. Europe, India, Japan, and the United
States are the main consumers. Vetiver oil is contained
in 90% of all western perfumes and its greatest use is in
modern perfume creations.
Fig. 6. (a) Vetiver Root used for screens
Fig. 6. (b) Vetiver perfume oil
C. Other uses
Vetiver is a traditional medicine and an ingredient in curry.
The roots are woven into various articles such as baskets
and coarse mats and screens [Fig.6(a)] which are fragrant
when wet. It is a biomass fuel for generating electricity. It is
used an ornamental element.
XI. Conclusion
The information compiled above is mainly from the work
of Dr. Paul Truong, who has popularized the wonder grass
in various parts of the world. Indian mining industry is
having serious safety and environmental problems like
dump slope instability, soil erosion, hydro geological
problems, socio-economic problems, land degradation
problems, to name a few. Apart from dump slope stability,
post mining sites are to be planned for rapid restoration. To
this end Vetiver Grass has number of promises because of
its special characteristics as discussed above.
Out of the varieties of Vetiver, it is found that due to C.
Nemoralis low growth forms and very short root system, it
is not suitable for steep slope stabilization works. Thus, it is
recommended that only C. Zizanioides should be used for
applications in the mining areas where spoil dump slope
erosion and instability is a serious problem.
From the results of studies and the successes of numerous
applications presented above, it is clear that we now have
enough evidence that VS is ready to move out of the farm
gate, beyond the soil and water conservation applications
in agricultural lands to the protection of the environment
in general, with particular emphases the rehabilitation
of disturbed land caused by surface mining. Therefore,
Vetiver System can be used as an appropriate tool for dump
slope stabilization in surface mining.
For successful application of vetiver in the stabilization of
dump slope of opencast coal mine, a full understanding
of the chemical properties of the materials requiring
rehabilitation is needed for best results.Only getting the
sapling and planting with some manure is NOT Vetiver
System Technology.
Acknowledgement
The author expresses his eternal gratitude to Sri B.N.
Shukla, CMD, Sri O.P. Singh, D(T/O), Sri K.K. Mishra,
D(T/P&P) and Sri S. Roy Choudhury, GM(S&R) of MCL
for their kind inspiration to prepare this technical paper.
The views in this paper are exclusively of the author, not of
company.
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Algae as a Water Purifier: A Green Technology for

Improvement of Physico - Chemical Parameters and Excellent
Removal of Heavy Metals from Semi-Treated Sewage
Atul Kumar Singh, Chitralekha Nag Dasgupta,
Algology Laboratory, Algology Laboratory,
CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute,
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226 001, India Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226 001, India
atulfc2114@gmail.com chitralekha.dasgupta@gmail.com

Sanjeeva Nayaka*, Gayatri Singh,

Algology Laboratory, Plant Ecology and Environmental Science Division
CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226 001, India Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226 001, India
nayaka.sanjeeva@gmail.com gayatrisingh.15@gmail.com

Abstract - Expansion of cities and increasing population there is a continuous interest is developing for eco-friendly,
leads to the increase of the municipal waste. Due to extra load renewable, effective and inexpensive biological techniques
in STPs, even the STP treated water could not meet the pol- for the removal of pollutants.
lution guidelines. Microalgae can be an excellent option for
Management of sewage is a bigger problem of every
treatment of sewage. In the present study we have screened six
developing country. Apart from domestic causes the
different algal isolates and found two potential algae Scened-
industrialization and economic developments have also
esmus quadricauda and Chlorella vulgaris for the treatment
imposed severe risks to quality of sewage [1]. The increased
of semi-STP treated sewage. After the treatment, Dissolved
volume of sewage leads to extra burdens on existing ‘Sewage
oxygen (DO) concentration improved more than six times.
Treatment Plants (STPs)’ and aggravate the problems of
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Biological oxygen de-
either low quality water discharged or direct discharge of
mand (BOD) were reduced to 40.4 mgL-1 and 11.0 mgL-1,
untreated water to the nearest river [2]. Sewage is highly
which are within the limits of national and international stan-
contaminated with organic, inorganic compounds, oil,
dards. Reduction was also observed for phosphorus (86.90%),
grease, pesticide, PAHs, heavy metals, fecal pathogens,
nitrogen (64%), potassium (72%), total organic carbon
agricultural nutrients, dissolved solids, suspended solids
(66.97%), chlorine total (35%), phenol (58.97%), hardness
and other oxygen demanding materials which results
(64.35%) and fluoride (64.90%). ICP-MS data shows the ex-
in various health hazards in aquatic life and humans [3]
cellent reduction in heavy metals such as chromium(92.30%),
[4]. Many of the pollutants are persistent in nature and
magnesium(43.60%), iron(96.40%), cobalt(85.43%), nick-
carcinogenic [5]. Central Public Health & Environmental
el(86.97%), copper(86.58%), zinc(56.22%), arsenic(74.80%),
Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), Ministry of
molybdenum(26.61%), cadmium(99.30%), lead(97.88%) by
Urban Development, Government of India was estimated
individual culture of Scenedesmus and Chlorella as well as
about 70-80% of total water supplied for domestic use
consortium of both. These algae based remediation could be a
gets generated as wastewater in India [1]. The term
potential treatment system after conventional STP treatment
phycoremediation is becoming popular day by because
for improvement of physicochemical parameters and for the
algae release oxygen in the water and can efficiently absorb
removal of heavy metals.
organic compounds, inorganic matters and even heavy
Keywords - Algae; Physico-chemical parameters; Heavy metals as nutrients [6, 7, 8, 9]. Improvement in dissolved
metals; Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS); Gas oxygen (DO) concentration could prevent the anaerobiosis
Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry (GC-MS) in aquatic life [10]. Increased DO proportionally increase
the pH of the water. High pH could help to eliminate
I. Introduction some unwanted pathogens from water [11]. Algae based
Growing human population worldwide has resulted in system for the removal of toxic heavy metals such as lead,
expansion of cities and rise in pollution level. Worldwide, cadmium, mercury, scandium, arsenic and bromine are

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
also being developed by many scientist [9, 12]. Initially
the idea was launched 60 years back by Oswald and
Gotaas [13] in USA and algae based remediation system
has been employed as a tertiary treatment process, but
later Tam and Wong [14] proposed algal based system as
a potential secondary treatment system after conventional
STP treatment. Palmer [15] has surveyed different algae
from widely distributed waste stabilization ponds and
listed Euglena, Oscillatoria, Chlamydomonas, Scenedesmus,
Chlorella, Nitzschia, Navicula and Stigeoclonium etc. in the
order of their tolerance to organic pollutants. Among them,
the genus Chlorella and Scenedesmus were widely explored
for treatment of different waste water [16, 17].
The aim of the present study is to utilize the potential
microalgae for phycoremediation of semi-treated sewage.
The potential algae were screened and evaluated for the
improvement of physico-chemical parameters of semi-
treated sewage. The individual alga as well as the consortia
was used to improve the physico-chemical parameter of
semi-STP treated water as per the pollution guidelines.
They are also evaluated for the removal of heavy metals.
The outcome of the present study could resolve the problem
of low quality water discharge of STPs water and other
pollution related issues.
II. Materials And Methods
2.1 Collection of water from STP
Water was collected from Asia’s biggest STP located at
a village called Bharwara, outskirts of Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh, India, which was set up in 2011 for treating 345
MLD of sewage. STP collects sewage from whole city
through pipelines and after their biological, physical and
chemical treatment released in to river Gomti. About 2000
L of semi-STP treated water was collected from outlet
polishing pond of STP in air tight plastic cans and water
tanker to conduct the experiments.
2.2 Determination of physico-chemical parameters of water
Water parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved
oxygen (DO), conductivity and total dissolved solids (TDS)
were measured at sampling site with multi parameter
analyzer (HQ 40d multi, HACH).
Biological oxygen demand (BOD) was determined by the
standard 5 day incubation procedure [19]. The equation for
the determination of a BOD5 is as follows:
BOD5 (mg/L) = [Where, D1 = Initial DO of the sample;
D2 = Final DO of the sample after 5 days; and P = Decimal
volumetric fraction of sample used.
P= ]
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) was determined by
spectrophotometric methods (Lovibond XD7500). Two
milliliter of water sample was mixed with COD reagents
(Lovibond) for chemical digestion (at 150°C for 2 h)
(Lovibond® RD 125 Reactor). Chemically digested water
sample was used for photometric determination of COD
in spectrophotometer (Lovibond XD7500) at wavelength
of 596 nm.
TOC (610 nm), phosphate total (690 nm), nitrogen total
(410 nm), sulfate (610 nm), sulfite (405 nm), sulfide (668
nm), silica (452 nm), potassium (630), chlorine total (510
nm), phenol (507 nm), hardness (571 nm) and fluoride (580
nm) content were also determined by spectrophotometric
methods (Lovibond XD7500).
2.3 Heavy metals analysis by Inductively Coupled
Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS)
Total eleven heavy metals chromium (Cr), manganese
(Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), cupper (Cu), zinc
(Zn), arsenic (As), molybdenum (Mo), cadmium (Cd) and
lead (Pb) were analyzed by ICP-MS. water samples were
digested using 20 ml of water 5 ml of conc. HNO3, digest
till sample remains 1ml on a hot plate maintained at 90-
110 ˚C and the volume was made up to 50 ml using MilliQ
water. The digested solution was filtered using filter paper
(Whatman No. 42 ) and the filtrate was analyzed by ICP-
MS (7500cx, Agilent, USA).
2.4 Screening of algae
The most dominant algal species present in STP water
were selected for the experiments. Two cyanobacteria
Oscilatoria tenuis and Synecococcus elongates as well as
four green algae Chlorella vulgari, Kirchanaleria obese,
Nannaochloropsis oculata, and Scenedesmus quadricauda,
were screened for bioremediation of sewage. Consortium
of S. quadricauda and C. vulgaris was also used for
the experiment. Experiment was conducted in 500 ml
Erlenmeyer flask using 300 ml of semi-STP treated water.
Water parameters viz. temperature, pH, DO, conductivity,
TDS, BOD and COD were measured initially. To each flask
30 ml of pure culture of selected algae were added to 300 ml
semi-STP treated water and grown in laboratory condition
with temperature 20°C and light intensity of 3500 to 4000
lux. Experiment was conducted in triplicates. After six days
algal biomass was filtered with filter paper (Whatman no.1)
and immediately measured the percentage of changes in
the parameters of filtered water to select the efficient algal
strains for further use.
2.5 Mass culturing in plastic tubs
A consortium (1:1 v/v) of pure prescreened two potential
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

algae was prepared to conduct large scale study of
phycoremediation. Inoculum was prepared in transparent
plastic bottle (20 L) using BBM media in laboratory
condition. The improvement in 20 physico-chemical
parameters and concentration of 11 heavy metals was
monitored by the experiment conducted in three plastic
tubs (50 L of semi-STP treated water in each inoculated
with 500 ml of algal consortium). Algae were grown for
six days in open atmospheric condition and harvested by
sedimentation method and physico-chemical parameters
and heavy metals analysis were carried out for initial semi-
STP treated water and the residual water after algal growth.
III. Result And Discussions
3.1 Selection of algae for treatment of semi-STP treated
water.
In the present study we have found that few physico-
chemical parameters of semi-STP treated water such as DO
(3.91 ± 0.2 mgL-1), TDS (537 ± 18.0 mgL-1), conductivity
(1088 ± 30 mgL-1), BOD (29.30 ± 2.4 mgL-1) and COD
(90.20 ± 0.2 mgL-1) were not meeting the standard norms
of World Health Organization (WHO), Bureau of Indian
Standard (BIS), Central Public Health and Environmental
Engineering Organization (CPHEEO), The Environment
(Protection) Rule,1986 and Central Pollution Control
Board (CPCB), Govt. of India (DO 5.0-7.0 mgL-1, pH 6.5-
8.5, conductivity <750 mgL-1, TDS <500 mgL-1, BOD 10
mgL-1 and COD 50 mgL-1). The semi-STP treated water
was further treated by six algal isolates (C. vulgaris, K.
obese, N. oculata, O. tenuis, S. elongates, S. quaricauda) in
laboratory condition for 10 days. All the algae efficiently
increased the DO more than 10 mgL-1 and maximum by
C. vulgaris (13.17 mgL-1). They have also increased the pH
(above 9.0) and decreased the conductivity, TDS, BOD
and COD and maximum efficiency was observed in C.
vulgaris (32.17%, 32.23%, 55.97% and 52.00% respectively)
followed by S. quadricauda (30.97%, 30.72%, 53.24% and
50.66% respectively) (Fig. 1). These two algae were further
employed together as consortium (1:1 v/v) and they
synergistically improved the efficiency (32.72%, 32.77%,
57.34% and 53.55% respectively) than the individual
alga used in single. In overall, green algae were found to
be more efficient than cyanobacteria (Fig 1). In earlier,
similar observations were also reported using microalgae
Scenedesmus and Chlorella [17, 20]. Elumalai [21]
observed that the efficiency of consortium of microalgal
species C. vulgaris LS120 and S. obliquus LS121 at various
concentrations for effective reduction of TDS, COD and
BOD levels of effluents from leather industry.

Fig. 1. Comparison of physico-chemical parameters (A: DO; B: pH; C: Conductivity; D: TDS; E: BOD; F: COD) of STP water treated
by six algal isolates (Oscilatoria tenuis, Synecococcus elongates, Scenedesmus quaricauda, Nannochloropsis oculata, Chlorella vulgaris,
Kirchenarialla obesa) and consortium of S. quadricauda and C. vulgaris (1:1 v/v) with national and international standard norms of
water parameters.
3.2 The absorption of heavy metals absorption of heavy metals. Both the algae efficiently
S. quadricauda and C. vulgaris were examined for reduced the heavy metal concentration in water after

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

10 days of culture. S. quadricauda showed the higher
reduction potential for most of the heavy metals such as
Cr (90%), Co (80.38%), Ar (72.55%) and Fe (95.71%) and
C. vulgaris, reduced higher amount of Ni (84.45%), Cu
(86.58%), Cd (99.30%) and Pb (94.13%) from water (Table
1). Similar result was also obtained by Dönmez et al. [22],
where Chlorella absorbed Cu and Ni to a greater extent
than Scenedesmus. However, Travieso et al. [23] reported
the tolerance and uptake of Cd, Zn and Cr by Scenedesmus
was higher than Chlorella. Furthermore, we have used the
consortium of both the algae and found better reduction
of Ni (86.97%), Zn (56.22%) and Pb (97.88%) than the
monoculture of both the algae. Most of the heavy metals are
Table I. Reduction Of Heavy Metal Content In Semi-STP Treated Water
essential micronutrients; takes part in synthesis of different
biomolecules and catalysts oxidation-reduction reactions
in algae. Metal absorption properties of algae differ from
species to species may be due to the properties of ionic
size, atomic weight or reduction potential of the metal as
well as the structure, functional groups and surface area
of the algae. Algae with high surface area to volume ratio
could potentially be used in As remediation [24]. It is
been observed that Scenedesmus has better accumulation
capacity of As (74.80% reduction) than Chlorella (72.55%
reduction) and was more tolerant as reported earlier [25,
26].

Metal concentration in water (ppm)

Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn As Mo Cd Pb

238.03
Before STP treat- 65.09 15921.32 5.75 32.57 315.29 755.99 10.97 16.94 40.22 108.14
±10.36
ment ±3.42 ±176.88 ±0.21 ±1.89 ±14.62 ±36.98 ±0.41 ±0.78 ±1.65 ±5.04

After STP treat- 316.24±15.54 7701.27 3.05 12.19 41.81 167.01 6.17 1.30 5.72 21.71
23.29±1.96
ment ±80.12 ±0.14 ±0.39 ±2.72 ±7.26 ±0.35 ±0.07 ±0.26 ±1.61

2.31 330.46 0.60 1.90 5.61 96.04 1.69 1.07 0.04 1.27
Chlorella sp. 237.14±10.22
±0.10 ±16.34 ±0.02 ±0.09 ±0.26 ±4.62 ±0.08 ±0.05 ±0.00 ±0.06

(% of reduction) 90.06 25.01 95.71 80.38 84.45 86.58 42.49 72.55 18.00 99.30 94.13

1.79 276.87 0.44 2.81 6.44 82.19 1.56 0.95 0.18 1.49
Scenedesmus sp. 178.35±8.06
±0.09 ±12.54 ±0.02 ±0.14 ±0.38 ±3.55 ±0.07 ±0.04 ±0.01 ±0.06

(% of reduction) 92.30 43.60 96.40 85.43 76.97 84.61 50.79 74.80 26.61 96.92 93.14

2.791
192.71 286.01 0.61 1.59 6.55 73.11 1.77 ND 0.70 0.12
Consortium ±0.13
±8.38 ±14.26 ±0.03 ±0.07 ±0.41 ±3.14 ±0.09 - ±0.03 ±0.01

(% of reduction) 88.01 39.06 96.29 79.92 86.97 84.34 56.22 71.32 ND 46.53 97.88

3.3 Mass culturing of consortium in semi-STP treated water and analysis of physico-chemical parameters
The improvement in Physico-chemical parameters of semi-STP treated water in mass culturing was measured before
and after six days of algal growth in open environment (Table 2). The concentration of DO was increased to14.65±0.60
mgL-1 (565.90%) and the elevated oxygen concentration in water concomitantly increased the pH (20.68 %) and reduced
the BOD (56.69 %) as well as COD (50.18 %) of water. Absorption of minerals by algae reduced the TDS (32.11 %),
conductivity (32.32 %) salinity (32.65 %) and the hardness of water (64.35 %). The total organic carbon (TOC) was also
utilized by algae for heterotrophic growth as indicated by its reduction from 97.2 to 32.1 mgL-1. The concentrations of
nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, sulfate, sulfite and sulfide compounds were reduced (35.1 ± 1.1, 5.8 ± 0.22, 50.0 ± 1.75,
57.0 ± 2.1, 0.46 ± 0.03, 0.120 ± 0.007 mgL-1 respectively) after STP treatment but not as denoted by the standard norms
(Table 2). However they are very important nutrients for algal growth and effectively reduced by algal treatment; total
nitrogen reduced by 64.16%, total phosphate 86.90%,

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

potassium 72.0%, sulfate 15.79%, sulfite 52.17% and
sulfide 71.87%. Similarly, Lau et al. (1996) found that
nutrient removal efficiency of C. vulgaris was 86% for
inorganic nitrogen and 70% for inorganic phosphorus. In
a case study conducted by Mahapatra et al. [8] the nutrient
removal efficiencies of algal consortia were found 86%,
90%, 89%, 70% and 76% for TOC, TN, NH4-N, TP and OP
respectively. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus in water is
responsible for proliferation of harmful algal blooms [27]
Table II. Treatment Of Semi-STP Treated Water By Consortium Of S. Quadricauda And C. Vulgaris (1:1 V/V) In 50L PVC Tub
while sulfite and sulfate are highly corrosive as it hydrolyzes
to form sulphuric acid [28]. Another pollutant sulfide is
often carried along with air to the surrounding atmosphere
of STPs and generates fouling smell [29]. The concentration
of silica (25.0%), total chlorine (35.0%), phenol (58.97%)
and fluoride (64.97%) were also reduced by algal treatment
(Table 2). Dissolved silica forms scaly layers on the surface
of the objects [30].

Physico-chemical pa- Sewage Semi-STP Algal consor- % of Standard Organization

rameters treated tium treated changes* Limits
Temp (0C) 26 26 - - - -
DO (mgL-1) 0.13±0.006 2.20±0.09 14.65±0.60 565.90 5.0-7.0 WHO
Ph 7.39±0.05 7.83±0.08 9.45±0.0168 20.68 6.5-8.5 CPCB/ WHO/CPHEEO
Conductivity 1281±32.3 993±30.5 672±24.1 32.32 750 WHO
TDS (mgL-1) 638±20.0 489±18.8 332±15.5 32.11 500 WHO/CPHEEO/BIS
Salinity 0.63±0.01 0.49±0.01 0.33±0.01 32.65 0.5 WHO
BOD (mgL-1) 144±3.9 25.4±0.07 11.0±0.34 56.69 10 CPCB
COD (mgL-1) 264±10.2 81.1±3.0 40.4±2.2 50.18 50 CPCB
Hardness (mgL-1) 107±3.8 101±3.2 36±1.9 64.35 100 WHO
TOC (mgL-1) 103.9±4.5 97.2±3.8 32.1±1.22 66.97 25 CPCB
Nitrogen Total (mgL-1) 43.0±1.8 35.1±1.1 12.58±0.48 64.16 10 CPCB
Phosphate Total (mgL- 9.3±0.31 5.8±0.22 0.76±0.020 86.90 5.0 The Environment (Protection)
1
) Rule,1986
Potassium (mgL-1) 52±1.88 50±1.75 14±0.54 72.00 50 WHO
Sulfate (mgL-1) 63±2.4 57±2.1 48±1.9 15.79 200 BIS/CHPEEO
Sulfite (mgL-1) 1.46±0.06 0.46±0.03 0.22±0.01 52.17 N/A

Sulfide (mgL )-1

0.120±0.007 0.032±0.002 0.009±0.0 71.87 0.05 BIS
Silica (mgL-1) 56.7±2.16 27.6±1.13 20.7±0.96 25.00 N/A

Chlorine Total (mgL-1) 0.35±0.011 0.20±0.009 0.13±0.004 35.00 0.2 BIS/CPHEEO

Phenol (mgL ) -1
1.01±0.046 0.39±0.021 0.16±0.007 58.97 1 The Environment (Protection)
Rule,1986
Fluoride (mgL-1) 1.173±0.005 1.168±0.005 0.41±0.012 64.90 1.0 BIS
*Percentage of changes was calculated after algal treatment on the basis of semi-STP treated water data.

IV. Conclusion given on microalgae based treatment to cope up with the

Green microalgae S. quadricauda and C. vulgaris have
been identified as efficient isolates for the assimilation
of organic matter from semi-treated sewage from STP.
Therefore, the improvement in DO and reduction of
the TDS, BOD, COD and toxic metals were significantly
noticed. They can also be used as a consortium instead
of the individual application which would increase the
efficiency synergistically. It has been found that algae could
potentially reduce heavy metal concentration in water,
which could improve the health related issues due to heavy
metals consumption. Thereby, extreme focus should be
increasing pollution level of water.
Acknowledgment
Authors are thankful to IUSTF, New Delhi for financial
support under i- CRAFT project; to Director, CSIR-NBRI,
Lucknow for his constant encouragement and laboratory
facilities; to Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma and Dr. Geet Govind
for their cooperation in using Central Instrumentation
Facilities; to Mr. Komal Ingle and Mr. Gurubachan for
their help in collection of algal samples. One of the authors
(CND) is thankful to CSIR, New Delhi for financial support
under CSIR-Pool Scientist project.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Effective Reclamation and Ecological Restoration
Techniques – A case study of Nigahi OCP, Northern
Coalfields Limited
Manish Kumar
Staff Officer (Mining), Nigahi Project, NCL
Singrauli (MP), India
managerplanning@gmail.com
Abstract — The mining industry in India contributes sig-
nificantly to the economy of the country. However, the activity
involves destruction of natural ecosystems through removal
of soil and vegetation. A satisfactory compromise between the
winning of coal as energy source and the destructive activities
involved in it, is necessary for the sustainability of the mining
industry. Large opencast mines of NCL witnesses higher rate
of OB removal, which is associated with formation of large OB
dumps, composed of coarse-grained rocks, which are not suit-
able for easy plantations. Reclamation of overburden dumps
is also a statutory requirement for mines of NCL, although
the dump material in this area is found to have unfavorable
pH, coarse texture or oxygen deficiency due to compaction,
which makes it difficult for easy vegetation. The other limiting
factors for re-vegetation of mine spoil may be salinity, acidity,
poor water holding capacity, inadequate supply of plant nu-
trients and accelerated rate of erosion. Plantation being the
conventional method for the restoration of lands damaged by
human activity, site specific measures with innovative con-
cepts are required to be taken to keep the rate of plantation
in pace with the rate of OB removal and mine advancement.
This paper demonstrates a case study of Nigahi OCP of NCL,
where such site-specific innovative concept was adopted, with
due consideration to the results of eco-restoration study con-
ducted by FRI-Dehradun at Nigahi, in order to strengthen the
green cover of overburden dumps at a faster pace.
Keywords— reclamation, ecological restoration, planta-
tion
I. Introduction
The Mining industry in India is a major economic activity
which contributes significantly to the economy of the
country. The development of any country depends on
energy and coal being an important and abundant fossil
fuel, in India, it exists as a major source of energy, in the
country. Shallower and thick deposits of coal is associated
with adoption of opencast mining technology on account
of its higher productivity. However, Open Cast mining
is known to cause several negative impacts on ambient
Keshva Sharma
Assistant Manager (Environment), Nigahi
Project, NCL Singrauli (MP), India
nigahi.environment@gmail.com
physical, chemical and biological environments. Increase
in mining activity is often associated with alterations in
vegetation and land use pattern. The ambient environmental
changes in air, water, soil, noise flora is mainly attributable
to excavations, transportation and water disposed during
mining.
The mining activities causes the destruction of natural
ecosystems through removal of soil and vegetation and
burial beneath waste disposal sites. The effects of this
damage can continue years after a mine has shut down,
including the addition to greenhouse gases, loss of flora
and fauna, and erosion of land and habitats.
Annual OB removal programme of Nigahi OCP, NCL is
74.60 Mcum against coal production target of 18.75 Mtes
during the year 2019-20. Handling of such large amount
of overburden involves large scale land degradation. The
process of land degradation on account of mining activity
is required to be timely attended, in order to avoid serious
shortfall in availability of land resources and to maintain
the balance of ecological and socio economic fabric of
the region. The judicious utilization of top soil or other
methods to bind and consolidate the waste dumps is
considered necessary for the sustainability.
Accordingly, the project management has undertaken
various scientific and innovative approaches for enhanced
eco-restoration of the OB dumps of Nigahi OCP and the
results were found to be encouraging.
II. Statement of Problem
The overburden, i.e., the rock or soil overlaid the coal seam,
are removed before extraction of coal, open cast mining
method. This overburden material is dumped on surface,
preferably on mined-out area. Therefore, this type of mining
requires quite large land area on surface. Many a times,
large forest areas are diverted for coal mining purpose.
The land degradation is an obvious result of creation and
211

expansion of opencast coal mines. Conversion of forest land
area into mining fields involve large scale deforestation. As
such, statutory provisions for mining necessitates different
environmental mitigation measures in accordance to the
mining activity, which also involve effective plantation
on the OB dumps. However, large scale OB removal, on
account of increased coal production targets and higher
stripping ratio in opencast mines of NCL, is associated
with formation of large OB Dumps. OB material, being
medium to coarse grained sandstone, tends to form a
sandy and rocky dump. High porosity of the dump slopes
are found to make it incompetent for effective plantation,
which can stabilize the slopes. Even though the plantation
of drought hardy plants are usually taken up in the dump
slopes, and the average annual plantation through last 28
years stands at about one lakh nos. of plants, the traditional
plantation techniques, dependent upon the monsoon rains,
is not found sufficient for sustainability of the plants. High
porosity of the dumps and large volume of unconsolidated
overburden being accrued in the waste dumps, every year,
results in rain cuts and loss of plantations (refer fig.1). Loss
of infrastructures nearby to the dump toes, have also been
observed due to flowage of OB soil during heavy rainfall.
Blockage of haul roads have also been observed, due to
which production loss have also been suffered.
It is also important to note that rate of enhancement in
green cover has become a necessity in the OC mines of
NCL. We need to stabilize the plantation in such a manner,
so as to reduce the silt flow during monsoon.
To cater above issues, OB dump reclamation is always seen
as a challenging task in the open cast mining sector.
Fig.1 Deep rain cut/ gullies observed on the slope of OB dumps
of Nigahi OCP, during the heavy rain
III. Case study: Nigahi OCP
Nigahi Opencast Project, the largest Opencast Mine of
NORTHERN COALFIELDS LIMITED, is situated in
Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh and forms a part
of Singrauli Coalfield (Muher Sub Basin). Nigahi block
is located to the west of Jayant Project and to the east
of Amlori Project. It stands out as a hilly plateau with
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
elevations of about 400 - 450 Mts. above mean sea level.
The block has 483.01 Mill. Tonnes of mineable reserves
locked in Turra, Purewa (Bottom, Top and Merged) seams
at an average stripping ratio of 3.68. Presently the mine has
an environmental clearance of 18.75 MTPA and the life of
the mine as per the current capacity is about 13 years, as
on 01.04.2019.
The Method of Work adopted at Nigahi Project is Dragline-
cum-Shovel-Dumper combination mining. The mine
operates with a central approach road for Purewa seam and
two flanks namely East main entry and West mid entry for
Turra seam for a total strike length of 3.3 Km . The Coal
Seams are dipping towards North and the dip side extent of
the mine is 3.4 Km.
i. An average of 80 meter width is taken in the Dragline
Cut with average working height 27 meters and rest
of the parting i.e. 25-28 meters is taken by Shovel-
Dumper combination.
ii. There are two Draglines 20/90 (each) in the West
side and two nos. 24/96 Draglines are in the Eastern
side. Draglines are operated in Horizontal Tandem
extended Bench method (i.e. Draglines are on same
Level), as per the balancing diagram proposed by
CMPDIL.
iii. Shovel and Dumper combination are deployed for
Turra, Purewa Top & Bottom Coal Seam(in the west),
Purewa merged seam (in the east) and all OB benches
beyond the dragline benches.
iv. Part of OB removal in the mine has been outsourced.
The explosives used are SMS and SME with charging
65 to 95 KG/meter depending upon the bench
condition, hole dia. and drilling pattern.
v. Bio-reclamation is being done through Plantation
agency MPRVVN. Plantation of about 33.44 lakh
trees have been done in the project, in an area of 884
Ha (384 Ha in Dumps and 500 Ha in Plain area) till
date.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

IV. Eco-Restoration Through Plantation be advantageous as it provides the necessary environment.

Planting of indigenous plant species subsequent to
Site-specific bio-engineering measures have been studied
grasses and shrubs to provide two-tier plantation has been
and implemented at Nigahi to manage the impacts
suggested by FRI-Dehradun, in their study at Nigahi.
of mining on physical and biological environment. A
study was performed by Forest Research Institute (FRI) Following methodology has been adopted, for effective
Dehradun in 2014 at Central east OB dump of Nigahi OCP, Reclamation and Ecological Restoration, during the period
in which 5 Ha area (90% flat & 10% slope) was taken for October’ 2018 to September’ 2019:
eco-restoration through plantation with an objective to to
conserve & enhance Biodiversity of mined out areas. A. Technical Reclamation of the dump slopes
Due care has been taken during formation of overburden
Species considered for plantation were of Forestry, dumps, such that the average height of individual benches
Horticulture, Medicinal, Fodder, Grass and Bamboo remain within 25m, with an overall angle less than 28o. The
variety. The study revealed the physio-chemical properties step taken also helps in minimizing the surface erosion,
and soil carbon density of age series of rehabilitated coal especially during rains. Sufficient spacing (as haul road)
mined OB dumps at Nigahi. is kept between two benches and an inward slope is also
provided on the haul road between two benches, so that
TABLE I. Physical and Chemical Properties of Dumps
runoff water can be diverted along the toe, not through the
Parameters First year of OB Natural slope.
dump
Forest
Sand% 86.67 62.67
Silt% 11.33 29.67
Clay% 2.00 7.66
Texture Class Loamy sand Sandy clay loam
Bulk Density 1.41(gm/cm3) 1.12(gm/cm3)
Porosity (%) 39.00 24.00
WHC (%) 22.35 39.20
pH 6.79 6.16
EC (µs/cm) 470.00 70.00
OC % 0.30 1.83
OM % 0.51 3.6
Avl N (kg/Ha) 156.80 369.60
Fig. 2. Technical Reclamation of the dump slope of Nigahi OCP
Avl. P (kg/Ha) 5.15 9.28
B. Judicious spreading of top soil during its
Avl. K (kg/Ha) 70.00 150.00
excavation
Avl. Ca (kg/Ha) 100.80 414.40
For effective bio-reclamation of OB dumps, record top
The Table I indicates that the physical and chemical soil utilization has been achieved, during the period
properties of the dumps in its first year of formation against October’ 2018 to April’2019. A total quantity of 4,59,120
the parameters of natural forest. This also indicates that it CuM top soil was removed from the freshly handed over
would take more than 30 years for restoration to the natural forest area and judiciously spread over the dump slopes,
forest. directly through dumping by dumpers, before the onset
of monsoon period. Since the top soil is found to be very
rich in terms of nutrients and seeds/roots of diverse native
V. Methodology Adopted At Nigahi OCP
species, all the due care was taken to obtain a layer of
Under the circumstances stated in the matter of concern, sufficient thickness, to the maximum possible extent before
judicious spreading of available top soil and subsequently the onset of monsoon of year 2019.
plantation of grasses and legumes, in addition to the tree
plantation, has been considered as a measure to have quick
green cover to provide soil binding. Availability of top soil
on the dump slopes before plantation of grasses is found to

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

were kept for drying for around two days and then spread
over the dump slopes.

Fig. 3. Removal of top soil from the freshly handed over forest
site

Fig. 4. Spreading of top soil on ecorestoration dump slopes of

Nigahi OCP
Fig. 6. Spreading of seed balls of Subabool, Prosopiece and
C. Spreading of seeds of grasses, shrubs/ trees and Hamata Grass seeds with Cow Dung and Fertile Soil in the form
seeds balls of slurry
Next to the above, about 1650 kg of seeds of grasses
(Hamata and Deenanath) and trees/ shrubs (Subabool D. Irrigation with dedicated irrigation
and khair), were sprayed, over the layers of top soil, and water tanker
also on the layers without top soil, during the period April’
2019 to July’ 2019. Before spreading, the seeds were mixed
with fertile cow dung with application of water (just upto
extent of slurry formation). Above mixture was kept for
germination overnight and then sprayed over the dump
slopes on the next day.

An initiative of dry period irrigation on the dump slopes

Fig. 5. Spreading of seeds of grasses, shrubs/ trees in the form of cow
dung slurry
was taken through the concept of specially customized
water tanker. 28KL water tankers deployed in the OB
outsourcing patch, was customized for side spraying as
Apart from above, during the period April’ 2019 to July’ shown in the fig.7.
2019, around 5000 Seed Balls were made by mixing
Subabool, Prosopiece and Hamata Grass seeds with Cow
Dung and Fertile Soil with application of water. These seeds

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Fig. 7. Customized at reclamation site of Nigahi OCP.

Above arrangement helped to spray water on the dump

slopes while the tanker moves along the dump edge. The
irrigation was religiously done, with a frequency of once in
two days, on the dump slopes area, spread with grass seeds
as mentioned above, during the period April’ 2019 to June’
2019.

E. Plantation during Monsoon

Massive plantation has been undertaken during the
monsoon of year 2019. A total of 1.26 lakhs trees have
been planted on OB dumps covering an area of 50.58 Ha,
i.e., at a density of 2,500 numbers of plants per hectare.
Out of 50.58 ha area, 29.00 Ha area has been selected
for effective Reclamation and Ecological Restoration.
In this area, apart from spreading of seeds of grasses, Fig. 8. Plantation on the OB dump slopes of Nigahi OCP by
shrubs/ trees and seeds balls, 72,500 numbers of the MPRVVN
plants have been planted during the monsoon period, The species planted in different years on OB dumps are
i.e., fro, July’ 2019 to September’ 2019. Species selected mainly Aegle marmelos, Morus alba, Mangifera indica,
for the plantation were based on the recommendations Annona squamosa, Tamarindus indica, Pithecellobium
of FRI, Dehradun, which includes all the major native dulce, Carissa carandas, Moringa oleifera, Phyllanthus
species of the region. emblica, Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellirica,
Syzygium cumini, Azadirachta indica, Terminalia arjuna,

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Saraca asoca, Madhuca longifolia var latifolia, Acacia
catechu, Cassia fistula, Bauhinia variegata, Tectona
grandis, Alstonia scholaris, Dalbergia sissoo, Gmelina
arborea, Albizia spp., Neolamarckia cadamba, Grevellia
pteridifolia, Acacia manzium, Holoptelea integrifolia, Ficus
benghalensis, Ficus religiosa, Cassia siamea, Peltophorum
pterocarpum.
F. Application of fertilizer
Following two types of the manures were mainly used for
sustainability of the plantations:
Organic fertilizer : Rich and fertile cow dung
Chemical fertilizer : Diammonium Phosphate (DAP)
G. Conservation of Soil Moisture
The spread of top soil in mine OB dumps is found to help
in conserving soil moisture besides performing the other
functions such as source of nutrients, seeds, rhizomes, and
other plant propagules, etc. Good top soil is reasonably
porous and able to retain the water and gas necessary
for plant growth. The nutrients in top are provided and
distributed from the decay of organic plant and animal
matters within the upper few inches of topsoil. As plant
and animal matters decay, soil microorganisms such as
nematodes promote the formation of rich soil aggregates
called humus. Top soil rich in humus is especially fertile.
Apart from above, spreading of top soil helped in mulching
on account of existence of plant residue (uprooted during
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
quarrying operations) as mulch material. The mulching on
OB dump slopes helped in conserving soil moisture and
accelerated the process of establishment and growth of
planted and naturally occurring plant species.
Role of grasses : Many studies have documented
the positive role of grasses as a nurse crop. They can offer
superior tolerance to drought, establish fast in low soil
nutrients and other climatic stresses. Due to fibrous roots
the grasses can reduce soil erosion and eventually produce
a layer of organic soil that allow early succession of plant
species to colonize. Hamata grass seed was found to be
excellent soil binders.
VI. Conclusion
The main objective of the process undertaken at Nigahi
OCP was to address the challenges of effective reclamation
and extend the green cover in a short span of time. The
method adopted has given results which are found to be
encouraging. The method also suggests to adopt irrigation
techniques in OB dumps for effective plantation growth.
Reference
[1] Study report entitled “Road map for Ecological
Restoration works in Coal Mines of NCL, Singrauli”
submitted by FRI-Dehradun .
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Surface Miner in opencast mines of NCL

A. K. Mishra, Rakesh Kumar,
Chief Manager (Excavation), Senior Manager (Mining),
Opencast Division, Opencast Division,
CMPDI HQ CMPDI HQ

Abstract - Surface Miner machine is being used in for coal production. In fact only MCL (20) and NCL(4) have
Indian coal industry since late 90’s. Northern Coalfields deployed departmental surface miners. Apart from these
Limited introduced this machinery in 2016 in three of its 24 departmental surface miners, around 89 contractual
opencast coal mines. Coal winning by surface miner has surface miners are engaged in coal production in different
distinct advantages over shovel-dumper combination on
many fronts namely safety, environment as well as pro- subsidiaries of Coal India. Surface Miners working in
ductivity/financial due to elimination of drilling and opencast mines of CIL are having windrow application
blasting in addition to sizing under 100mm. only. There is no belt conveyor and simultaneous loading
arrangement attached with the machine. Loading of coal is
Many such tapped advantages as well as many more ad- done with the help of FEL & transportation by trucks.
vantages that can be harnessed and some safety issues has
been discussed in the present paper. As far as coal production by surface miner is concerned, it
was 280 million tones in 2018-19 , which is almost half of
the total coal produced by opencast mines of Coal India.
I. Introduction
Conventional opencast Coal Mining Technology uses
drilling and blasting for fragmentation of rock (overburden) IV. Surfaceminer Population & Coal
and coal so that these can be handled by dragline, shovel/ Production In Last 3 Years In Cil
payloader and dumper. Coal needs further crushing to -200 Particulars 16-17 17-18 18-19
mm size by means of crushers/feeder breaker.As policy , Departmental Population (No.) 19 24 24
Coal India is bound to supply crushed coal of atleast -200 Departmental Production (Mt.) by SM 36.34 37.81 46.21
mm size to its consumers. Outsourced Production (Mt.) by SM 219.53 227.95 234.53
Coal by Surface Miners (Mt.) 255.87 265.76 280.74
Application of surface miner in opencast coal mine replaces Total Opencast Coal Production (Mt.) 522.52 536.82 576.40
drilling & blasting of coal as well as its crushing. It cuts % SM Coal of Total Opencast Coal 49 50 49
the exposed coal seam in layers of 20-30 cms from top to Total OS Coal Production (Mt.) 319.52 328.71 343.51
bottom of -100 mm size. % OS SM Coal of Total OS Coal 69 69 68

Its introduction in 3 of the opencast mines of NCL was made
in 2016. Namely Jayant, Dudhichua and Krishnashila OCPs.
II. History Of Surface Miner
Surface miner was initially introduced for road
construction work. Then it was introduced in mines of soft
rock such as limestone mine.In Indian coal mine its entry
was in Mahanadi Coalfields Limited in 90s through private
players. Coal India procured first departmental surface
miner in the year 2009 for Mahanadi Coalfields Limited.
Now 20 departmental surface miners are working there.
NCL procured 4 departmental surface miners in 2016.
III. Present Scenario Of Surface Miner
In Cil
Presently ECL, MCL, SECL, CCL, WCL and NCL have
deployed either contractual or departmental surface miner
Surface Miner in NCL
NCL introduced surface miner very late. 4 departmental
machines were deployed in 3 of its opencast mines in
2016. NCL is the only subsidiary having only departmental
surface miners (no contractual m/c).
All the 4 machines are same model KSM 403 of L&T make.
Brief technical specification of KSM 403
Maximum cutting width : 4000 mm
Cutting depth : 0 - 300 mm
Drum diameter with tools : 1150 mm
Number of cutting tools on drum :136
Engine rating : 950 HP
Travel speed : 0 - 4 km/hr
Operating weight, full tanks : 60000 kgs
Crawler track units : 4

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Advantages of application of Surface Miner technology producing 500 tes of its mix ie. Coal of average grade G10.
• Elimination of Blasting
• Producing uniform small size coal (-100 mm) Diff grade coal prod Av. Grade coal prod

• Selective mining is possible Qty (t) Price Total Qty Price Total price
(Rs/t) price (Rs) (t) (Rs/t) (Rs)
Elimination of Blasting
Since in this technology coal is produced by cutting it, G8 100 1465 146500

blasting is eliminated. Blasting has three main hazards: G9 100 1140 114000

A. Hazard to health of person due to generation of G10 100 1024 102400 500 1024 512000
noxious nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide in G11 100 955 95500
post detonation fumes.
G12 100 886 88600
B. Hazard to safety of person and machinery/ structure
due to fly rocks. These fly rocks may fly upto 500 m. Grand total price 547000 512000

C. Hazard to building due to ground vibration and air
blast.
By applying Surface Miner all these hazards are also
eliminated.
It also creates Smooth and Well Dressed High Wall. It
enhances safety status for persons /machinery working
near high wall.
Producing uniform small size coal (-100 mm)
In conventional blasting mining, produced coal is not of
uniform size. Therefore it requires crushing to produce coal
of -200 mm size. Surface miner produces coal of uniform
size of -100 mm. Thus, it not only eliminates crushing but
also Value Addition is done. It adds Rs. 31 per tonne as
additional crushing charge. (crushing charge for -200 mm
size is Rs. 56 per tonne whereas the same for -100 mm size
is Rs. 87 per tonne.)
Selective mining is possible
Coal strata is not homogeneous as far as quality is
concerned. In a
particulr coal seam thin layers of coal of different grades
are found. Separate blasting for such thin layer of 20-30 cms
is not possible. But surface miner cut coal in thin layers of
20-30 cms., it is always possible to produce different grade
coal separately. Such selective mining may produce coal of
higher grade by rejecting some thin dirt band as well as
produce coal of different grade . This further adds VALUE
to the coal. This can be illustrated by an example;
suppose ,
Seam thickness = 20 m
Average grade of coal= G 10
Seam is having 5 equal height layers of coal of grades G8,
G9, G10,G11 & G12
Comparision of sales realization for producing 100 tes
of coal of each five grades by surface miner v/s same for
From the illustration above , it is clear that net value addition
in this selective mining case is = ( 547000-512000)/500
Rs.per tonne = 35 Rs per tonne.
Safety concern
Surface Miners working in opencast mines of CIL are
having windrow application only. There is no belt conveyor
and simultaneous loading arrangement attached with the
machine. Loading of coal is done with the help of FEL &
transportation by trucks.
When edge coal is loaded by FEL in trucks, then trucks and
FEL both or at least FEL travel and work upto the edge.
There is no substantial berm at the edge. This situation ia
creates unsafe condition .It needs to be addressed.
Suggestion 1: leave solid berm at edge and remove it after a
layer of 1m. It has advantage of regularly maintaining solid
berm of 1m height at edge. But the disadvantage is in the
removal of coal beyond 1m. height. Further, this berm rib
gets widened as lower layers are excavated.
Suggestion 2: Use m/c having attached belt conveyor . It
will keep the edge coal cut and stacked at lower bench.
Suggestions for high productivity
1. Longer length of patch: It enhances productive
working hour of m/c
2. Matching coal evacuation mechanism : many times it
has been observed that surface miner is idle because
of non evacuation of coal .
3. Large exposed coal area : It will ensure non idling
of both surface miner as well as coal evacuation
mechines.

218
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

An Innovative Technique for Improving Waste Dump

Stability
Murthreja, I. L.
Professor, Department of Mining, Visvesvaraya National
Institute of Technology, Nagpur (India)
Agarwal, A. K.
Assistant Professor, Department of Mining,
Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur
(India)

Abstract - With rapid advancement in the field of extraction technology, surface mining is
assuming an increasing important role in the Indian coal mining industry. The coal production
in India from underground and opencast mines as shown in Table-1 indicates rise in production
from surface mine. One of the most important aspects of an opencast coal mine planning is the
design of waste dumps. The storage of waste materials should be done for safety of man and ma-
chines, and economy. Increasing trend in production from open cast mines has aggravated the
stability problems of waste dump. The amount of waste materials is increasing at an alarming rate
and can pose stability problems in future, if not taken care of, immediately.

Dump slope failure may occur in almost every conceivable manner, slowly or suddenly, and
with or without any provocation. Many attempts have been made to solve this problem but due to
the heterogeneous nature of the spoil dumps still, no concrete solution could be found. To stabi-
lize the dump slopes, geo-synthetics is used. It not only provides the tensile reinforcement to the
dump but also acts as a filter which prevents the migration of soil and prevents the formation of
potential sliding zones or planes. All these properties of geo-synthetics increase the stability of
the slope. In this paper, behavioral aspect of geo-grid reinforced mine waste dumps is analyzed
backed by numeric modeling. Different options of geo-grid application are used to study their
effect on mine waste dump designs.

Keywords: Dump stability; Geo-synthetics; Laboratory model; Numerical model; Waste dumps;

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN MINING

Sustainable development - SECL’s perspective.

Manoj Kumar Prasad * & K. Rajasekhar**

1.0 Introduction: The need for anticipatory deci- 2.0 Trend of Coal production in SECL :
sion-making for future is perhaps more important than the
present as it is the future which sets the pace and direction SECL has started from its journey from 36.16 MT in 1985-
of the present. Uncertain turbulent environment enveloping 86 to 157.35 MT in 2018-19 and eyeing to achieve 250 MT
the Coal Industry makes it imperative to revisit their strategy by 2025-26.
and set vision as per ever evolving scenario. In an extractive
industry like SECL engaged principally in coal mining, great-
er significance to long-term plans is being given to achieve the
objectives of the company. Many of our projects have long
gestation period and, therefore, identifying the challenges,
planning, making provisions for resources in advance and
execution are quite germane to our goal setting. Keeping the
commitment of Government of India towards “24X7 Power
for all” in mind, Coal India Limited has set its target to 1 BT
by FY 26. Accordingly, SECL has set forward the path for
meeting the challenge of achieving its production from 157.35
MT in the year 18-19 to 231.00 MT by FY 2024 and subse-
quently contribution of 250 MT by FY 26. Such paradigm
shift in production targets in the tune of 46.8% increase from
the present production level within 5 years does pose a great 3.0 Coal Production Scenario of SECL:
challenge for team SECL. SECL operates in 13 Areas located i) SECL – Historical Overview:
in 3 major coalfields namely Korba coalfields, CIC coalfields
SECL is the largest coal producing subsidiary of Coal India
and Raigarh coalfields .
Korba Coalfields: Limited. The Performance for the last 5 years has been
tabulated below:
2014- 2015- 2016- 2017- 2018-
15 16 17 18 19

Production 128.3 137.9 140.0 144.4 157.4

(MT)

ABS Growth 9.7 2.1 4.7 12.6

% of Growth 7.56 1.52 3.36 8.73

CAGR 5.23%

ii) Five Year Vision Plan : The best effort basis

production projections of SECL production break-
upto 2023-24 is as follows:
2019- 2020- 2021- 2022- 2023-
1. Gevra 2. Dipka 3. Kusmunda 4.. Korba Areas 20 21 22 23 24

Raigarh Coalfields : Production 170.5 183.0 197.5 215.0 231.0

5. Raigarh Area (MT)

ABS Growth 12.5 14.5 17.5 16

CIC Coalfields :
6. Bishrampur 7. Baikuntpur 8. Bhatgaon 9. Chirimiri 10. % of Growth 7.33 7.92 8.86 7.44
Hasdeo 11. Sohagpur 12. Jamuna Kotka 13. Johilla CAGR 7.89%

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

It can be inferred from the above that during the period of 4.0 TREND OF OPENCAST MINING IN SECL :
last 5 years & next 5 years –
i) Category I OCPs ( Mega Projects > 10
 The CAGR for the next five years ( 2019-20 tp 2023- MTY Capacity)
24) is 7.89% in comparision to 5.23% of previous 5
years i.e., 2014-15 to 2018-19.  In SECL, presently there are 3 no of Mega projects (
iii) Perspective Plan of SECL : > 10 MTY) capacity namely Gevra (70MTY), Dipka
(35MTY) and Kusmunda ( 50 MTY). Contribution
(a) Group wise Production projections for FY from these three projects will be about 122 MT during
23-24 of SECL : 19-20. It is proposed to add 3 more projects during
2022-23 in this namely Baroud (10MTY), Pelma ( 15
FY 2024 [ 231.0 MT) MTY) and Madannagar (12 MTY) and combinedly
[],0.63 MT these proposed to contribute 162.45 MTY making the
[], 8.15MT
contribution of 75.93% from this group of projects.

[], 57.78MT
Major Highlights of SECL in future :
- SECL operates the largest OC project ( Gevra OCP
(70 MTY) in the country.
Ongoing,
- SECL operates the biggest departmental OCP in the
164.44MT country. ( Kusmunda 50 MTY)
- Large HEMM, like 42m3 Shovels, 240T Dumpers, 381
mm Drills & 850 HP Dozers etc.
 Ongoing Projects including custodian mines to
contribute 164.44 MT by 2023-24 from the existing ii) Category II OCPs ( 4 MTY to 10 MTY Capacity):
level of 100.16MT in 2018-19 with a projected Presently there are 1 no of operating projects contributing
growth of 64.17% . 4.9 MTY and subsequently it is proposed to add one
expansion project Chaal OCP Seam III ( 6 MTY) in 20-
 Future Projects to contribute 8.15 MT.
21, two projects namely Durgapur OCP ( 6 MTY) and
 Existing /Completed group mines to contribute 58.41 Expansion of Amadand ( 4 MTY) in 2021-22. Production
MT from the existing level of 57.78 MT maintaining from this group of mines will be about 20 MTY with a
almost same level of production from this groups contribution of 9.2 % of OC production.
due to depletion of reserves/ closing of uneconomic
mines etc. iii) Category III OCPs ( < 4 MTY capacity):
There are 17 nos of projects in this group with a target of 24
UG VS OC MTY in 19-20 and 8 new mines namely Ambika OC (1.00
18-19 23-24
MTY) , Batura OC (2.00 MTY) , Damini UG to OC (1.50
250 214.79
200
MTY), Jhiria West OC (1.50 MTY), Batura West OC (1.50
142.57
150 MTY) Kartali East OC (2.50 MTY), Malachua ( 3 MTY)
in MT

100
50 14.77 16.21 and Amritdhara OCP ( 2.5 MTY). Production from this
0
UG OC
group of mines will be 25 MTY with a contribution of 11.4
18-19 14.77 142.57 % of OC production.
23-24 16.21 214.79

(b) Mode-wise Production projections for FY 2023-24 of SECL :
 UG mines to contribute 16.21 MT by 2023-24 from
the existing level of 14.77 MT in 2018-19 with a
projected increment of 1.44 Mt i.e., a growth of 9.7
% subject to resolving land issues for depillaring
and introduction of more number of CMs in the UG
mines.
 OC mines to contribute 214.79 MT by 2023-24 from the
existing level of 142.47 MT in 2018-19 with a projected
increment of 72.32 MT i.e., a growth of 50.76%.
iv) Category IV OCPs ( Custodian Mines ) :
Presently there are three no mines under the custodianship
of SECL however considering the various constraints
with these projects like Land issues, Legal issues and
Government Policies etc future production projections in
the tune of 8 MTY by 23-24 needs to be addressed from the
above three category of mines only.
V) Projected OB Removal :
From the level of 183.9 Mm3 OB removal done during 2018-
19 to the requirement of OB removal for the year 2023-

221

24 raises to 545 Mm3 with a CAGR of about 24.3% . This
necessitates proper planning, designing and execution of OB
removal and dumping works. Presently level of developmental
OB capacity of 97.08 Mm3 needs to increase to 154 Mm3 ( 63.8
% of total OB). Similarly, contractual OB capacity required to
raise from the current level of 170 Mm3 ( 63.8 % of total OB)
to 392Mm3 ( 71.7 % of total OB) by 2023-24.
5.0 Trend Of Underground Mining In Secl :
It is projected to achieve 16.20 MT by FY 24 from the
current level of 14.42 MT from underground mines
of SECL. Presently 7 no. of Continuous Miners are in
operation in 6 no of mines and it is planned to operate
15 no. CM sets in the mines for contributing 37.20 % of
UG production in FY24 . 155 no. of SDLs and 176 no.
LHD are already deployed in the mines. SECL is the first
company where Highwall technology is introduced in CIL
and presently two no of sets of HW m/cs are deployed at
Sharada Highwall mine. As such one more mine namely
Batura High Wall project is proposed to start in future.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
6.0 Challenges ahead for
sustainable Development:
The Major challenges involved for achieving the
231 MT production by FY 24 are :
Speedy Land acquisition , Physical Possession and R &R :
Acquisition of 4047 Ha tenancy land & 5600 Ha of Forest
Land will be required in addition to possession of about
15900 Ha of already acquired land by 2024 for achieving
this ambitious production target. This implies SECL has
to acquire and possess about 5100 Ha land / year for next
five years against the present rate of 800 Ha/year. Other
than expansion programme in mega projects of Korba
coalfields, Raigarh Coal Fields is the next potential area
for enhancement of production in SECL. About 30 MT
production is envisaged from this coalfield by FY 24 from
the current level of 7.95 MT. However, there is a stalemate
in land acquisition and possession in some of the projects
of Raigarh and CIC coalfields due to resistance from
land owners demanding compensation and R&R benefits
beyond applicable norms.
Expeditious Forestry Clearances :
Greatest challenge for SECL is to obtain Forestry Clearances
for as many as 25 no. of projects by FY 24. Gestation period
for obtaining Forestry Clearance is a major concern which
is at present 4-5 years.
Expeditious Enviornmental Clearances :
SECL is to obtain Environmental Clearance for additional
116 MTPA for 21 projects which includes 13 no. green-
field projects and capacity enhancement of 9 nos. projects.
Issuance of EC for the involving forest land is subject to
Stage I Forestry Clearance.
Infrastructure Development for Coal evacuation :
(a) Expansion & modernization including Rapid
Loading System with Silos/ Loadout system etc in
Mega projects like Gevra, Dipka, Kusmunda etc.,
Commissioning of New Sidings for the projects
such as Pelma, Chhal Seam III, Baroud Expn,
Jagannathpur, Madannagar, Amandand etc.
(b) The quantum of jump in coal production is coming
from Raigarh and Korba coalfields through
commissioning of new / expansion projects.
Evacuation from these coalfields will be dependent
on two rail corridors namely East Corridor in
Raigarh coalfield and East West Corridor in Korba
Coalfield which are under implementation through
JV involving SECL, IRCON and Govt of Chattisgarh.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Timely finalization of Contracts :
Total volume of material (including coal and OB) to
be handled by SECL in FY 24 is about 690 Mm3. Out
of which about 580 Mm3 volume needs to be handled
through contract management. Therefore expediting
Long term contracts is need of for coal, OB removal as
well as for coal evacuation.
Upgrading skills of employees and deployment of
sufficient manpower :
Existing manpower of SECL as on 1.4.2019 is 54816.
SECL’s projected annual attrition rate per year is about
3972 for the next five years . Hence upgrading the skill of
new employees inducted against land acquisition is need
of the hour.
Production and dispatch of Quality coal :
Producing and dispatching coal as per declared grade and
consumer satisfaction attains utmost importance.
Switching over to High capacity machines and latest
technology adoption.
Sustaining and enhancing production from loss making
U/G mines.
7.0 Key Strategies :
 Increased interaction with villagers by community
centred programmes as trust building measures
and execution of time bound action plan for land
acquisition and possession.
 Rigorous follow up and coordination with all stake
holders involved in Land Acquisition Environment
and Forestry Clearances.
 Identifying Technological requirements and
adoption of the same :
In Opencast Mines:
 Consideration of deployment of High Capacity
HEMM such as 42-55 m3 shovels, 240-370 T
dumpers, 250–400mm Drills, 850 -900 HP Dozers,
3800 mm – 4200 mm Surface miners wherever
feasible for replacement and mine expansion
programme.
 Increase use of Inpit crushing & conveyor systesm
 Use of Angle conveyors including high angle
conveyors,
Tube Conveyors, Flexible Conveyors wherever
suitable.
 Introduction of Slope Stability Rader for monitoring
of dump,3D Laser Scanner for Mine Surveying & 3
D simulation for Mine Planning.
 Adoption of OITDS / GPS systems in transport
management.
In Underground Mines :
 Introduction of Continuous Cutting Technology in
UG mines wherever feasible.
There are already 9 nos of sets of CMs and 1 Highwall M/c
at Sharada deployed in 9 mines of SECL. Further 5 sets
of CMs and 1 High wall at Batura are in the process for
deployment.
 Use of Gas Chromotographs and Environmental
Tele-monitoring systems in UG mines.
 Feasibility of use of crushed OB, High speed
stowing, use of fly ash with chemical is being
explored.
 Introduction of Manriding systems in all the UG
mines.
 3 D Laser Scanner for surveying.
 Use of OITDS / GPS systems in transport
management.
• Technological requirements with respect to Coal
evacuation and Environmental Issues/ Compliances.
7.0 Rail Infrastructure development in
SECL Command area :
There are two (02) Subsidiary Companies of SECL
viz. Chhattisgarh East Railway Limited (CERL) and
Chhattisgarh East-West Railway Limited (CEWRL) in
the form of Joint Venture with IRCON International
Limited (IRCON) and Chhattisgarh State Industrial
Development Corporation (CSIDC, representing Govt.
of Chhattisgarh) formed in terms of the Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) signed between SECL, IRCON
International Limited and Government of Chhattisgarh,
for establishment of the two Railway Corridors viz., East
Corridor and East-West Corridor. Share Holding pattern
of SECL in these projects is 64%.
• CHHATTISGARH EAST RAILWAY LIMITED
(CERL) :
Chhattisgarh East Railway Limited (CERL) was
incorporated on 12.03.2013. The East Rail Corridor has
been given the status of a “Special Railway Project” on
17.12.2013 by the Ministry of Railways. This rail corridor
will facilitate coal transport from Mand-Raigarh coalfields
of SECL as well as cater to the passenger services. The
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East Rail Corridor is expected to be completed in two
phases, viz. Phase-I: Kharsia to Dharamjaygarh (0 to 74
km) and with a Spur to connect mines of Gare Pelma Block
and Phase-II: Dharamjaygarh to Korba (approx 62 km).
• CHHATTISGARH EAST-WEST RAILWAY
LIMITED (CEWRL)
Chhattisgarh East-West Railway Limited (CEWRL) was
incorporated on 25.03.2013. The East-West Rail Corridor
i.e., Gevra Road - Pendra Road new line project (121.70
km) has been given the status of a “Special Railway
Project” on 17.12.2013 by the Ministry of Railways.
This rail corridor will facilitate coal transport
from Gevra coalfields of SECL as well as cater to the
passenger services. The above Rail projects are scheduled
to be completed by Mar 2022.
8.0 Future Green Initiatives being taken
up by SECL :
i) Development of CBM Block in Sohagpur Coalfields :
 Sohagpur Coalfields is one of the most potential areas
of CBM in SECL Command area.
 CMPDI has assessed a resource of 2.4 BCF in the
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
seams V, Index IV & III.
 Pre- Feasibility study is being done by CMPDI and
on the baisis of preliminary studies its having 0.1
MMSCMD with commencement of production from
10 no. of wells.
ii) Generation and Use of Solar Energy :
Year MW Remark
Capacity
2019-20 197.6 KW Rooftop Solar Power Plant at main
Administrative Building, SECL HQ
(Rooftop)
(98.8 KW).
DAV School Vasant Vihar, Bilaspur
(98.8 KW).
2020-21 43 MW Land has already been identified at
Bishrampur and Bhatgaon area.
1580 KW Total capacity of 1580 KW Grid
connected Roof Top Solar Power is to
(Rooftop)
be installed at different Area.
2021-22 132 MW CIL is coordinating with NLCIL, SECI
& CNPUL for exploring suitable land
2022-23 200 MW
on PAN India basis for setting up of
2023-24 250 MW Solar Projects.
iii) Afforestation / Plantation
The Company has undertaken Road Side Plantation and
grass bedding/plantation on overburden dump slopes to
ensure clean environment and minimize pollution in and
around Coal Mines.
In order to minimize pollution and to ensure clean
environment, the Company has planted more than 2.5
crore saplings since inception of the SECL in 1986. SECL
has entered into a MoU with Chhattisgarh Rajya Van Vikas
Nigam (CGRVVN) Limited, Raipur and Madhya Pradesh
Rajya Van Vikas Nigam (MPRVVN) Limited, Bhopal for
afforestation works . Further it is proposed to plant about
28,50,000 in area of about1500 Ha.
iv) Coal Washeries :
Two Coal Washeries namely Kusmunda ( 10MTPA) and
Baroud ( 5 MTPA) have been planned in SECL to produce
washed coal and it is anticipated to be commissioned by
2022.
9.0 Conclusion :
For sustainable development of SECL , a unified concerted
efforts through SECL/CIL, State and Central Govt agencies
and Railways is required so that a new level of production
and productivity is achieved. Expeditious Environmental,
Forestry Clearances and speedy possession of land with
fast track settlement of R&R issues are need of the hour for
achieving this all time historic production and sustainability
for the company.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Technologies and Innovations for Sustainable Mining in

India – An Overview
Sheo Shankar Rai a1*, Nalamasa Sukesh a, A Sairam Teja a
a
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
Corresponding author: Sheo Shankar Rai, Professor, Department of Mining Engineering, IIT (Indian
1*

School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India – 826004.

tel. +91-326-2235245, e-mail: sheoshankar@iitism.ac.in; rai.sheoshankar@gmail.com
Abstract - The mining industry world over moves more
earth than any other human endeavor. The possibilities of
adverse effects on the environment due to mining activity are
quite high unless there is a sincere effort to contain it or re-
duce it to the minimum level. The negative impact of mining
could be controlled through the application of the concept
and principles of sustainable mining operations. Sustainable
Mining practices are crucial for inclusive growth of mining
industry andfor protecting environment and the communities
around. Mining industry can bemade sustainable by inte-
grating a robust rehabilitation and resettlement strategy with
mine planning and operation. Alignment of rehabilitation ob-
jectives with mining plan will improve planning and opera-
tional efficiency. Use of modern technologies and innovations
in mining can improve efficiency and economy of operation
on one hand and minimize the Environmental and Social im-
pact of mining on the other hand. The return on investment
of the new approach will be significant due to reduction in
cost of rehabilitation by optimizing material movement pro-
cess and improved miningperformance. The authors in this
paper have emphasized on achieving operational excellence
in mining as key factor for the success of sustainable mining.
1. Background
India is richly endowed with many minerals. The
minerals are basic and strategic needs for industrial
and economic growth of the country. For example,
coal meetsapproximately three-fourths of the country’s
electricity demand. Notwithstanding the optimism over
renewables displacing fossil fuels soon, coal will continue
to dominate India’s electricity generation for at least a
couple of decades more. Commodities such as Iron Ore and
Limestone which come from mining activities, are the vital
raw material for other core industries like steel and cement,
which play a critical role in the country’s development. All
these have resulted India into the third largest producer of
coal, 4th largest producer of iron ore and 5th largest producer
of bauxite.
While mining operations have positive economic impacts
on the local area in terms of infrastructure development,
provisions of employment and business opportunities,
adverse effects of mining on the ecology of the local area
are also well known. Mining industry is often tagged as
a ‘polluting’ sector since it involves extensive resource
exploitation by undertaking activities, such as acquisition
of land, clearance of flora and fauna etc. The changes in
the ecologydue to miningbecomeparticularly significant
in the case of open-cast mining operations, which account
for nearly 94 per cent of the coal, 100 percent iron ore and
limestone produced in India causing severe environmental
footprint. The following reasons have contributed to the
rise of open cast mining operations in the last few decades
(Darling, 2011);
- Higher production and productivity – capacity to
produce large quantity of coal.
- Lower capital cost per ton of ore mined (specific
investment).
- Lower operating cost per ton of coal mined (opex).
This allows even lower grade coal reserves to be
mined profitably.
- Improved geological certainty of reserves
- Ever increasing efficiency of surface mining
operations.
- Less limitations on size of the machines. A large
dragline can produce about 30 – 35 million m3 waste
p.a.
- Increased recovery of ore – support pillars in UG
operations are not required.
- Improved safety - loose material can be seen and
removed. Crew can be readily observed at work by
supervisors.
- Larger reserve areas available for mining (at higher
annual production rates).
2. Sustainable Development Framework
for Mining Sector
Sustainable development is often defined as “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

(World Commission on Environment and Development

1987). Mining operations particularly open cast mining
entailslarge scale diversion ofland for mining and allied
activities resulting withhigher degree of environmental
resource degradation, and social impacts including
displacement. Solving Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R)
issues in the mining areas are crucial for inclusive growth
of mining industry. Mining activitiesmust be designed to
ensure resilience to thesurrounding environment - the
capacity of a system to absorb disturbance and reorganize
while undergoing change so as to still retain essentially
the same function, structure, identity, and feedbacks.
(World Commission on Environment and Development
1987). It has been found that mining operations have
been carried out without concerning for this resilience.
This has put avoidable pressure on the environment and Fig. 1. (Dimensions of Sustainable Mining Operation)
caused inconveniences to the people living in the mining
3. Mine Life Cycle
areas and resulting into a range of classic conflicts such as Minelife cycle typically begins with finding the deposit and
– i) Community vs. Mining, ii) Mining vs. Environment, ends at closing the mines. Mining process involves several
and iii) Community vs. Environment etc. (Ministry of stages starting from geological exploration through to mine
Mines (MoM), 2011). Promoting sustainable mineral planning & design, mine development & operation and
development, therefore, is not only the answer to achieve mine reclamation & closure (Figure 2.)
a common ground on bridging economic interests and
environmental imperfections but also has the potential
to represent India as a global champion that advocates Figure 2. (Mining Life Cycle)
incorporation of sustainable development principles within
its mining sector (Indian Chamber of Commerce and Cuts Sustainability principles have application across all stages
International Report on Sustainable Mining in India, 2018). of mine life cycle. These principles include scientific and
innovative mining practices, management of environmental
In the mining sector, sustainable development means and socio-economic impacts, creation of substitute capital in
a concept of need, an idea of limitations, and a future the form of social and physical infrastructure and stakeholder
oriented paradigm and a process change. Mining sector engagement. The broad objectives and major activities across
various mining phases are presented in Table 1.
of India needs to incorporate sustainability principles —
Table 1: Broad objectives and major activities of mining phases.
with regard to social aspects, economic considerations, and
Mine Phase Major Objectives Activities
ecological sensitivities — into the mining processes right
from the mine planning stage through to mine operation Exploration Mapping and Review of
discovery of mineral available geological
and closure of the mine. The investment in a mining deposit. information, Surface
project should be economically profitable, technically Reconnaissance (mapping,
feasible, environmentally sound and socially responsible sampling), Sub-surface
investigations (geo-
(Kumar, 2014, Luleå University of Technology, 2014). physical, drilling etc.)
The concept of sustainable mining may, therefore, be
Mine Economic viability and Development of mine
commonly divided into three “pillars” or “dimensions”: Planning feasibility of mining and waste management
Economic, Environmental and Social. All three pillars and processing plans, characterization of
baseline site conditions,
must be considered in order to achieve sustainable
Environmental and Social
development in mining sector. Figure 1 below explains Impact Assessment,
thesethree dimensions of sustainable mining operation; Techno-economic
evaluation etc.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Mine Devel- Construction Construction of mine and

utilization and thus constitutes the first step sustainable
opment and of facilities and processing infrastructure mining operation. Likewise, the application of Surface
Operation infrastructure. such as work-shop,
Miner is best suited where the drilling and blasting is
Establishment of Mine processing plants, effluent
development and treatment facilities, waste completely prohibited for ecological reasons which may
operation processes and tailing dumps, water result into reduced operating cost due to elimination of
and systems. purification etc.
crushing system which would not only require land but also
Extraction Extraction and Mineral extraction and
processing of mineral processing, Dewatering,
generate dust. Thus, selection of equipment system could
deposits. Waste management be critical component of sustainable mining practices.
such as waste dumps,
Tailingsetc.
5. Integration of Mine Planning with
Mine Management of long- Environmental
Closure term Environmental monitoring, Site
Reclamation and Rehabilitation Planning
Impacts post mining The aim of reclamation/rehabilitation is to restore “the
development,
operations.
water management, waste surrounding environment to a state, resembling as closely
management etc.
as possible as or better than that which existed prior to
Reclamation Reestablishment of Site Reclamation, water
the commencement of mining, as measured by physical,
and Rehabil- pre-mining conditions, management etc.
itation Land use. chemical and biological parameters and to ensure that
environmental restoration is adequate to allow the
4. Operational Excellence establishment of a diverse and functional ecosystem in
In order to be sustainable, mining sector of India must the area”. This is also to ensure that the mining operations
adopt scientific mining processes right at the stage of mine are closed in an environmentally and socially responsible
planning and design. The aim of scientific mining is to manner. Sustainable mine closure is necessary in order to
improve all the three dimensions of sustainable mining. provide beneficial and sustainable after use of the mine site
While being economical, the mining operations must in the long term. The principles of sustainability would
mitigate environmental impacts and concerns through require these lands to be returned for some other beneficial
innovative mining layout, mining methods, equipment use once mining operations are completed. The mine
selection and mining knowledge and practices originating owner, therefore, must rehabilitate the mined-out land
from a systematic approach to mine development and with environment friendly landform for beneficial use of
operation. the local communities. Unscientific rehabilitation process
may increase the cost of both mining operation and mine
For example, in Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL)
rehabilitation. An effective mine planning must adhere to
owned mines, high bench overburden mining with direct
rehabilitation objectives to ensure that the opportunities
casting by Dragline provides several advantages over
are identified. Integrated planning with 3-D modeling
conventional Shovel and Truck Transport system. The
using appropriate mine planning and rehabilitation
main advantages include the improvement in coal mining
software tool can quickly provide both mine production
economics by eliminating the haulage cost, raising the
plans and the rehabilitation plan, thus enabling a value
mineable reserve by increasing the ultimate pit depth of the
driven operational planning and decision making process.
mine, enhancing environmental efficiency by decreasing
the land requirement for open pit mining operation and Landform planning is critical for an effective mine closure.
minimizing the allocation of dusts from the dumps by This would help the mine planners for identification and
dumper transport (Kovalev and Fedotenko, 2015, Tyunelev / or exclusion of disturbed land surfaces due to mining
et al. 2018). Scientific mining ensures the efficient use of to be re-shaped and graded. Landform planning allows
the resources, both in the management and extraction of good understanding of post mining use and criteria well
minerals. Scientific mining is essential for the conservation in advance so that if the footprint changes, it does not
of a non- renewable resource and its optimum and efficient necessarily change the landform criteria. The landform

227

planning would also identify in advance the cut and fill
requirements, dozer push and other material movement
requirements, thusoptimizing the re-habilitation costs
by identifying high cost areas during the planning phase
and then adapting the mine plan to reduce these costs.
The other environmental measures such as surface water
catchment and drainage path can also be integrated for
a better water management plan. Fig. 3(a) and (b) below
shows the land form management and water management
of a lignite mine of Germany.
Fig. 3(a). (Land form management)
Fig. 3(b). (Water mangement)
6. Leveraging Data and Technology
Mining processes are highly variable. Starting with
uncertainty about the nature of the resource being mined,
mining operations take place in an extremely dynamic
and variable operating conditions often resulting into lack
of control and visibility, reduced productivity, increased
cost of operation, poor-quality control of ore being
mined out and so on. Mine operating conditions in both
UG and surface are generally harsh and inhospitable
228
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
that further hinders the control on exploration and
exploitation of minerals (Aggrey, 2018, OSIsoft, 2018).
Adoption of continuous development of technology across
the mining value chain from exploration and resource
estimation through to mine design and engineering, mine
operation, mine closure and environment management
has the potential to enhance efficiency and sustainability
of mining operation. Thisallows mining companies to
have greater control and visibility over the mining plan, its
implementation and pro-actively respond to operational
and environmental challenges that are inevitable in mining
operation (Albanese and McGagh, 2011).
For example, the collection and interpretation of various
types of data helps to prepare models of mineral occurrences
and to orient mining operations that will have the ability
to reduce environmental damage and waste management.
Collection and visualization of data will require satellite
imaging, visualization at multiple temporal and spatial
scales using remote sensing and geographic information
system (GIS) maps, three- dimensional (3D) models,
the use of global positions system (GPS) and low-impact
seismic methods that minimize environmental damage and
increaseproductivity.
Fig. 4 (Mining Technologies to achieve Operational Excellence
and Economy)
Development and use of disruptive digital technologies
and computer system at different stages of mining has been
growing fast. Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in
mining can improve the sustainability of mining operation.
7. Effective Mine Closure
Mines eventually close when the ore has been depleted.
Important mine closure issues to consider include
environmental damage control, infrastructure creation and
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
transferring infrastructure to local communities. Better
mine closure planning also demands better information on
mining sites and their surroundings. A typical mine closure
action is presented in figure 5.
Fig. 5. (Effective Mine Closure Action)
Mining companies and government should place more
focus on developing human skills and infrastructure that
could create more opportunities following mine closure.
8. Conclusion
Social and environmental responsibility is the foundation
of sustainable development. Mning initiatives such
as scientific mining, technological developments,
environmental responsibility, and socioeconomic
development of local communitieswill ensure the growth
and sustainability of mining industry. Implementation of
innovative and environment friendly mining methods and
technologies, management of socio-economic impacts and
creation of alternative capital in the form of social and
physical infrastructure for local communities are crucial
for sustainable mining operation.
Sustainable development of mining will be possible by
enhancing the operational efficiency. Incorporating the
sustainability principles right at the stage of mine planning
through adoption of robust reclamation, rehabilitation and
land form management has the potential to reduce the cost
of rehabilitation as well as mining operation. Application
of new and disruptive digital technologies for improving
operational efficiencies are also going to play a key role in
future towards achieving sustainability goals of mining.
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230
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Effect of Blast Fragmentation on Dumper
Productivity - An Experimental Overview
Satish Jha
General Manager, Corporate Planning Professor, Deptt of Mining Engineering
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli MP National Institute of Technology, Raipur
satish67jha@gmail.com
Dinkar Tiwari*
Management Trainee, Corporate Planning
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli MP
dinkar7895@gmail.com
ABSTRACT- “The blasting operation plays a pivotal role
in the overall economics of opencast mines. The blasting sub-
system affects all the other associated sub-systems, i.e. load-
ing, transport, crushing and milling operations. Fragmenta-
tion control through effective blast design and its effect on
productivity are the challenging tasks for practicing blasting
engineer due to inadequate knowledge of actual explosive en-
ergy released in the borehole, varying initiation practice in
blast design and its effect on explosive energy release char-
acteristic. The mines use draglines and shovel dumper com-
bination for removal of overburden. Despite its pivotal role
in controlling the overall economics of a mining operation,
the expected blasting performance is often judged almost ex-
clusively on the basis of poorly defined parameters such as
powder factor and is often qualitative which results in very
subjective assessment of blasting performance. The physical
characteristic of blasted rock such as volume, mass and Frag-
ments size are fundamental variables affecting the economics
of mine operation and are in effect the basis for evaluating the
quality of a blast. The object of this paper is to quantify the
effect of fragmentation on mine productivity. A relationship
between fragmentation index and fill factor is established.
Keywords - Production Utilisation, Bucket Capacity, Fill
factor.
I. Introduction
Truck and loader productivity is a significant part of all
large open cut mining operations. It typically accounts
for 60% of the total mining costs. When rock is blasted,
the resulting fragmentation size distribution produced
has a significant effect on all further downstream process
especially loader and truck productivity in the loading
and hauling phases of the mining operation. Typically,
optimum drill and blast designs are accounted for getting
the rock to a manageable size for the trucks and loaders.
Dr Manoj Pradhan
pradhan_nitrr@yahoo.co.in
In this paper, an effort was made to analyze the impact of
blast fragmentation on dumper productivity viz. fill factor.
A need of increasing awareness about that blast designs is
observed also subsequent downstream effect were taken
into account the on loading and hauling productivity, as
well as the effect on the crushing, grinding and refining
processes.
The objective of this paper was to determine the impact of
fragmentation on truck and loader productivity. This was
achieved by collecting field data on blast fragmentation,
loader productivity and truck productivity from site. Then
analyzing for the resulting size distribution of a muck-pile
after blasting affects loader and truck productivity in two
main aspects:
1. Dig ability 2. Fill factor
Dig ability is the ease at which at a loader bucket is filled.
Dig ability can be increased by a number of factors, such as
type, operational skills and loading strategy, however the
most significant factor contributing to disability is the size
of the fragments being dug. Increasing fragmentation leads
to increased disability.
Fill factor refers to how well a container such as
a loader bucket or truck tray is filled. Fill factor
is directly related to the size distribution of the
rock being loaded.
II. Fragmentation And Fill Factors
Blast fragmentation has two major impacts in loading and
hauling performance of a truck shovel fleet:
1. Dig ability (dig time)
2. Bucket payload (void ratio and fill factor)
Bucket payload is a function of void ratio and fill factor.
The fill factor is defined as the ratio between the nominal
volumetric capacity and the volume of material in the
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bucket. It is predominantly an operational variable (loading
strategy, operator experience and willingness to fill the
bucket and the angle of repose of the material on the top
of the bucket). Furthermore a high fill factor does not
necessarily mean higher payload. If the material is not well
fragmented and loosely packed inside the dipper with lots
of voids between the rocks fragments, the actual payload
may be lower than in case of a low fill factor but adequately
fragmented and densely packed load. The void ratio is more
directly related to the fragmentation level and indicates
how well the available room in the buckets is used. In other
words it is an index that indicates the effectiveness of the
use of a given volume in relation to fragmentation. It is a
direct indication of bulk solid density.
III. Density
Density by definition is the measure of the amount of
matter contained in a substance per unit volume of that
substance. Density is very important in everyday life as
mass and volume alone are not good enough in comparing
different substances or objects. Density combines both mass
and volume to make a unit of measure that can be used
to compare substances more easily. Upon the discovery
and utilization of the phenomenon of density, comparing
objects of different masses and volumes became much
easier. Using these comparisons along with other theories,
led to developments in technology and the world wide
economy. Scientists at that point were then able to design
ships in a way that the average density of the ship (that
of the metal and the air) would be less than the average
density of the water (http://science.howstuffworks.com/
science-vsmyth/everyday-myths/question254.htm). This
was done by ensuring that the mass of the ship is spread out
across a large space, and that it had a lot of space inside it as
well; which would allow the matter to be stretched across a
much larger volume. This made the matter per unit volume
ratio much smaller. How can the density of an object or
substance be found? Since density is the measure of mass
per unit volume then we can use the equation D=m/v to
also define this entity. This therefore means that in order to
find the density of an object we would need both its mass
and its volume.
Mass of an object can be found using a balance. A top loading
balance in this case, would be most suitable since the object
being measured (triangular solid) is not very small neither
is it very big. Volume of an object can be determined using
two methods; water displacement method-in which the
object displaces its own volume in water, and the calculation
method- in which the measurements of the dimensions of
the object are used to calculate its volume.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
IV. Fragmentation
Rock fragmentation distribution influences a range of
mining and milling processes including load and haul
rates, crushing and grinding performance and ore recovery
in beneficiation processes (Michaud et al., 1997). In open
pit mining, where blasting is employed for excavation,
the overall cost effectiveness of the production operations
is compatible with optimization of drilling and blasting
parameters. Rock fragmentation depends upon two
groups of variables: rock mass properties which cannot
be controlled and drill & blast design parameters that can
be controlled and optimized. The costs of downstream
operations can be reduced by optimizing the blast design
parameters to provide target fragmentation. The parameters
of target fragmentation are equipment specific and vary
from category of mine to mine. Three cases which have to
be considered are:
(i) Shooting with the dip;
(ii) Shooting against the dip and
(iii) Shooting along the strike.
While shooting with the dip, back break increases, toe
problem decreases resulting in a smooth floor and throw
of the blast increases resulting in scattered and low muck
pile (Figure 1a). When shooting against the dip, less back
break, more toe problems resulting in uneven floor and
throw of the blast decreases resulting in higher muck pile
profile (Figure 1b). Finally, when shooting along the strike
(Figure 1c) floor can be highly toothed due to the different
rock types intersecting the floor. For the same reasons the
back break is irregular.
The Kuz-Ram model is an empirical fragmentation model
based on the Kuznetsov (1973) and Rosin & Rammler
equations modified by Cunningham (1983, 1987), which
derives the coefficient of uniformity in the Rosin & Rammler
equation from blasting parameters. Rock properties,
explosive properties, and design variables are combined in
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
this modern version of the Kuz-Ram fragmentation model.
The uniformity index typically has values between 0.6
and 2.2 (Cunningham 1983). A value of 0.6 means that
the muck pile is non-uniform (dust and boulders) while a
value of 2.2 means a uniform muck pile with majority of
fragments close to the mean size. The importance of the
uniformity index is size distribution curves having the
same characteristic size but different values of uniformity
index.
The Kuznetsov equation relates the mean fragment size
to the quantity of explosives needed to blast for a given
volume of rock. The Kuznetsov equation is:
A=7 for medium rocks; 10 for hard, high fissured rocks;
and 13 for hard, weakly fissured rocks. Cunningham (1983)
associated it with rock mass description (friable, jointed
or massive), joint spacing, rock density, rock uniaxial
compressive strength and the Young’s modulus.
Rock fragmentation, which is the fragment size distribution
of blasted rock material, is used in the mining industry
as an index to estimate the effect of bench blasting. It is
well known that the rock fragmentation in bench blasting
is affected by blast condition such as specific charge,
spacing and burden, involving rock heterogeneity, dynamic
fracture phenomena, etc. Rock fragmentation in bench
blasting was examined using a numerical approach, based
on dynamic fracture process analysis and image analysis.
Five models were used to consider the effect of specific
charge and geometry in bench blasting. To investigate the
influence of blast condition on fragmentation in bench
blast simulations, the fragmentation obtained using
the numerical approach was compared and analysed.
To discuss controlled fragmentation related to the blast
pattern, widely spaced blast patterns were simulated. The
fracture process and fragmentation were compared with
that in general bench blasting.
Controlled fragmentation with respect to delay timing
was also discussed. Ultimately it was discussed that the
optimal fragmentation in the field with respect to delay
time depends strongly on the gas flow through the fractures
caused by the stress wave. The term ‘rock (or blast)
fragmentation’ is an index that is used to estimate the effect
of bench blasting in the mining industry. Knowledge of the
fragmentation mechanisms in explosively loaded rock is
critical for developing successful methods for excavating
rock rapidly for a variety of purposes, and has advanced
considerably in the last twenty years. In rock blasting,
it is generally understood that both the stress wave and
the gas pressurization make significant contributions to
rock fragmentation. The importance of shock and gas in
fragmentation has been debated for the last 50 years. Recent
studies tend to support the view that stress waves generated
by the detonation of an explosive charge are responsible
for the development of a damage zone in the rock mass,
and for the subsequent fragment size distribution, while
the explosion gases are important in separating the crack
pattern that is formed after the passage of the stress wave,
and in throwing the fragments.1–4) To predict rock
fragmentation in the mining industry, several models have
been proposed.5,6) Fragment size distributions are most
often represented using the GaudinSchumann7)
Or the Rosin-Rammler8) distributions. These models
underestimate the fine material in predicting rock
fragmentation. For this reason, it is conceivable that fines
in blasted rock are generated by a different mechanism to
that which leads to coarse fragments. Liu and Katsabanis9)
and Glatolenkov and Ivanov10) reported that the crushing
of rock around boreholes causes the majority of fines. A
recent study proposed the JKMRC blast fragmentation
model for assessing blast fragmentation, including the
distribution of fine material; however, it has been reported
that the model estimates fragment size inaccurately.11)
Cho et al.12) revealed that Gaudin-Schumann distribution
approximated to the fragmentation obtained in the sieving
analysis, in the range from 74 mm to 1 m. They also proposed
a numerical approach for predicting rock fragmentation in
bench blasting. It is well known that the blast pattern and
delay time influences all aspects of rock blasting. Langefors
and Kihlstro¨m13) studied the influence of blast pattern
on the rock fragmentation throughout field experiments.
Based on observations and measurements, they developed
a relationship between the average boulder size, the burden,
the type of rock, and the specific charge. They also studied
the influence of shot delay time on the rock fragmentation
and reported that fragmentation was optimized with delay
times of 35 ms/m. Gustafsson14) showed that the best delay
233

time was 5 ms/m in a large-scale blast with a 5- to 8-m-long
burden. According to Winzer and Ritter,15) a significant
reduction in fragment size in granite blocks was obtained
with delays of up to 1.5 ms, followed by small charges.
Bergman16) reported an optimum delay time of 3:36:6
ms/m in granite blocks with small charges. This was similar
to the results of Langefors and Kihlstro¨m.13) Stagg and
Rholl17) reported an optimum time range of 3:335 ms/m
for reduced-scale tests and 3:326 ms/m for full-scale tests.
As the literature review shows, fragmentation in blasting
is associated with many problems. Rock fragmentation
is not well understood, and research on predicting and
controlling fragmentation is warranted. In this study,
fragmentations for five models, which consider the effect
of specific charge and geometry in bench blasting, are
examined. The fragmentations are predicted using a
numerical approach, which is based on dynamic fracture
process analysis and image analysis, and the fragmentation
mechanism in bench blasting is investigated. Controlled
fragmentation in relation to the blast pattern and delay
timing is discussed. Based on the numerical result and
literature review, optimum fragmentation with respect to
delay timing is discussed.
V. Factors Influencing The Performance
The following factors influence the performance of the
equipment. They can be classified into two main headings
that are controllable and non-controllable factors. The
geological conditions and environmental factors like
monsoon comes under non controllable factors. The
design aspects, efficiency of maintenance management,
effectiveness of mine scheduling, skills and motivation
imparted to the machine operators etc are discuss under
the controllable factors [1].
Design Factors
The performance of the equipment’s is largely depends on
the availability of the equipment which in turn depends
on its which is include as a part of reliability feature. It is
a performance barometer of overall machine conditions
and an integral part of an engineering design. It can be
increased by design effort and / or addition of quality
material or modification [1].
Maintenance Factors
The elimination or the minimization the number of failures
and the machine downtime is important and it can be done
by proper maintenance. Necessary workshop facilities,
skilled maintenance crew and proper tools need to be
available. Efficient spare parts management is a must [1].
Managerial Factors
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
A mine must have sound management organization, which
will draw sound plans for profitably utilizing the equipment.
An important prerequisite is the availability of sufficient
maintenance record of good quality. Indeed maintenance
and utilization records need no longer be perceived as
costly overhead, but as a strategic tool to maximize asset
utilization [1].
Operational Factors
The productivity of the equipment lies in the hands of the
operator. Only the skilful and efficient operator obtains
reduction in the cycle time and high productivity. Proper
motivation and training are essential to achieve the same
[1].
Environmental Factors
The environmental factors like monsoons, the geological
conditions of the deposit also affect the machine
productivity to a greater extent [1].
Dumper
A dumper or dump truck is a truck used for transporting
loose material such as coal, ore, overburden, top soil for
mining and sand, gravels, or soil for constructions. A
typical dump truck is equipped with an open-box bed,
which is hinged at the rear and equipped with hydraulic
piston to lift the front, allowing the material in the bed to
be deposited (“dumped”) on the ground behind the truck at
the site of delivery [9].
A standard dump truck is a truck chassis with a dump
body mounted to the chassis. The bed is raised by a vertical
hydraulic ram mounted under the front of the body, or a
horizontal hydraulic ram and lever arrangement between
the frame rails, and the back of the bed is hinged at the back
of the truck. The tailgate can be configured to swing up on
top hinges (and sometimes also to fold down on lower
hinges) or it can be configured in the “High Lift Tailgate”
format wherein pneumatic rams lift the gate open and up
above the dump body [9].
The dumpers that are used in opencast mines have a
rigid frame and conventional steering with drive at the
rear wheel. As of late 2013, the largest ever production
haul truck is the 450 metric tons Be1AZ 75710, followed
by the Liebherr T 282B, the Bucyrus MT6300AC and the
Caterpillar 797F which each have payload capacities of up
to 400 short ton (363 Tonne; 357 Long ton).
Most large size haul trucks employ Diesel-electric power
trains, using the Diesel engine to drive an AC alternator or
DC generator that sends electric power to electric motors
at each rear wheel. The Caterpillar 797 is unique for its size,
as it employs a Diesel engine to power a mechanical power
train, typical of most road going vehicles and intermediary
size haul trucks. Other major manufacturers of haul trucks
include Hitachi, Beml, Komatsu, DAC, Terex and Be1AZ [9].
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
VI. Performance Analysis
From the basic information or data collected, as above SSH,
MH, BH, ID, the availability and utilization percentage
on schedule-shit-hours basis a, production efficiency and
overall equipment efficiency can be determined. In the
following paragraphs these factors and indices have been
defined and their importance brought out [2].
Percentage Availability (A) It is the ratio of total available
working hours to the total hours the equipment supposed
to be work [2].
Percentage Availability (A)= (SSH −BH−MH)/ SSH x 100
(1)
Percentage Utilization (U): This is defined as the ratio of
the time in hours the machine is actually used in a year to
the total hours [2].
Percentage Utilization (U)= (SSH −MH −BH−IH)/ SSH x
100 (2)
Where SSH-schedule shift hours, MH-maintenance hours,
BH-breaking-down Hours IH- Idle Hours [2].
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) OEE is a simple
tool that will help to measure the effectiveness of their
equipment. It takes the most common and important
sources of productivity loss, which are called six big losses.
These losses, are quantified as availability, performance and
quality in order to estimate OEE [13].
OEE = Availability × Performance × Quality
Graph I. Dumper availability percentages
VII. Experimental Details
1. Dumper bucket size
Under the project of “Effect of fragmentation on dumper
productivity” the dimension of the bucket of the dumper
was measured and found to be of following values:
1. Length of bucket (l) = 14.96 feet
2. Breadth of bucker (b) = 9.53 feet
3. Height of bucket (h) = 7.4 feet
The volume calculated was found to be V = l*b*h feet3
The bucket size of dumper was reduced to a box size with
fixed representative factor (RF). The box size taken for
whole experiment was given below.
Length of the box (l’) = 22.3 cm
Breadth of the box (b’) = 14.3 cm
Height of the box (h’) = 11.1 cm
And the volume of the box was calculated ( l’*b’*h’ cm3) =
22.3*9.53*11.1 cm3 = 3540 cm3
2. Density of the rock sample
The density of the rock sample is given by density (ρ) =
mass (m) in gram/volume (V) in cm3. The rock sample was
collected from the ground size and its mass was calculated
with the help electronic weighing machine and was found to
be 50 grams. The volume of the rock sample was calculated
with the help of water displacement method and was found
to be 19.76 cm3.
With the help of this data, the density of the rock sample
was calculated by the formula:
Density(ρ) = mass (m) in gram/volume (V) in cm3=
50/19.76 = 2.53gm/cc
3. Size of the rock sample
The various types of rock sample was collected from the
ground site and was graded under 3 groups namely:
1. Sample size less than 0.5cm which are classified as
fines.
2. Sample size greater than 0.5cm and less than 2cm
which are classified as medium.
3. Sample size greater than 2cm which are classified as
boulders.
The samples are classified under the groups of specific
size range with help of corresponding sieves and
scales.
4. Vernier caliper and sieve
To measure the ranging sizes of the rock sample collected
from the field and to classify it under various size ranges
we performed the accurate scaling measurements with the
help of Vernier calliper of following specifications. Vernier
scale consists of 2 scale i.e. main scale and Vernier scale. The
least count of the Vernier scale was found to be = 0.1mm
The reading of Vernier scale is equal to the sum of the main
scale reading and multiplication of Vernier scale reading
with the least count of the same Vernier scale.
Vernier scale reading = main scale reading + Vernier scale
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

reading 0.5cm is calculated as Vo/V where Vo= volume of the

sample, V= volume of the box.
Vernier scale reading = (the coinciding reading of Vernier
• Now the fill procedure is repeated by varying
scale reading with the main scale)* least countWith the proportions of the sample of various sizes.
help of Vernier scale different rock samples are classified
• In each case the fill factor of the box is evaluated in
under different groups as specified above. the same manner.
Sieve: sieve of size 0.5cm is taken for the separation of fines
IX. Results
from various rock samples.
Now the values were compared with various parameters of
The rock samples rocks are hammered and broken to Dumper and an interpretation is given below by:
generate fines then with the help of sieve fines less than
0.5cm are collected in separate box for further calculation.

VIII. Methodology
A box of adequate dimension was taken which resembles
the bucket of the dumper. Weight of the box was taken
by electronic weighing balance. The sample was collected
from ground site and it was classified under following size
ranges.
• Size scale of less than 0.5cm (S0.5)
• Size scale between 0.5 –2cm(M0.5-2)
• Size scale between 2-7cm(L2-7)
We can conclude from the graph that increasing the fill
Specification of the bucket: factor gives an increase in pay load i.e., dumper productivity.
• Length = 22.3cm
It means that whole thing depends upon the fill factor
• Width = 14.3cm
• Height = 11.1cm • Now how does fill factor varies with the fragment size
is a great importance to us from the data given in the
• Hence the volume of the bucket = 3540 cm3
table, we are now plotting a graph between various
• Weight of the box = 132gm
size ranges and fill factor and after that we will
Different combinations of the sample was filled in the
conclude that with what size range of fragmentation
bucket up-to its full height and the weight of each set
was evaluated and subsequently its volume was evaluated maximum fill factor is attained.
with the help of displacement method using these two
parameters, the density of the sample evaluated and density
was given by density (ρ) = (mass of the sample)/ (volume
of the sample).
Now the further procedure was applied to evaluate the fill
factor of the box. The steps are as follows:
• The box is filled with sample size less than 0.5cm.
• Now the weight of the box with the weight of the
sample was evaluated by the help of electronic weight
balance and the mass of the sample was evaluated.
• Mass of the sample = mass of (box + sample) – mass
of the box
• Since, we know the density of sample, the volume of Graph III. Relation between size and fill factor.
sample in the box can be easily evaluated by (mass of
sample taken)/ (density of sample). From the graph plotted between fill factor and size range
• Now the fill factor of the box with sample less than we can see that as the percentage of fine increases there is

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
an increase in fill factor up to some extent. But the fill factor
doesn’t vary proportionally with percentage fine, maximum
fill factor comes with 100% fine and least with 100% large
rock fragments.
Thus, from the graph plotted, the graph between payload
and fill factor shows that there is a proportional dependency
of fill factor on payload of the dumper. Then we can say
that if we will increase the fill factor, we get an increase in
productivity. So we have to predict that by increasing which
quantity, we can enhance the fill factor. We have performed
the experiment with various blast fragment to check how
various specific size ranges of the rock fragment affect the
fill factor. As various rock fragment under fine, medium
and large sizes are taken to perform the experiment, we
have plotted a graph between percentage increases in fine
with fill factor. The maximum fill factor comes with 100%
fine(less than 0.5cm in size) which comes to be 68%.
The maximum fill factor comes with 75%fine (less than
0.5cm) and 25% (medium size range (greater than 0.5cm
size but less than 2cm in size)) which comes to be 67.3%.
In contrivance, the next maximum fill factor comes with
50% fines(less than 0.2cm) and 50% medium (sizes greater
than 0.5cm but less than 2cm) which comes to be 66.9%.
next the maximum fill factor comes with 60% fines (less
than 0.5%cm) plus 20% medium (greater than 0.5cm but
less than 2cm) plus 20% large (greater than 2cm), and
the fill factor was found to be 66.8%. So, we can say that,
the maximum fill factor comes with 100% fines (less than
0.5cm), but we can’t say there is a linear dependency of
percentage of fines on fill factor.
Thus the performance of a dumper during all season is
given by
Graph IV: Dumper utilization at various seasons.
Physical Significance for Northern Coalfields Limited
Northern Coalfield Limited deals with the increasing
stripping ratio of all its projects. With the increasing depth
of the mine, cost of OB removal is contributing negatively
to overall economics of the mining operations.
Thus, a scientific approach to solve this issue without
adding additional burden to Capital cost is needed.
In this study it was found that with the achievement of
desired size range fill factor can be increased upto 10%.
For instance, Nigahi Project having stripping ratio of 3.96.
For OB removal, a 120Te Dumper is use and it is estimated
to have 37m3 of dump body. Thus capacity utilization can
be increased by 3.7m3 per trip just by managing fragment
size. Averaging these values to 5000 Trips per year,
additional capacity of 18500m3 can be achieved by a single
120Te Dumper. Thus overall productivity of the Mine &
Machinery can be increased significantly.
X. Conclusion
During the study of the impact of blast fragmentation of
dumper productivity there is a clear trend that with the
decrease in fragment size the fill factor of the Dumper
increased by 10%. Thus the study is to be carried out in
larger scale a numerical modelling of the results is planned.
This paper shows that fragmentation generally affects the
Dumper productivity and trends shows that the optimum
blast fragmentation can play a vital role in minimising
downstream cost. Dumper are the most widely used
transport system used in India and thus they constitute a
higher percentage of cost as well. Thus for optimization
of cost of hauling a suitable blast fragmentation shall be
achieved.
So, from the conclusion of our project as we have seen
that there is no proportionality between percentage of
fines (less than 0.5mm) and fill factor. The maximum fill
factor was attained to 68% with 100% fine size range (less
than 0.5mm). But as we know that the generation of fine
in uneconomical with various down processes of mineral
processing. Generation of fine is not considered good due
to dust generation during transportation, requirement of
good size coal thermal power plant and coal washer. So,
we have to generate a good size of coal fragment which are
economical for us.
237

Dag Blasting: A Novel Method of Explosive
Consumption Reduction Using Plastic Waste
Vineeth Balakrishnan*
Department of Mining Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Raipur, India National Institute of Technology, Raipur, India
Discovervineeth@gmail.com
P Y Dhekne
Department of Mining Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Raipur, India
pdhekne@nitrr.ac.in
Abstract— The explosive consumption for rock fragmen-
tation is also at a record high, affecting the mine economy.
The authors have developed distributed spherical air-gap
(DAG) blasting technique to reduce the consumption of explo-
sive using plastic waste. Extensive field trials are conducted
using the conventional blasting technique and DAG blasting
technique. The powder factor, ground vibration and air over
pressure have been evaluated to study the blast outcomes. It is
found that this technique can be used to reduce the explosive
consumption in surface mine blast. Moreover, a fall of about
39% and 46% in PPV values and about 13% and 14% fall in
AOP values at 100-120 m and 180-200 m distance respectively
were observed when compared to conventional blasting.
Keywords— DAG blasting technique, plastic waste utiliza-
tion, powder factor, ground vibration.
I. Introduction
The plastic industry is growing like never before. This
industry mainly produces synthetic polymers like
polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyethylene
terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) etc. These end up constituting a large portion of
municipal waste. Around 25,940 t/day plastic wastes are
generated from entire country [1]. The problems with
plastic waste management are well known.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate
Change, Government of India has notified Plastic Waste
Management Rules [2]. Clause 5 (b) of these rules states
that “Local bodies shall encourage the use of plastic waste
(preferably the plastic waste which cannot be further
recycled) for road construction as per Indian Road
Congress guidelines or energy recovery or waste to oil
etc. The standards and pollution control norms specified
by the prescribed authority for these technologies shall be
complied with.” The Central Pollution Control Board has
238
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Manoj Pradhan
Department of Mining Engineering,
mpradhan@nitrr.ac.in
also issued guidelines for co-processing of plastic waste in
cement kilns in year 2017 [3]. There are many technologies
developed in the country to dispose these plastic wastes.
The problem of plastic waste disposal still persists as the
rate of waste disposal is less than rate of waste generation.
On the other hand the consumption of explosive for mining
activity is also rising. The class 2 explosives are consumed in
rock fragmentation. They include both cartridge explosives
and site mined explosives (SME). The consumption of class
2 explosives in year 2013-14 was 791418 metric tonnes
which has increased to 1320151 metric tonnes in year
2017-18 (PESO, 2018). Their consumption is increased by
about 62% in last five years [4].
The Ammonium Nitrate - Fuel Oil (ANFO), slurry and
emulsion are the commercial site mixed explosives used
in the mines. Among these explosives, emulsion explosive
is dominating the market due to its excellent detonation
behaviour and good water resistance. But owing to its
high density, the use of emulsion explosive results in over
charging of explosive in soft-to-medium strength rockmass.
This leads to excessive fine generation, poor utilization of
explosive energy causing wall instability and back break,
high blast induced ground vibration levels and greater cost
of extraction of the mineral.
Many researchers have identified the problem and
attempted to reduce the consumption of explosive. This
has led to the development of emulsion based low density
explosives (LDE) [5-8], mixing inert materials such as
expanded perlite, popcorn or polystyrene beads in emulsion
[9-12], pre-compression resistant emulsion [13], emulsion
with gas producing agents [14-16]. Some other techniques
are also developed which introduces air gaps in emulsion
column viz. air decking [17-20], plastic bottle technique
[21-24] and plastic tube technique [25] etc.
The studies on reducing the explosive consumption have
identified many benefits of using LDE but the response
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

from the mine operators have not been encouraging. Table 1: Physical Properties Of Emulsion Matrix
These techniques have demerits like reducing the stability
and energy of the emulsion, diluting the aqueous and oil Colour Blackish
phases of the emulsion, causing the emulsion to misfire, Appearance Greasy
burn, or fail to detonate etc. Moreover these are also time
consuming and labour intensive, requires initiations at two Initial matrix density 1350 kg/m3
different points and results in improper distribution of Initial matrix temperature 338.15 K
non-explosive material in emulsion matrix. The extensive
Viscosity 10.4 N s m-2
literature review reveals that a technique is required to
improve the powder factor without adversely affecting rock pH 2.5-3.0
fragmentation and detonation behaviour of explosive. Fudge point 313.15-318.15 K
To address this need of mining industry the authors have
Table 2: Physical Properties Of Plastic Balls
conceptualized an innovative blasting technique called
distributed spherical air gap (DAG) blasting. In this Diameter 0.0390 m
technique small balls made of plastic waste are used to
introduce air gaps in the explosive column while charging, Mass 0.997 X 10-3 kg
thereby reducing the consumption of explosive. The plastic Volume 31.017 X 10-6 m3
balls can be easily manufactured near the site and can be
simultaneously incorporated in the explosive pump trucks. Mean physico-mechanical properties and structural
properties of limestone benches where all the trials are
II. Experimentation conducted are presented in Table 3 and Table 4 respectively.
Table 3: Physico-Mechanical Properties Of Limestone Benches
Five trial blasts of each conventional method and DAG
blasting technique with site mixed emulsion (SME) Uniaxial
Uniaxial
com- Young’s Density
explosive have been conducted. All these trials have Bench pressive
tensile
modulus
Porosity
(kg/
been conducted in benches with similar geo-technical strength (%)
strength (GPa) m3)
(MPa)
environment. The powder factor, ground vibration and (MPa)
air over pressure have been evaluated to study the blast MF
50.03 7.10 55.38 3.40 2.48
2- 2nd
outcomes.
B- 2nd 48.34 6.68 54.61 4.19 2.52
The study has been conducted at Century Cements
Limestone Mines, Baikunth, Chhattisgarh. The usual blast Table 4: Structural Properties Of Rock Mass
practice of the mine includes charging the holes with SME.
The loading density is generally about 11.8 kg/m. 17 ms Joint types Joint orien- Joint Aper- Joint
tation spacing ture filling
hole-to-hole delay, 42 ms row-to-row delay, and 250 ms
(m) (mm)
down-the-hole delay have been used in all the blasts. The
hole diameter, average hole depth, average spacing, and Vertical Joints oblique to the 2.0 1 to 10 Open
average burden have been 0.115 m, 9.0-9.5 m, 5.0 m, and faces at an joints
angle from 70º
4.0 m respectively. The holes were drilled in staggered to 85º
pattern. Three cartridge boosters have been used in each
column. Each of the cartridge boosters have a weight of 0.50 Horizontal dip of 7º out 0.6 1 to 10 Open
Joints of the face joints
kg, density of 1250 kg/m3 and rated VOD of 4800 m/s. The
shock tube system has been used for initiation with inline The powder factor is a measure of quantity of rock blasted
blast design. For all the 10 trial blasts, the blast geometry per unit of explosive consumed. For estimating the powder
has been maintained similar to the usual blast practice of factor, the consumption of explosive per blast is calculated as
the mine. cumulative of explosive loaded in each hole of the blast. The
total rock blasted is assessed by weighing the muck carried
The explosive used in this study is a double salt emulsion.
by the dumpers at pit head while transporting it for crushing.
The physical properties of emulsion matrix used in the study
The powder factor (t/kg) is calculated as the ratio of total
are presented in Table 1. The initial matrix temperatures
weight of muck transported and total explosive consumed
have been kept between 333.15- 338.15 K for all the trail
per blast.
blasts. The initial and final matrix densities have been kept
1350±50 kg/m3 and 1150±50 kg/m3 respectively. The rated Blast induced ground vibration and air over pressure (AOP) is
VOD of the explosive used is 4000±500 m/s. The physical measured using two seismographs (Minimates and Minimate
properties of plastic balls are summarized in Table 2. Plus) manufactured by Instantel Inc. Canada. It measures

239
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

the peak particle velocity (PPV) in all three directions

i.e. longitudinal, transverse and vertical with respective Fig. 1: Vertical section of the blast hole for a) Conventional
amplitudes and frequencies. It also has a microphone for blasting; b) DAG blasting
measuring air overpressure. For all trial blasts, the Minimate
Plus and Minimate are placed at distances 100-120 m and
180-200 m respectively from the blasting face.
The conventional technique of blasting includes charging of
blast hole with explosive to about two-third of the height of
blast hole and stemming the rest for explosive confinement.
If the column height of explosives is kept lower then it may
result in boulder formation from the stemming region. In
DAG blasting technique, plastic balls are used to induce
spherical air gaps in the explosive column. Due to their
smaller size, the balls are well distributed throughout the
SME column, maintaining the continuity in detonation.
About four hundred balls are induced simultaneously during
charging of hole with explosive to save about 20% explosive
by volume. Fig. 1 presents the vertical section of the blast
hole and Fig. 2 shows the snapshot of charging process for
conventional blasting and DAG blasting technique.

Fig. 2: Charging process for a) Conventional blasting; b) DAG blasting

III. Results
Table 3 presents the summary of the trial blasts conducted
for conventional method and DAG blasting technique. The
powder factor for the trial blasts of conventional method
and DAG blasting is presented in Table 4. The maximum
charge per delay, peak particle velocity and air overpressure
for corresponding distance of the seismograph from the
face for trial blasts of conventional method and DAG
blasting is summarized in Table 5 and the graph is shown
in Fig. 3.

Table 3: Summary Of The Trial Blasts

Conventional
DAG blasting
Bench method
S Burden Spacing
height Loading Loading
No. (m) (m) No. of No. of
(m) density density
holes holes
(kg/m) (kg/m)

1. 3.5-4.0 4.5-5.0 9.0-9.5 28 11.85 32 9.32

2. 3.5-4.0 4.5-5.0 9.0-9.5 25 11.62 27 9.25

3. 3.5-4.0 4.5-5.0 9.0-9.5 21 11.97 29 9.53

4. 3.5-4.0 4.5-5.0 9.0-9.5 26 11.90 30 9.62

a
5. 3.5-4.0 4.5-5.0 9.0-9.5 24 11.85 24 9.42

Table 4: Summary Of Powder Factors For Trial Blasts

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Trial blast Powder factor (t/kg)

Conventional method DAG Blasting
1. 5.85 7.02
2. 6.01 7.13
3. 5.97 7.08
4. 5.80 6.99
5. 5.87 7.01
Mean 5.90 7.05

Table 5: Summary Of Maximum Charge Per Delay, Ppv And Aop Measured For The Trial Blasts
Trial Distance of seis- Conventional method DAG blasting
blast mograph from
face (m) Maximum Peak Parti- Sound level Maximum Peak Parti- Sound level (dB)
charge per cle Velocity (dB) charge per cle Velocity
delay (kg) (mm/s) delay (kg) (mm/s)

1. 100-120 75 21.46 146.9L 60 16.90 127.9L

180-200 75 12.51 136.0L 60 5.98 107.5L

2. 100-120 75 19.28 140.8L 60 12.47 122.4L

180-200 75 12.76 133.1L 60 7.90 108.0L

3. 100-120 70 18.70 137.7L 55 14.32 124.5L

180-200 70 11.81 126.0L 55 7.39 114.6L

4. 100-120 72 23.74 143.9L 58 11.34 125.8L

180-200 72 14.41 118.6L 58 8.68 108.1L

5. 100-120 76 26.07 144.1L 62 11.58 120.4L

180-200 76 14.27 122.8L 62 5.49 100.0L

Fig. 3: PPV and AOP measured at distance 100-120 m and 180-200

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

IV. Discussion of maximum charge per delay. In similar geotechnical

The mean powder factor for all the five trial blasts of both
the techniques and mean fall in PPV and AOP values of
DAG blasting with respect to conventional blasting is
presented in Fig. 4 (a) and 4 (b) respectively. There is 19.4%
improvement in mean powder factor of DAG blasting when
compared to conventional method. This improvement in
powder factor is due to decrease in explosive consumption.
It also indicates less fine generation, less oversize particles
resulting in more percentage volume of particles in
optimum size range of the loading equipment.
The decrease in explosive consumption also reduces value
conditions and distance from the face, the maximum
charge per delay become most dominant parameter
affecting blast induced ground vibration and AOP. This
can be substantiated from the fall of 21%-55% and 37%-
67% in PPV values at 100-120 m and 180-200 m distance
respectively for DAG blasting. The AOP has also declined
by around 9%-16% and 8-20 % at 100-120 m and 180-
200m distance respectively. The fall will help the mine
operators to use this technique in sensitive regions which
have restrictions in use of blasting for rock fragmentation
due to excessive generation of ground vibration and air
over pressure.

Fig. 4: Comparison between conventional method and DAG blasting for; a) mean powder factor; b) PPV and AOP

On the basis of obtained results, it can be concluded that, manufactured in the locality of mine. It also addresses the
the DAG blasting technique can be used to reduce the problem of waste disposal in the mine locality and reduces
explosive consumption for surface mine blasts using plastic the cost of transporting large volumes of bulking agents.
waste. The DAG blasting technique improves the powder
factor. The decrease in maximum charge per delay values Acknowledgments
in DAG blasting is resulting in less ground vibration and
The authors want to acknowledge the managements of
AOP. This can be verified from the fall of about 39% and
the M/S Century Cement limestone mines (Baikunth,
46% in PPV values and about 13% and 14% fall in AOP
Chhattisgarh, India) and M/S Special Blasts Limited (Raipur,
values at 100-120 m and 180-200 m distance respectively
India) for providing the necessary facilities for conducting
when compared to conventional blasting. Moreover, the
the experiments. The authors also want to acknowledge the
DAG blasting has also reduced the percentage of fine and
director of the National Institute of Technology (Raipur,
small particles. The comparison with conventional blast
India) for providing the necessary funds to carry out the
practice has indicated that the DAG blasting has caused a
laboratory experiments and field trials.
substantial fall in the percentage of particles in <100 mm
size range, improved percentage of particle in optimum
size range without generating any significant percentage of
boulders.
The DAG blasting technique consumes about 16 kg of
plastic for a medium size blast with 40 holes resulting in
reduction of about 500 kg of explosive for similar mine.
The DAG blasting uses plastic balls which are small and
spherical in shape resulting in uniformly distributed of
air gaps in the blast column. The plastic balls can be easily

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Correlation Between Powder Factor and Rock
Fragmentation for Jharia Coal Fields
Vishal Babu Guggari,
IIT(Indian School of Mines),
Dhanbad 826004, India.
vishal29111991@gmail.com
Shankar Kumar
IIT(Indian School of Mines),
Dhanbad 826004, India.
Abstract — Blasting in surface mines is an economic way to
disintegrate the rock material form intact rock mass. Suitable
powder factor and fragmentation is an indicator of an optimal
blasting design. However, in Jharia coal field there are several
socio-economic constraints affecting the blast performance.
This study aims to investigate the bivariate correlation between
the blast parameters, powder factor and rock fragmentation.
The results provide crucial insights to achieve the optimal blast
design in various geo-mining conditions for Jharia coal fields.
Keywords— Jharia coal field, Powder factor, Rock Frag-
mentation, Blast optimization.
I. Introduction
In opencast mining, where blasting is used for excavation,
the production cost is completely depending on the
optimization of drilling and blasting parameters. Drilling
and blasting cost are about 15-20% of total mining cost
[1,2,3]. Powder factor and rock fragmentation are the
key parameters which directly influences the overall cost
of production. If rock fragmentation is not optimized
the cost of the production increases and the delay in
the production process due to secondary blasting [4].
Therefore, assessment of rock fragmentation plays vital role
in order to improve the efficiency of production. Prediction
of optimum fragmentation size will help in selecting the
blasting parameters to produce required material size at a
known cost [5].
The aim of the blasting is to achieve optimum fragmentation
without generating blast induced effects such as vibration,
fly rock etc. Blast induced effects can be minimized by
using proper quantity of explosive and powder factor.
Optimum powder factor can be defined as the quantity of
explosives required for the optimal fragmentation, ground
vibration, etc. for specific condition to minimize overall
cost [6]. The effective blasting is to use required quantity
Sohan Singh Rajpurohit
IIT(Indian School of Mines)
Dhanbad 826004, India.
of explosive to get optimal fragmentation and powder
factor to minimize the overall cost. The efficient blasting
can be achieved by investigating the relationship between
blast design parameters and fragmentation. This paper is to
investigate the correlation between the powder factor and
rock fragmentation for Jharia coal field. The blast data and
images of muck pile were collected from 3 major mines of
Jharia coal field. the rock fragmentation analysis was done
with the Fragalyst™ software and the statistics analysis were
done to investigate the relation between the powder factor
and rock fragmentation.
II. Field Observation
A. Mine 1
The compressive strength of sandstone was about 110-170
N/mm2. The specific gravity of sandstone was 2.5. The
charge pattern along with the delay sequence is illustrated
in Fig. 1 & 4. The explosive used in all the blasts was
Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (plant mixed) with shock
tube initiation system. All the blast rounds were drilled
on staggered drilling pattern with emulsion explosive.
The blasts were initiated by shock tube system with delay
sequencing of 25ms and 42ms. The loading operation was
performed by the hydraulic shovel of bucket capacity 14
m3. The blast holes were bottom initiated with shock tube
system and over 10 blasts were studied for a period of 15
days. Details of base line data observation for all blast are
given in table 1.
B. Mine 2
The annual production of mine was over 3.4 million tonnes
of coal. The study was made only in over burden benches
in order to get a proper result. The over burden comprises
of sand stone, the compressive strength of sand stone was
about 100-180 N/mm2. The specific gravity of sand stone
was 2.5. The charge pattern along with the delay sequence is
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

illustrated in Fig. 2 & 5. The explosive used in all the blasts

was Emulsion with shock tube initiation system. All the
blast rounds were drilled on square drilling pattern with
emulsion as explosive and sensitized booster as primer.
The blasts were initiated by shock tube system with delay
sequencing of 17ms, 25ms and 42ms. The loading operation
was performed by the Shovel. The blast holes were bottom
initiated with shock tube system and over 10 blasts were
studied for a period 20 days. Details of base line data
observation for all blast are given in table 1.

C. Mine 3
The compressive strength of sandstone was about 80-170 N/
mm2. The specific gravity of sandstone was 2.3. The charge
pattern along with the delay sequence is illustrated in Fig.
3 & 6. The explosive used in all the blasts was emulsion
explosive with shock tube initiation system. All the blast
rounds were drilled on square drilling pattern with ANFO Fig. 1. Charge pattern in Mine 1
as explosive and sensitized emulsion as primer. The blasts
were initiated by shock tube system with delay sequencing
of 25ms and 42ms. The blast holes were bottom initiated
with shock tube system and over 10 blasts were studied for
a period of 15 days. Details of base line data observation for
all blast are given in table 1.

Fig. 3. Charge pattern in Mine 3

Fig. 2. Charge pattern in Mine 2

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Fig. 4. Firing pattern with delay sequence in Mine 1

Fig. 5. Firing pattern with delay sequence in Mine 2

Fig. 6. Firing pattern with delay sequence in Mine 3

Table 1: Data Table Range Summarized For All The Three Mines

Sl Burden Spacing MCPD Hole depth Stemming Explosive Cost of Explo- No of No of holes
no. (m) (m) (kg) (m) length (m) density (g/ sives per kg rows
cc) (Rs.)

1. 2-6m 2- 6 m 70-150 5 - 14 2.5 – 4.5 1.1 30 2 -4 15 - 25

D. Muck pile sampling and Photography

Muck pile sampling refers to the process of collection of the blasted muck pile samples in the form of digital images

245
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

by capturing photographs. The basic underlying rule

in sampling is that the larger the number of images
processed, the more reliable the results. This is due to the
non-homogeneous nature of muck pile and the greater
statistical sampling base. One scaling object of known
length such as a 0.5 m scale bar has positioned on the
muck pile and with a suitable camera preferably at least
25 shots were taken during mucking operation.

III. Result And Discussions

Digital image analysis technique is used for fragmentation
assessment. After blasting over 25 photos of each muck
pile are taken in between the loading and these photos
are analyzed using Fragalyst® image analysis software. The
cumulative size obtained by individual image analysis will
Fig. 7. Field captured image
not provide mean fragment size fragmentation, so to obtain
optimum rock size fragmentation all the distribution
curves of each muckpile are merged and analyzed in
Fragalyst® (Fig. 7, 8 & 9). The Mean fragmentation size
obtained from the software (K50) is used for statistical
analysis to know the correlation between mean fragment
size and powder Factor, peak partial velocity and cost.
The data observed in the field is presented in Fig. 10.
In the upper diagonal matrix represents the Pearson’s
correlation coefficient values between two variables
in matrix form. The lower triangle shows scatterplots
between two variables with the linear regression fit
line. The diagonal of the plot matrix presents the
kernel density of the individual parameter with the
histogram. The plot shows the correlation between the Fig. 8. Processed Image

powder factor (PF), mean fragmentation size (MFS),

peak particle velocity (PPV) and cost of explosives. The
plot shows strong linear positive correlation (R ± 0.68)
between powder factor and cost of explosive. There is
a significant correlation between the powder factor
and the mean fragmentation size which shows MFS is
increasing with increase in PF.

Fig. 9. Fragmentation Distribution curve

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Fig. 10. Scatterplot matrix of data (B/S: Burden/Spacing, PF: Powder factor in kg/tonnes, MFS: Mean fragmentation size, PPV: Peak Partial velocity in
mm/sec, SD: Scale Distance in m, Cost in Rupees)

IV. Conclusion
The following conclusions are drawn from the study: based on a 3-D spatial distribution of rock factor”.
• Powder Factor varies between 3.52 to 5.37 kg/tonnes International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining
the Mean Fragment Size varies between 150 to 330. Sciences 46, pp: 326–332.
• The PPV varies between 16.3 to 51 mm/sec for scaled [3] Busuyi, AFENI Thomas (2009). “Optimization of
distance 40 to 135 mts. drilling and blasting operations in an open pit mine
the SOMAIR experience”. J. Mining Science and
• Cost of blasting increases with PF and burden to
Technology 19, pp: 0736–0739.
spacing ratio.
[4] Michaud PR, Lizotte YC, Scoble MJ. “Rock
The study is limited to three mines and results shows a linear
fragmentation and mining productivity:
trend in a limited range of data. Optimisation of blasting
characterisation and case studies”. In: Proceedings
practices is a non linear problem and the sub systems are
of the 23rd Annual Conference on Explosives and
inter related there fore this study provides useful insights
Blasting Technique; 1997. p. 61-72.
in the process of estimating the optimisation parameters.
[5] P. K. Singh, M. P. Roy, R. K. Paswan, M. Sarim, S.
Also, from the results it can observed that the PF is an Kumar, and R. Ranjan Jha, “Rock fragmentation
important economic aspect that helps in production control in opencast blasting,” Journal of Rock
planning and scheduling. Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 8, no.
2, pp. 225–237, Apr. 2016.
References [6] F. Mohamed, A. Hafsaoui, K. Talhi, and K. Menacer, “Study of the
Powder Factor in Surface Bench Blasting,” Procedia Earth and
[1] Dinis Da Gama, C. and Lopez Jimeno, C. (1993). Planetary Science, vol. 15, pp. 892–899, 2
“Rock fragmentation control for blasting, cost
minimisation and environmental impact abatement”,
Procs. 4th Int. Symp. on Rock Fragmentation by
Blasting (Fragblast- 4), Vienna, Austria, pp: 273-280.
[2] Shim, Hyun-Jin, Ryu, Dong-Woo, Chung, So-
Keul, Synn, Joong-Ho and Song,Jae-Joon (2009).
“Optimized blasting design for large-scale quarrying

247

Assessment of Blast-Induced Ground Vibration based
on Peak Particle Velocity and Corresponding frequency
of an Opencast Coal Mine
Anand Kumar1*
Department of Mining Engineering,
IIT(BHU), Varanasi- 221005, India
*anandkumar.rs.min14@itbhu.ac.in
Sanjay Kumar Sharma2
Department of Mining Engineering,
IIT(BHU), Varanasi- 221005, India
drcssingh@rediffmail.com
Abstract - The drilling and blasting techniques are be-
ing frequently used in mining and civil engineering projects.
They have some negative impacts on the surrounding envi-
ronment. In the present study, the blast-induced ground vi-
bration (BIGV) has been assessed by using two basic param-
eters, like frequency and peak particle velocity (PPV). The
body has its own natural frequency and it tends to damage
after its limit. Thirty blasting datasets have been measured
between shot point and observation point at an opencast coal
mine ‘A’ of Madhya Pradesh. The PPV has three wave com-
ponents i.e. radial, vertical and transverse velocities as well
as their corresponding frequencies resister which is measured
by using seismographs. The Indian Standard - DGMS pro-
posed damage criteria of hazard on the basis PPV and fre-
quency of various Structures. They mentioned PPV values,
(2-10mm/s), (5-15mm/s), and (10-25mm/s) at 8-25Hz for his-
torical building, domestic houses (kuchcha, mud-brick, etc.)
and industrial building. Several researchers have proposed
prediction model for safe blasting which depends upon the
distance between shot point & observation point and maxi-
mum charge per delay. Here, a comparative study between
permissible level (PPV & frequency) of structures and BIGV
level (PPV & frequency) has been made. It has been deter-
mined the human discomfort level and structural response
due to BIGV close to mine.
Keyword-Blasting; Frequency; Peak Particle Velocity;
Structure response
I. Introduction
In the recent scenario, blasting is one of the most desirable
technique in mining operation due to increasing demand
and production of coal and minerals. It helps to minimize
time, efforts and cost. Thus, the blasting has frequently been
applying for excavation and extraction of mineral resources.
248
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
C. S. Singh3
3
Department of Mining Engineering,
IIT(BHU), Varanasi- 221005, India
The blast-induced ground vibration (BIGV) results from
the amount of explosive fired which creates several serious
problems close to mine. The released excessive energy in
the form of high-pressure shock wave (i.e. ground & air),
temperature and light energies etc. The released energies
are uncontrollable factors and only a small portion (i.e. 20-
30%) of it is useful for the fragmentation and displacement
of rock mass. The remaining part of released energy
wasted such as - ground vibration, air over pressure, back
breakage, over breakage and other noise, etc. All over the
world, several scientists and researchers try to establish
the relationships to define appropriate damage criteria
and to enhance blasting efficiency with great accuracy and
minor interrupt [1-4]. The BIGV considered as generator
of adverse effects on the ambient environment. The BIGV is
one of the largest undesirable phenomena that are creating
problems such as; human discomfort structural damages
(i.e., domestic & industrial buildings, Haul road and mine
dumped slope, etc.). These undesirable phenomena depend
mainly on uncontrollable parameters (geological, rock
mass geotechnical characteristics etc.) and controllable
parameters (i.e. type & amount of explosive, burden,
spacing, stemming, sub-drilling delay operators, etc.) [5].
The evaluation of PPV of BIGV is an important key to
minimize and prevent the hazards around mining areas.
The value of PPV is one of the most important parameters
to describe structural damage criteria and its response
[6]. The prediction of PPV is more difficult due to change
in the characteristic properties of rock mass from one
place to another (i.e. anisotropic behavior). The distance
and maximum charge per delay are the most influential
parameters in the prediction of PPV. In the last few decades,
several scientists and engineers established the relationship
between PPV and distance & maximum charge per delay.
Mostly predictor models depend mainly on these two
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
parameters. The different predictor models vary from one
site to another site due to rock mass characteristics [7-16].
The PPV, peak vector sum (PVS) and frequency are most vital
parameters to define the quality of BIGV & its propagation
which helps in evaluation of structural hazards criteria &
human discomfort produced by blasting. The propagation
of wave and structures have their natural frequencies under
which structures oscillate without hazard [16]. According
to Medearis, the natural frequency varies from 4Hz to
18Hz with the variation of the structure’s height and width
[18]. The ground vibration results due to combined effects
of Compressional wave, Shear wave and Rayleigh wave
which are defined by their travel time [19]. The PVS may be
defined as the square-root of the sum of square of the radial
or longitudinal (l), transverse (t) and vertical velocities (v)
given as following equation (1). The aim of this paper is
to establish the new relationship between PPV and scale
distance (i.e. function of D, Q) by using site constant that
are determined by regression analysis to optimize the safe
blasting design parameters.
(1)
II. VIBRATION STANDARD
The PPV and frequency are important parameters to
monitor the structural damage and human discomfort
generated by blasting. Several scientists and researchers of
different countries have developed the standards of damage
criteria like USBM RI 8507, BSI 385, DIN 4150 (British),
and Indian Standard etc. In the present study, only Indian
Standard DGMS damage criteria is used as listed in table
(I). The vibration energy of rock mass can be evaluated by
amplitude and time duration of vibration pulse [20].
TABLE I: INDIAN STANDARD (DGMS CIRCULAR 7 OF 1997)
PROPOSED THE PERMISSIBLE LEVEL OF STRUCTURES.
Dominant excitation
frequency (Hz)
< 8 (8- > 25 Hz
Hz 25)
Hz
(A)Buildings/structures not
belonging to the owner
5 10 15
1. Domestic houses/structures
(Kuchcha, brick and cement) 10 20 25
2. Industrial buildings
2 5 10
3. Objects of historical
importance
and sensitive structures
(B) Buildings belonging to
owner with limited span of life
10 15 25
1. Domestic houses/structures
2. Industrial buildings 15 25 50
III. AREA OF INTRESTS
The study has been made at an opencast coal mine ‘A’ which
lie between latitude 24.05° to 24.14°N and longitude 82.38°
to 82.40 °E located in Madhya Pradesh. The overburden
rock mass is mostly medium to coarse grain sandstone (i.e.
around 90%). The formation of rock mass and coal seams
are of Gondwana epoch.
IV. MATERIALS AND METHODS
A. Blasting Patch Geometry And Measurement
The arrangement of blasting patch is shown in figure (1)
and blast hole depth varies between (3m-28m). In large
blast hole, the total column charge may be divided by
decking like (30-40%) top column charge and (60-70%)
bottom column charge.
In small blast hole, single column charge is required. The
third and fourth bench have been done with appropriate
geometry such as; blast hole diameters (125mm - 311mm),
burden (2-10m), spacing (3-12m), stemming (1.5-10m),
decking (1-3m), charge per meter (15-95 kg/m), maximum
charge per delay (225-1700) etc. The arrangement of
electronic delay detonator such as; hole to hole in a row
(17 ms, 25 ms) and inter-row (42 ms - 150 ms) has been
made. The data acquisition and measurements have been
made along the survey line (1.3 km - 1.4 km) between the
blast site and observation station. These measurements
have been made by seismograph which contains tri-axial
geophones which is a measure of three component of
velocity such as; radial or longitudinal, transverse and
vertical. The corresponding frequencies are also measured.
The nearest and farthest location of seismograph are 50
m and 1400 m respectively. The minimum and maximum
interval between two seismographs are 25 m and 50 m
respectively. The blasting has been carried out in a month
which required several parameters as listed in table (II).
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

rock mass and cover some distance [22]. A number of

researchers tried to establish the correlation between
(frequency, velocity, displacement, and acceleration)
and human discomfort, structural damage [23-27]. The
Duvall and Fogelson Nichols et al., 1971 and Wiss 1968
provided the relation for ground vibration velocity (PPV)
with structural hazards close to mine. Several scientists
proposed the modified vibration velocity predictor models
[28-33]. The distribution of seismic waves due to blasting
depends upon the characteristics of the rock mass as shown
in figure (2).
The Empirical predictor model
Duvall- Petkof (USBM)
Fig. 1. Blasting patch sequence
PPV= k (D/Q
)
(1/2) -b
(2)
TABLE II: THE MEASURED AND PREDICTED BLASTING
DATASETS
logPPV = logk- b*(logD-0.5*logQ) (3)
Indian Standard (DGMS)
Measured Predicted (mm/s)
PPV= k [Q/D(2/3)]b (4)
D
Q
(m)
(kg)
PPV PVS Frequency
USBM DGMS logPPV = logk + b*(logQ -0.66*logD) (5)
(mm/s) (mm/s) (Hz)
Where the D (m) and Q (kg) are the distance between
50 950 50.673 55.18 7.3 75.716 31.627 the blast site & observation station and maximum charge
100 950 38.862 40.23 3.7 34.143 21.391 per delay respectively. The Scale distance for USBM (m/
150 240 11.43 11.97 9.3 9.720 5.3147 kg0.5) and for Indian standard DGMS (m0.66/kg) has been
200 240 9.729 10.36 9.8 6.984 4.5185
used. While k and b are the site characteristics constant
determined by regression statistical analysis. Because of the
225 665 21.43 23.35 3 10.956 10.013
equations (3), and (5) looks like the equation of straight
250 665 14.732 16.35 5.9 9.706 9.436
line y= c+mx, where c=logk (intercept), and b=m (slope)
275 576 16.08 17.95 2.6 8.010 7.918 of straight line.
300 576 12.3 14.24 2.9 7.248 7.539

325 700 5.588 6.5 4.3 7.395 8.499

350 700 4.191 4.29 3 6.791 8.151

375 510 5.461 5.64 3.4 5.230 5.997

400 510 4.318 5.44 11.3 4.856 5.783

425 1600 5.08 5.29 13.8 8.736 14.702

450 1600 3.931 4.38 12.8 8.181 14.236

475 700 5.08 6.57 4.2 4.781 6.861

500 700 4.49 5.36 4.5 4.508 6.665

Fig. 2. Different paths of vibration wave.
525 280 2.794 2.56 2.9 2.517 2.987

550 280 1.905 2.38 2.1 2.386 2.909 V. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The Indian Standard damage criteria based on PPV and
B. Vibration Prediction
natural frequency of structures. The amplitude of PPV vs.
The ground vibration contains the elastic strain energy and
frequency plots describe the behavior of ground vibration.
travel around source in all direction as spherical wave front
The plots with distance as shown in figure 3 (i-iv). In figure
and vibration energy decrease with increasing distance [21].
(3), the black, red, and blue line, describe the critical level of
If the charged blast hole detonated, the chemical reaction
historical, domestic, and industrial structures, respectively.
takes place and produces the high pressure & temperature
At 50m distance, vibration velocity exceeds the critical level
gas. These temperature and pressure crush rock mass
it means ground vibration is much high & more hazardous
around borehole. The detonation energy dissipates into

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
nature. With increasing the distance strength of vibration
become weak, and see at 525m distance, vibration velocity
too weak, and did not cross the critical level of damage.
Finally, the ground vibration comes under the critical level,
and no structural damage found in this study.
Amplitude vs. frequency
Fig. 3 (i). At 50m distance
Fig. 3 (ii). At 350m distance
Fig. 3 (iii). At 400m distance
Fig. 3 (iv). At 525m distance
Fig. 3. The amplitude vs. frequency plots at various intervals.
The new establish relations of this particular mine site are as
follow by Duvall- Petkof, and Indian Standard, and the site
characteristics constant k & b are 132.09, 0.8692 & -1.149,
0.846, respectively as shown in equations (5), (6). The
correlation coefficient of between measured and Predicted
(Duvall- Petkof, Indian Standard) is 84%, 71%, respectively
as shown in figures (4), (5). The values of PVS and PPV
are decreasing with increasing distance in the same trends
and made a good correlation as shown in figure (6). The
establish model has been used in a particular mine ’A’.
These empirical models cannot be used in the other mine
site due to anisotropic behaviour of rock mass. The main
focus of this study is to evaluation of structural damage and
human discomfort based on PPV, and their corresponding
frequencies due to blast-induced ground vibration. To
establish the correlation between measured and predicted
PPV. The showing basic, and Indian empirical models.
There is no particular relation between frequency and PPV.
Therefore, try to show the distribution between them. The
measured and predicted values vs. frequency, separately as
shown in figures (7), (8), respectively. Finally, all measured
and predicted values are flow with a number of datasets as
shown in figure (9).
PPV = 132.09(D/Q0.5)-1.149 (5)
PPV= 0.8692(Q/D ) 0.66 0.846
(6)
Fig. 4. Correlation between measured and predicted PPV
Fig. 5. Correlation between measured and predicted PPV
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Fig. 6. Variation of PPV & PVS with distance

Fig. 9. The Measured PPV & PVS and predicted PPV with sets

VI. CONCLUSION
The main aim of this study is to monitor PPV & frequency
at different distances for proper evaluation of structural
damage, and human discomfort in around mine ’A’. The
structural response and human discomfort has been
determined on the basis of blasting datasets and it has
been found that there is no serious cause and problem due
to blast induced ground vibration. The analysis has been
done by Indian Standard damage criteria. The site constant
determined for the study area cannot be applied to another
mining area. The peak vector sum give reliable correlation
with measured PPV.

VII. References
[1] Duvall, Wilbur I. Vibrations from instantaneous and
millisecond-delayed quarry blasts. No. 6151. US, Dept.
Fig. 7. Distributions of measured PPV & PVS with frequency of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, 1963.
[2] Nicholls, Harry R., Charles F. Johnson, and Wilbur
I. Duvall. Blasting vibrations and their effects on
structures. US Government Printers, 1971.
[3] Siskind, David E. “Comparative study of blasting
vibrations from Indiana surface coal mines.” (1989).
[4] Abdel-Rasoul, Elseman I. “Measurement and analysis of
the effect of ground vibrations induced by blasting at the
limestone quarries of the Egyptian cement company.”
(2000).
[5] Singh, T. N., and Virendra Singh. “An intelligent
approach to prediction and control ground vibration in
mines.” Geotechnical & Geological Engineering 23, no.
3, 249-262, 2005
Fig. 8. Distributions of predicted PPV & PVS with frequency

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

Evaluating Relation between Blasting Parameters and

Mean Fragment Size Distribution – Case Study
Kamlesh Meena
Research Scholar
Department of Mining Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology (B.H.U) Varanasi
Kamlesh.meena.rs.min18@itbhu.ac.in

Abstract — Mining industry plays an important role in
economic development of a nation and its contribution in
Indian economy is about 2.1% to 2.5%. Further, industrial
sectors related to mining contribute around 10-11% in eco-
nomic development. To enhance the productivity of mines,
blasting of rocks is carried out on day today basis. A good
fragmentation not only cuts off the extra cost but also reduces
secondary blasting. The present paper investigates the effect
of two controllable blast design parameter on fragment size
and powder factor assessment i.e. spacing and burden. Total
8 numbers of blasts were carried out systematically in Joda
East mine of Tata Steel (Orrisa). Mean fragment size (F50)
and maximum fragment size (F95) of rock were determined
using digital image analysis technique (DIAT). Split desktop
software was used for size distribution analysis for image of
whole muck pile after every blast. Total 4 numbers of blasts
were observed using constant spacing and by varying burden.
Other 4 number of blasts were observed by keeping constant
burden and varying spacing. Howsoever, rest of the blast de-
sign parameters related to these blasts were kept almost iden-
tical. The relationship between powder factor and spacing to
burden ratio with F50 provided useful insight to optimize the
spacing and burden in subsequent blasts.
Keywords: Controllable Blast Design Parameters, Mean
Fragment Size, Spacing, Burden, Powder Factor
I. Introduction
In mining industry, blasting is used for breakdown of
rock for its easy transportation. Many factors like hauling,
loading, grinding cost and overall mining cost depend
on the fragmentation[1]. Mining production could be
increased by getting desired fragmentation with the help of
proper blast design[2]. Drilling and blasting cost are 30%
of overall mine cost which can be increased up to 50% if
secondary blasting needed. Improper selection of blasting
design is the cause of boulder and oversize as it decreases
the efficiency of machine. In mining, the main aim of any
blasting engineer is to generate an optimum fragmentation
without having adverse environment impact [3]. Proper
fragmentation reduces the wear and tear of crusher and
save the energy consumption per year. Two parameters
on which fragmentation depends are controllable and
uncontrollable parameters. Controllable parameters
include spacing, burden, bench height, drill hole diameter,
stemming, explosive type, delay sequences, stemming
material, blast direction, free face and powder factor which
can be regulated by mining engineer. Uncontrollable
parameters (naturally occurring) are joint, fault and fold
remains unchanged [4, 5]. Larger drill hole size and larger
spacing causes boulders especially in geological disturbed
rock blasting operation. The cost of downstream can be
controlled and minimized by optimizing the blasting
parameters. Due to geological and geotechnical properties
of rocks blast deign parameters varies from mine to mine.
Various empirical formulas like Kuz-Ram model, Rosin
Rammler model, Larson model and KCO model are
developed to predict size distribution based on blasting
and rock data [6]. In most of cases, Kuz-Ram model is
used for prediction of size distribution. Rosin rammler
theory proposed by v. mkuznetsov (1997) provides a well
detailed description of blasted rock fragmentation. Using
this approach rock factor is calculated which describes the
nature and geology of rock. It also gives a uniformity index
which characterizes explosive loading and blast pattern
type with its dimension. This allows the characteristic
size and size distribution to be calculated according to the
Rosin-Rammler procedure. Due to the amount of too many
input rock mass parameters, that are not unambiguously
determined, the rock factor may also not be satisfactory,
and this unfavourably influences the fragmentation
prediction. The later work of others, particularly that of
Lilly (1986) and Cunningham (1983, 1987) was useful for
improving the efficiency of that approach. For measuring
the size distribution of fragmented rock, direct and indirect
methods are applied. Indirect method involves sieve analysis
but can’t be used for large scale due to its cost and time
consuming. Alternative method based on image processing
software which are known as indirect methods such as
SPLIT DESKTOP, IPACS, FRAGSCAN and FRAGLYST
are cost effective and time saving method [7]. In addition

253

to this it can also effectively measure any size of fragmented
particles. In this paper, split desktop software has been used
for finding size distribution of fragmented rock.
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of operations from mine to mill
II. Site Description
The Joda east iron mine of Tata Iron and Steel Company
Limited is an opencast fully mechanized mine. It was
awarded by “golden peacock innovation management
award” in 2017. It is located at Joda village, Keonjhar
district, in Odisha state with latitude between 21059’ N to
220 03’ N and longitude between 850 25’ E to 850 27’ E. It has
a total mining lease area of 671 hectare and highest point of
mine is above 686 m from mean sea level. Varieties of rock
found within the area are Banded Hematite Jasper (BHJ),
Shale and Cherty Quartzites, Laterite, Hematite iron ores.
Different ores which are present here are (i) Hard Ore, (ii)
Lateritic Ore, (iii) Friable, Flaky & Powdery iron ore and
(iv) Blue Dust with little occurrence. Though BHJ/BHQ are
naturally occurring and has very low Fe content and it come
under solid waste therefore it is used as stemming material
in blasting. Production of mine is 8 MTPA. Stripping ratio
of mine is 1: 0.5. Drill hole were of 150mm diameter with
10% sub grade drilling. Bench height is around 9 m and
12 – 20 m wide in regular shape and size. Blasting is carried
out by using SME (Site Mixed Emulsion Explosives). Nonel
(non-electric initiation) is used for blasting connections.
DTH detonation using 250 ms delay with length of 6m and
12 m nonel is used. Trunk line delay of 17ms, 65ms, 100ms
are subsequently used for row to row blasting. Rock breaker
is used for breaking boulders generated during production
blasting. Sometimes secondary blasting is carried out
using 100 mm diameter drill holes. The blasted material is
excavated by 5.7 and 5.9 cum capacity and loaded into 50t,
60t and 100t dumpers for transportation.
254
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Fig. 2. General view of blasting site at Joda east mine (Orrisa)
III. Research Methodology
Lab Work
Particle size distribution analyses with digital image
processing.
In our study split desktop software is used to determine the
size distribution of fragmented rock. It is basically image
processing software which is developed by university of
Arizona U.S.A. It has features for editing segments manually
as well as automatically. Image of fragmented rock is used
to find size distribution through split desktop software[9].
The software also acquires features to consider not only
larger particle of fragment (denoted by blue border) but
also fine particles which are denoted by red border (as
shown in Fig. 4).
Advantages of split desktop are:
1. Better resolution of images.
2. Multiple image analysis
3. Considered of large size as well as the fine particle
present in it.
4. Involvement of various format of image like .jpg, .png
etc.
5. Presentation of final result of size distribution possible
in excel sheet[10][11].
First step of split desktop is opening the image of
fragmented material in software. Second is to provide the
scale of required reference. Third one is delineation or edge
detection which is done by choosing automatic option or
it can also be done manually. Fourth step is the calculation
of size distribution. Final step is the display of result which
can also be viewed in excel sheet.
B. CALIBRATION OF SPLIT DESKTOP
Particle size distribution plays an important role in mining
industry. Various mining industries determine particle size
distribution of their raw materials. Major part of mining
depends on the size distribution. Hence Many methods
are present to determine particle size distribution in which
sieve analysis method is most commonly used for small
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

scale[12]. Basic principle of sieve analysis depends on

passing material of different size on different sieve size. This
method is not commonly used in mining because mining
belongs to large volume of fragment rock so it is impossible
to do sieve analysis for size distribution of fragmented rock
as it is not only costly method but also time-consuming
process[13]. It also affects the mine production rate. That
is the reason; now a days alternate method called as image
processing is in demand for size distribution among mining
industries[14]. Our main objective is to evaluate the relation
between fragment size versus blasting parameters. For this
study, size distribution of fragmented rock was determined.
To find the accuracy of split desktop software used in this
study, split single image analysis and multi-image analysis
is compared with sieve analysis result.
First, a rock sample (as shown in Fig.3) was taken which
was crushed by Jaw crusher in the laboratory. Sieve analysis
Fig. 4. Actual (a), processed images (b) and result (c)
results were plotted in graph. A high-quality image single
image of samples is taken, and another size distribution
of sample is obtained by split desktop. Main problem
regrading image processing software is that while taking
picture of sample or any fragment rock only the front view
of sample population was visible not the rear part.

Fig. 5. Shows the results of sample: - sieve analysis, single image

and multiple image analysis by split

IV. Field Work and Analysis of Data by

Fig. 3. Photograph of sample Split Sektop
Therefore, in this experiment we have taken multiple images
The blast design parameters data are collected from 8 blasts
so that the population which can’t be viewed in single
with different places within mine site and are analyzed to
image should be visible. This multiple image of sample
find out their impact on fragmentation. Parameters on
is now uploaded in split software and size distribution of
which fragmentation depends are spacing, burden, bench
sample was determined. After getting three results of same
height, spacing to burden ratio, bench height to burden
sample by sieve analysis, single image analysis and multi-
ratio were considered. Details of blast conducted in Joda
image analysis were compared. We found that the curve
east iron ore mine is tabulated in table 1. The bench was
of multiple image analysis by Split desktop was near to the
developed along the strike to mine more area for better
result of sieve analysis as compared to single image analysis
quality. The bench width was 12m whereas bench height
by split (shown in Fig. 5). Therefore, multiple image analysis
was 10-12m. Electric detonator and Trunk line delay of
by split software of blasted rock was preferred than single
17ms, 65ms and 100ms were used. Down the hole detonator
image analysis in field.
of 250ms of 12m length. Emulsion booster of 125g was
used to initiate.

Table I. Details of Blast at Joda East Iron Ore Mine in Orrisa

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

No. Explosive Powder

S. Spacing Burden S/B F50
Of quantity Factor
no (m) (m) Ratio (m)
holes (kg) (kg/m3) Stemming
length=
1 5 3.9 1.28 44 7180 0.38 0.76
4- 5 m
Bench
2 5 4.1 1.25 92 15500 0.4 0.74
height
=10m Explosive
3 5 4.2 1.19 62 11260 0.45 0.78
SME =
4 5 4.5 1.11 50 8060 0.55 0.65 Fig.6. Stability analysis of wedges in desilting chambers

5 4.5 4 1.125 50 17020 0.5 0.92 Powder Factor versus mean fragment size: As such powder
factor is defined as quantity of explosive per unit volume of
6 4.7 4 1.17 13 2300 0.48 0.82 material blasted. In mining industry, it is usually defined as
quantity of explosive per tonne of material. Here powder
7 4.9 4 1.22 83 13190 0.43 0.73 factor range was 0.65 to 0.92 kg/m3. High value of powder
factor gives boulders while low lower powder factor gives
8 4.3 4 1.07 62 9740 0.6 0.82
finer particles. On plotting graph between powder factor
versus means fragment size, we come to know that with
increase in powder factor, means fragment size decreases
(as shown in Fig 8). Trend between mean fragment size and
powder factor doesn’t show the proper trend that is because
of high jointing and faulting in rock masses. This lead to
premature ejection of effective explosive energy from the
blasting in such type of iron ore deposits.

Fig. 6. Blasting area of Joda East Iron Ore Mine (Orrisa).

During field visit, blasting parameters like burden (m),

Spacing (m), blast hole length (m), blast hole diameter
(mm), total explosive (kg), charge per hole (kg), stemming
length (m), delay sequence, explosive parameters, firing Fig.8. Relationship between Powder factor (kg/m3)) ratio and mean
fragment size (F50 m)
pattern, was noted before blasting. In all the blast bench
height was 11m. When blasting was completed, several
images were taken through digital camera of fragmented
rock. Using blast data and blasted block size images of
entire muck pile, the powder factor (kg/m3) and rock
fragmentation sizes (mean fragment size, MFS, F50, and
maximum fragment size, K95) were determined.

Fig.7. Relationship between spacing/burden (S/B) ratio and mean

fragment size (F50 m

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Spacing to burden ratio versus mean fragment size
relation: For proper utilization of explosive energy and
optimum rock fragmentation, it is very important to
regulate spacing to burden ratio as per several studies
conducted by Sharma and Rai [2]. If there is low spacing/
burden ratio, fine fragment gets generated due to pressure
rings coalescence of two holes whereas in higher spacing to
burden ratio, boulder generation was observed. Normally
spacing burden ratio varies from 1 to 2, but in our study, S/B
ratio varies from 1.05 to 1.3. On plotting graph of spacing
to burden ratio versus mean fragment size, it was clearly
evident that means fragment size decreased on increasing
spacing burden ratio (as shown in Fig 7). Higher spacing
burden ratio gives finer particles. However, in the present
study scope of improving the Spacing to burden ratio
exists but due to time constraint an optimum spacing to
burden ratio couldn’t be achieved. But it can be reasonably
estimated that spacing and burden directly linked with
fragment size.
V. Conclusions
Drilling and blasting operation plays an important role
in mining which increases the efficiency of machine and
cut the need of secondary blasting. Further, blast design
parameters like spacing, burden and stemming directly
affect the fragment size and helps in achieving optimum
fragment size.
 Present study clearly indicated the direct relationship
of spacing to burden ratio and mean fragment size. As
such on increasing S/B ratio, F50 decreases.
· Further, it was also clearly visible from the plotted
graphs that on increment of powder factor Mean
fragment size decreases upto certain extent but also
enhances boulder formation in muckpile.
 Therefore, an optimum burden and spacing should
be selected in accordance with each other to avoid
occurrence of huge amount of coarser fragments.
 Excessive burden produces vibrations and small
burden throw the blasted rock with high speed that
leads to fly rocks.
References
[1] B. A. Kansake, V. A. Temeng, and B. O. Afum,
“Comparative Analysis of Rock Fragmentation Models
– A Case Study,” 4th UMaT Bienn. Int. Min. Miner.
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[2] S. Kumar Sharma and P. Rai, “Establishment of blasting
design parameters influencing mean fragment size
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Meas. J. Int. Meas. Confed., vol.96, pp. 34–51, 2017.
[3] P. K. Singh, M. P. Roy, R. K. Paswan, M. Sarim, S. Kumar,
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no. 2, pp. 225–237, 2016.
[4] A. Sharma, A. K. Mishra, and B. S. Choudhary, “Impact
of blast design parameters on blasted muckpile profile
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[5] S. Prasad, B. S. Choudhary, and A. K. Mishra, “Effect of
Stemming to Burden Ratio and Powder Factor on Blast
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[6] A. A. Hoser and A. O. Madsen, “Dynamic quantum
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[7] M. Babaeian, M. Ataei, F. Sereshki, F. Sotoudeh, and
S. Mohammadi, “A new framework for evaluation of
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Geotech. Eng., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 325–336, 2019.
[8] M. I. Kulula, M. N. Nashongo, and J. M. Akande,
“Influence of Blasting Parameters and Density of
Rocks on Blast Performance at Tschudi Mine, Tsumeb,
Namibia,” J. Miner. Mater. Charact. Eng., vol. 05, no. 06,
pp. 339–352, 2017.
[9] A. Tavakol Elahi and M. Hosseini, “Analysis of blasted
rocks fragmentation using digital image processing
(case study: limestone quarry of Abyek Cement
Company),” Int. J. Geo-Engineering, vol. 8, no. 1, 2017.
[10] P. A. Ibrahim Dincer, Marc A. Rosen, “No Title No
Title,” J. Chem. Inf. Model., vol. 53, no. 9, pp. 1689–1699,
2019.
[11] S. . Borana, S. . Yadav, and S. . Parihar, “Image Processing
Analysis of Blast Fragmentation : A Case Study of
Sandstone Mining Area of Jodhpur,” Int. J. Res. Advent
Technol., vol. 6, no. October, pp. 2584–2589, 2018.
[12] C. Paper and N. Roy, “Digital Image Analysis for the
Determination of Size and Shape Parameters of Sand
Grains,” no. August 2015, pp. 30–31, 2014.
[13] G. H. A. J. J. Kumara, K. Hayano, and K. Ogiwara,
“Image analysis techniques on evaluation of particle
size distribution of gravel,” Int. J. GEOMATE, vol. 3, no.
1, pp. 290–297, 2012.
[14] M. Terzi, “Particle size distribution analysis in aggregate
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4, pp. 514–521, 2018.
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Optimisation of Blast Design Parameters to Minimise
Fragmentation Size and Control Blast Induced Hazard
by Soft Computing Method
Abinash Parida
Department of Mining Engineering
Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar
Abstract — One of the most vital stage in open pit mining
is drilling and blasting. A good fragmentation with minimum
blast induced hazard such as ground vibration and fly rock
are characteristic of a successful drilling and blasting op-
eration. Kuz-Ram Model, USBM Approach and Mitigation
Technique are the conventional methods used to minimise
fragmentation size, ground vibration and fly rock. The ex-
plosive quantity and blast design parameters used in blast-
ing can be optimised by Kuz-Ram model. The controlled use
of explosives with optimised blast parameters (controllable
and uncontrollable) derived from Kuz-Ram Model is used in
USBM approach and Mitigation Technique to minimize blast
vibration and projectile distance covered by fly rock. The cal-
culated value of blast optimised parameters is compared with
measured value of PPV and fly rock by soft computing meth-
od (ANN) to develop an optimised equation.
Key Words: Blast design parameter, fragmentation size,
ground vibration, fly rock, ANN
I. Introduction
The blasting operation plays a vital role in the overall
economy of opencast mines. In opencast mining, where
blasting is carried out for excavation, the overall cost
effectiveness of the production operations is compatible
with optimization of drilling and blasting parameters.
Both rock fragmentation and blast induced environmental
hazard such as ground vibration and fly rock depend on
rock mass properties which cannot be controlled and blast
design parameters that can be controlled and optimized
[1]. The optimized fragmentation is site dependent as well
as cost effective for loading and processing. There are many
ways to measure blast performance which is limited to
throw placement, diggability, downstream processing cost
and in-pit fragmentation by optimizing the blast design
parameters such as burden, blast hole length, stemming
length and powder factor to provide target fragmentation
[2]. The empirical prediction of expected fragmentation in
most cases is carried out using the Kuz-Ram model. For
this, the Rosin-Rammler theory is applied. This theory was
first proposed by V. M. Kuznetsov (1973), gives a reasonable
description of the blasted rock fragmentation [3]. Apart
258
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Soumya Ranjan Mallick
Department of Mining Engineering
Government College of Engineering, Keonjhar
mallicksoumyaranjan@gmail.com
from it when an explosive charge detonates, intense
dynamic waves are set around the blast hole, due to sudden
acceleration of the rock mass. The energy liberated by the
explosive is transmitted to the rock mass as strain energy.
The transmission of the energy takes place in the form of
the waves. Optimization of blasting pattern implemented
at open cast mine for control of ground vibration, noise or
air over pressure and fly rock with improved production
and productivity [4]. Each particle vibration component
is associated with an specific point in time, for properly
assessing the PPV. The effect of stemming on burden
movement is inversely proportional to the stemming
ejection velocity [5]. This paper presents prediction of
fragmentation size, ground vibration and fly rock by
the application of artificial neural network. An artificial
neuron is a model which directs analogs to the components
of actual neuron. The inputs signals are represented by
X 0 , X1, X 3 ,............, X n . Each input is initialized by weight
(known as synaptic weights) whose function is analogous
in abiological junction. The whole process occurs in two
parts; such as in first process Aggregate of weighted input
signals are resulting a quantity and the second part is called
activation function through which combined signals flows.
Generally the activation function is a continuous function
that falls between two asymmetric values typically 0 and
1;-1 and+1 called sigmoid function. The activation function
is the logistic function.
II. SITE DESCRIPTION
Orissa occupies 24 % of India’s coal reserve. According
to the Geographical Survey of India a total of 301.56
billion tons of coal reserve was identified in 2014. As per
GSI estimation, the prime coking coal was around 5.313
billion tones, medium and semi coking coal around 28.76
billion tones, non-coking coal around 266.00 billion tones
and Tertiary coal 1.49 billion tones. The Talcher coal field
is spreading over Angul district of Orissa and comprising
of five underground and seven opencast mines. The
numbers of active opencast coal mine projects are larger
in Talcher coal field area than the IB valley coal field. The
deposit consists of many layers such as alluvium soil, Shale,
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

sand stone and coal with density 1.8,2.1, 2.16 and 1.5 (g/ the cracks developed by the stress waves. The burden varied
cc) respectively. Alluvium soil is loose, unconsolidated from 2.2m -3.2 m.
or sediment eroded by water and re-deposited in a non Spacing
marine setting. Shale is also a sedimentary r Spacing is also an important factor which affects the
mean fragmentation size. Excessive spacing gives large size
boulders and more fines results from small spacing. The
ock of fine- grained mineral composed of mud, clay mineral spacing varied from 3m–3.5m in the mines.
and tiny fragments especially quartz and calcite. Sandstone
is a clastic sedimentary rock composed of mainly sand Charge Mass
sized mineral particle of quartz or feldspar. Coal formation It is the amount of explosive in one-meter hole with a
in Talcher region is of lower grade containing upto 35% of specific diameter. The amount of explosive used in the
fixed carbon, upto70% volatile matter and upto 25% ash blasting operation per meter length was 13.9 to 22.4 kg.
content with lower density.
Stemming
Stemming is act as a seal, holds the detonation gasses until
Figure 1: Systematic Diagram of Deposit of Talcher Region
the explosive has detonated completely and the rock start
III. METHODOLOGY to break. The stemming height varied from 2.3 m to 3.35 m
according to the depth of hole and charging length.
The investigation was carried out in an open cast coal mine
in Talcher region. The drill holes are charged with cartridge Powder Factor
explosives of 83 mm diameter and 2.78 kg each. The
Powder factor is used to calculate size of the charge that
cartridge explosives used was Aquadyne (Cap-sensitive,
will ensure safe and optimized blast result. The actual
4200 m/sec VOD) and Energel (Booster-sensitive, 3800 m/
sec VOD) manufactured by IDL. The charge per hole varies powder factor is calculated after all blast parameters have
between 13.9 kg and 22.24 kg with 17ms surface delay and been determined to assist in calculating the total amount of
250 ms down the hole delay. Series pattern was followed. explosive used in a blast. The powder factor used in mine is
The base charge and column charge ratio was typically 20 varies from 0.264 to 0.386 kg/m3.
to 80 percent. The fragmentation size and fly rock distance
Table 1: Blast Design Site Parameters and resultant data set
was measured by capturing photographs. Ground vibration
was monitored by Micromate (Make-INSTANTAL).
Measured values such as fragmentation size, Peak particle
velocity and fly rock distance was compared with both
controllable and uncontrollable blasting parameters such
as blast geometry, charge per hole, explosive properties and
mechanical properties of rock. The calculated value of blast
optimised parameters is compared with measured value
of PPV and fly rock by soft computing method (ANN) to
develop an optimised equation.

Fragmentation Size
Kuz-Ram Model is the most widely used rock fragmentation
Figure 2: Schematic Layout of the Blast Pattern
model, based on Kuznetsov equation relates the mean
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION fragment size to the quantity of explosives needed to blast
for a given volume of rock. The Kuznetsov equation is
Controllable Parameter
Burden 1
19
Burden is an important parameter in blasting process and Q 6
115 20
adversely affects the mean fragmentation size. Large burden X 50 = A × 0.8 × ( )
gives resistance to the gas pressure energy to penetrate into K RWS (1)

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Where, A=Rock factor, Q=charge weight, K= Powder Table 2: Predicted values of fragmentation size, fly rock and ppv
factor, RWS=relative weight strength of explosive

Hino (1959) proposed that blastability or Blasting

Coefficient (BC) or rock factor is the ratio of compressive
strength (CS) to tensile strength (TS) of rock mass, which
may be given as follows.

Compressive Strength
Uniaxial compressive strength is the
ultimate compressive stress of the rock specimen
failure under uniaxial compression conditions.
Unconfined compressive strength is defined as

F
σc =
A (2)
Where,
Artificial Neural Network
σ c
= Compressive strength, F = Compressive load, A=
The architecture consists of input layer, hidden layer and
output layer. Neural network gives the data by examining
initial cross-section of the sample
and mapping the inter relationship. Feed forward neural
Tensile Strength network are special kind of ANN, in which inputs are
The tensile strength generally defined as the maximum received and simply forward through all the next layers
stress a specimen can withstand when it is subjected to (hidden layer) to obtain the output. Here output is
pulling or stretching. This test influenced by loading along compared with measured value. The difference of error
the plane of weakness or across it in specimen. There are between both is called bias which proceed back through the
several methods used for determination of tensile strength network (backward pass) updating the individual weights
of rocks by indirect tests, out of that Brazilian test is of the connection and also biases of individual neurons.
generally adopted. Brazilian test is conducted on NX size Each input and target parameter consists of 15 data-set. For
specimen with length equal to the diameter in laboratory. the training network 9-20-3 (Figure 4.21), all 37 datasets
are divided using MATLAB code. The datasets for training
(70%), validation (15%) and testing (15%) were selected
2F randomly (Chatterjee et al, 2006).
σt = (3)
∏D
t

Peak Particle Velocity

Particle velocity is the velocity of a particle (real or
imagined) in a medium as it transmits a wave. The ground
vibration data including Peak particle velocity (PPV), the
distance from the blast site to the monitoring station; the
explosive Charge per delay for various blasts was measured
according to USBM equation for understanding the effect Figure 3: Splitting of data into training, validation and testing
of ground vibrations induced by blasting in Open Cast
Mine of Talcher region. The jth neuron is connected with a number of inputs
as
Fly rock
Fly rock is undesirable effect induced by mismatch of Xi=(X1, X2, X3, .... .... ....Xn)
explosive energy and rock energy. Both charge amount
and blast geometry plays a vital role to reduce it s projectile The Net input values in the hidden layer is
distance.

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 International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

The update of the weight for the (n+1)thpattern is given as

n (10)
(5) 1) Wn (n) + δ Wn
Wn (n +=
Net j
= ∑
i =1
X iWij + α j
The connection between the hidden and output layer
follows the similar logic. But in the above case linear
Where, Xi is nth no of input units, transfer function is used. Total input inKth unit of
Wij is the connection between i neuron of input
th output layer is given by

layer and jthneuron of hidden layer; αj is the bias

neuron.
Usually the calculation of output in the hidden layer is (11)
determined with the logarithmic sigmoid function which
is non-linear and is defined as n
Netk
= ∑W
j =1
jk O j + αk

1 (6) The predicted value by linear transfer function from

f ( Net j ) =
= − Net
Oj
1+ e j Kthunit is

Where, f(Netj) is the weighted sum of inputs for

a processing unit of output layer. f (netk ) = n (12)
Where, Wjk is the weight between jthneuron
of hidden layer and Kth neuron of output layer; αthis
the bias neuron; n is predicted value.The process is repeated
till the user specified error or epoch goal is reached.
Figure 4: Network Pattern
In the learning process, the network is presented with pair
of patterns; an input pattern and corresponding desired
output pattern. The network computes output pattern by
using weights and threshold value. The error at any output
layer k is determined between the actual output and desired
output as

ei= ik − ok (7)
Figure 5: Shows regression of training, validation and testing
The total error is given by

The predicted values were compared with measured values and

E = ∑ ei
2 (8) the relation among those values was shown in figure.
The decent down error surface is made using following rule
for optimum weight space of the network,

δE (9)
δ wn =−n ×
δ wn
Where n(4)
is the learning rate parameter; Wnis the
weight of the connection between thei th
neuron of
the input layer and the jthneuron of the hidden layer; Figure 6: Relation between predicted and actual average size

ithis the actual output;oj is the desired output.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

V. Conclusions
1. During field visit, site based blast design parameter such as
burden (2.2 m-3.2 m), spacing (3-3.5 m), charge amount
(13.9-22.4 kg), stemming (2.3m-3.35m) and hole diameter
115 mm was observed.
2. Mechanical properties such as compressive strength (9-12
MPa) and tensile strength (2.5-3.14) was obtained from
laboratory test.
3. Environmental hazard such as fragmentation size, X50
(25.415-58.347 cm), fly rock distance (34.24-67.38 m) and
Figure 7: Relation between predicted and actual fly rock distance ground vibration, PPV (0.87-4.67m) were determined by
image processing software and monitored by seismograph.
4. Neural network was trained in 9-20-3 at training (70%),
validation (15%) and testing (15%) to predict fragmentation
size, fly rock and peak particle velocity.
5. F test was carried out for acceptance of predicted values by
soft computing method (ANN).

References
1.
Figure 8: Relation between predicted and actual peak particle
velocity
2.
3.
4.
5.
The actual value compared with predicted value by
statistical analysis through F-Test and regression analysis.
F value in F-Test is less than critical value, the predicted
data is accepted. Also the regression analysis shows better
correlation coefficient for fragmentation size(X50), fly rock
distance and ground vibration (PPV).
Jimeno, C. L., Jimeno, E. L., Francisco J. A. C., Drilling and
blasting of Rock. In: Balkema, A. A. (Ed.) Rotterdam, p. 30, 56-
61, 179-183, 190, 1995.
Sandeep Prasad, B.S. Choudhary And A.K. Mishra, “Effect of
stemming to burden ratio and powder factor on blast induced
rock fragmentation”, Material science and Engineering. IOP
conference, 2017.
Kuznetsov, V.M., The mean diameter of fragments formed by
blasting rock. J Min Sci;9: p. 144–148, 1973.
Pal, U.K. and Ghosh, N., “Optimization of blast design
parameters at Sonepur Bazari opencast project”, The Indian
Mining & Engineering Journal, September, p.36-41, 2002.
Worsey P, Experimental data indicating a direct link between
the rate of stemming ejection and the degree of rock face
movement in bench blasting. In: Proceedings of the conference
on explosive and blasting procedure, p 83–95, 1990.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Investigation into the Effect of Non-Electric and
Electronic Initiation Systems on Blasting Performance
in Surface Coal Mines
Ujjwal Kumar
Research scholar IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, India
Ujjwalkumar.rs.min19@itbhu.ac.in
Abstract — Fragmentation, muck pile shape parameters
play an important role in deciding the operational cost of
mining. Poor fragmentation and muck pile shape affects the
performance parameters of excavators. Hence, optimal frag-
mentation and muck pile shape parameter plays an import-
ant role in enhancing the performance of excavators as well
as reducing the cost of mining. The study revealed that prop-
er use of initiation system vis-à-vis the rock mass parameters
was crucial in obtaining optimal blast performance in terms
of fragmentation, muck pile shape parameters and ground
vibrations. In the present research work a comparative study
has been carried out between two of the well-known initia-
tion systems practiced now-a-days in surface coal mines i.e.
non-electric and electronic initiation system. The study focus-
es on the performance of both the initiation system on frag-
mentation, muck pile shape parameters. Increase in boulder
count leads to increase cycle time of the excavator. Increase in
powder factor fragmentation size will decrease and decreased
powder factor may lead to increased boulder count. Fragmen-
tation size and muck pile shape parameters can be related, if
shovel is used for excavation muck should not be scattered to
get good fill factor. Electronic detonators show good blasting
result and hence reduced fly rock and ground vibration and
good performance of the excavators. The mean fragment size
(k50 )value of electronic detonator blast (.33-.66m) was lesser
than the value of non electric detonator blast(.31-.98m) for
a shovel size of 2.3m3 for a six meter height of overburden
bench.
Keywords: fragmentation, muck pile, electronic detonator,
non electric detonator, initiation system, powder factor
I. Introduction
Mining was important in ancient times and mining is
important today and for the future survival of mankind.
In the present day economic scenario, mining of various
minerals plays a very crucial role by contributing almost
about 7-8% of the GDP of the country. Initiator is a term
that is used in the explosive industry to describe any
device that may be used to start a detonation in explosive.
Dr. Suresh Kumar Sharma
Assistant professor Research scholar IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, India
sureshsharma.min@itbhu.ac.in
Detonation is the process of propagation of a shock wave
through an explosive, which is accompanied by a chemical
reaction that furnishes energy to maintain the shock
wave propagation in a stable manner. The devices that
initiate high explosive are called detonators. All types of
explosive cannot be readily initiated by the application of
heat by burning. In order to initiate explosives, a powerful
detonation is required. Initiating devices does this.
Detonators are compact devices that are designed to safely
initiate and control the performance of larger explosive
charges. They contain relatively sensitive high explosives
which can be initiated by electrical or shock energy from an
external source. The strength of detonators is determined
by amount of base charge contained and identified by
strength number (Jimeno, 1995).
Drilling and blasting cost in any project can be as high as
25% of the total production cost. Inspite of this the design
and implementation of a blast is not given that much priority
in our country. Proper adoption of drilling and blasting
can contribute significantly towards profitability and
therefore optimizations of these parameters are essential.
Optimization means achieving the best i.e. to achieve
maximum or minimum value of the operating parameters.
Optimization of blast is dependent on a host of complex
factors related to the rock, explosive, initiation, drill-hole
parameters and their layout. The present work is a step-
in the direction of developing a suitable blast model, with
simple methodologies which can be adapted by the mining
industry to achieve better blasting results. Fragmentation
is the process of breaking the solid in situ rock mass into
several smaller pieces capable of being excavated or moved
by material handling equipment. Breaking of rock mass is
assisted by conventional drilling blasting operation which
is the most important method of fragmentation in almost
every quarry. There are a number of controllable as well as
uncontrollable parameters that govern the fragmentation
of rock. The controllable parameters can be controlled by
effective blast designing and use of appropriate explosive
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

S no. Parameters Details TABLE I. Description of Mine

1 Name of the mine Dobari open cast mine
2 Name of the area/company Bharat coking coal Ltd
3 Nearest Railway station Dhanbad railway station
4 Production of the mine 3.2mt

for blasting. While the uncontrollable parameter as the

name suggests cannot be controlled. The efficiency of an
excavator is directly related to the size distribution of muck
pile. Therefore, reliable evaluation of fragmentation is a
critical mining problem (S. Esen and H.A. Bologoon,
2002).Fragmentation of a rock depend upon a series of fac-
tors that may include rock properties, geology, topography
especially free surface condition, explosive characteristics
and finally design of the blast (Swets&Zeit linger, 2002).
Rock fragmentation is considered the most important as-
pect of production blasting because of its directs effects on
the costs of drilling and blasting and blasting and its also
effect the excavator cycle time (Chung et al., 2002).Frag-
mentation of the rock after blasting is an important deter-
minant of the cost associated with these two components Fig. 2. Flow Chart.
of mine development (Kazem et al., 2005).
II. Objective Of The Study
• To study, the effect of nonelectric initiation system on
fragmentation and muck pile shape parameter.
• To study, the effect of electronic initiation system on
fragmentation and muck pile shape parameter.
III. Field Study and methodology
A. General information about mine
Dobari mine was selected to collect the data because nonelec-
tric and electronic detonator was being used in the same mine Fig 3. Shovel bench layout
which is required for my research. Dobari opencast mine area
is under Bharat Coking coal Limited, a subsidiary of Coal B. Drilling and blasting pattern
India Limited. Shovel is used for loading of blasted materi- The below figure shows the drilling and blasting pattern
al into the dumper. Sandstone of medium to hard strength is which is used DOBARI HIRED HEMM PATCH.
found in overburden and is being blasted with site mix emul-
sion explosive. Density of site mix emulsion was 1.1 g/cc and
VOD was 4500 m/s. At the topmost bench electronic deto-
nator was being used in order to fulfill the reduced ground
vibration because Dobari village is very near to the mine.

Fig 4. Drilling and blasting pattern.

C. Machinery used in mines

TABLE II. Machinery:
Fig. 1. Pressure time record of one of the tests

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S .
Machinery Quantity Capacity
no
05 2.3m3
01 Shovel
09 1.2
02 Dumper 56 60te

03 Drilling machine 04 160mm

D. Muckpile shape parameters

Muck pile shape parameters are throw, drop and lateral Stage 2:- Image calibration
spreading. Throw is the horizontal distance up which cen-
ter of gravity of blasted muck lies, drop of muck pile is the
Vertically lowering of the blasted muck and lateral
spreading is the horizontal distance up to the blasted muck
lies. Throw, drop and lateral spreading of the muck pile
are essential parameters for effective pay loader operation
and looseness of the blasted muck. Greater throw and drop
spreads the muck pile laterally, which largely facilitates the
digging of the muck by the pay loaders.

Stage 3:- Image edge detection

Fig 5. Muck pile shape parameters.

During the field work, throw drop and lateral spreading
of muck for each blast was measured immediately after
the blast using tape measurements by taking the offset
measurement on blasted muck pile which has been shown
in the result table. Stage 4:- BBSD determination

Fig 6. Muckpile
E. Lab Work-Fragment size assessment by using IV. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
fragalyst-4.0 computer software
Drilling and blasting pattern was staggered diagonal type.
In this process 4 stages are to be done, which are described
Explosive used was SME with density 1.1g/cc.MFS, K50 (m)
as:-
has been determined with the help of fragalyst4.0 computer
Stage 1:- Import image software as shown bellow in the figure. Result obtained
from non electric initiation system on shovel bench.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

TABLE III. Detailed Description.

BLAST NUMBER DETAILS

Parameter AB-1 AB-2 AB-3 AB-4 AB-5 AB-6 AB-7 AB-8 AB-9 AB-10
Burden(m) 2.5 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.1 2.1 2.2 2.4 2.1 2.0
Spacing(m) 2.7 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.4
Depth of hole(m) 5.2 4.8 5.1 4.8 4.7 4.2 5.4 5 5.3 4.9
No of holes 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32
No of rows 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Explosive per hole(kg) 45 40 45 45 40 35 55 40 55 45
Total explosive(kg) 1440 1280 1440 1440 1280 1120 1760 1280 1760 1440
Powder factor(kg/t) .16 .20 .19 .21 .22 .22 .25 .17 .26 .27
Total broken rock(t) 9100 6300 7300 6900 5700 5200 7100 7500 6700 5400
Firing pattern SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP
Front row burden(m) 2.0 1.9 1.8 2.2 1.8 2.1 1.9 1.7 1.8 1.8
L/W ratio 2.6 2.9 3 2.8 2.5 2.4 2.7 2.7 2.5 3.1
Delay(ms) 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42
Boulder count(>1m) 11 12 13 12 11 12 13 13 11 10
Throw(m) 4.2 4.5 4.7 4.6 4.9 4.6 4.5 4.3 5 4
Drop(m) 2.8 2.5 2.3 2.4 2.1 2.4 2.5 2.7 2 3
Spread(m) 21 22 23 22 26 25 22 20 21 25
End break length(m) 1.2 1.1 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.2
Cycle time(sec) 37 35 34 32 31 30 29 36 30 29
MFS, K50 0.98 0.51 0.59 0.47 0.36 0.33 0.31 0.73 0.32 0.31
Result obtained from non-electric initiation system on shovel bench.
Fragmentation and cycle time at shovel bench

TABLE IV. Fragmentation and cycle time at shovel bench

Mean fragment Cycle time( in

Sl.No.
size(in m) sec)
1 0.98 37
2 0.51 35
3 0.59 34
4 0.47 32
5 0.36 31
6 0.33 30
7 0.31 29
8 0.73 36
9 0.32 30
10 0.31 29 Fig 6. Relation between MFS Vs cycle time at shovel bench
The above figure shows the relationship between Mean

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Fragment size and cycle time of shovel at shovel bench. lead to increase in boulder count. The thin curly line shows
The cycle time of the shovel (2.3 cubic meter capacity, 100 the best fit curve between powder factor Vs MFS with a
degree swing angle ) varies approximately between 26 sec- value of R2=0.0532.
ond to 36 second. For the coarser fragment size the cycle
time is more. Relation between cycle time and mean size fragmentation
for electronic initiation system
From the above figure it is clear that with the increment
TABLE VI. Fragmentation and cycle time at shovel bench
in mean fragment size, the cycle time of the shovel bench
decreases to a certain limit. Cycle time increases due to Mean size fragmentation
increase in boulder content. Cycle time (second)
(MFS,k50)
The thin line shows the Best fit curve between MFS Vs .66 32
cycle time with value of R2=0.8607 .89 31
.57 30
TABLE V. Fragmentation Vs powder factor at shovel bench .51 29
Mean fragmentation .46 28
Sl.No Powder factor(kg/te)
size (in m) .30 27
1 0.98 0.16 .73 31
2 0.51 0.20 .44 29
3 0.59 0.19 .46 27
.33 28
4 0.47 0.21
5 0.36 0.22
6 0.33 0.22
7 0.31 0.25
8 0.73 0.17
9 0.32 0.26
10 0.31 0.27

Fig 8. Relation between MFS Vs cycle time at shovel bench

Fig 7. Relation between powder factor and mean fragmentation size

.
The above figure shows the relationship between Mean
Fragment size and powder factor of site mixed emulsion
explosive (density 1.1g/cc).Powder factor varies from 0.2
to 0.34 kg/te. If required fragmentation size is 0.3 meter
then powder factor varies from 0.26 to 0.27 kg/te. From
above figure it is clear that with increase in powder factor
fragmentation size will decrease and with decrease in
powder factor Vs MFS with a value of R2=0.0532. figure it
is clear that with increase in powder factor fragmentation Fig 9. Relation between MFS Vs powder factor at shovel bench
size will decrease and with decrease in powder factor will

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Result obtained from electronic initiation system

BLAST NUMBER DETAILS

Parameter AB-1 AB-2 AB-3 AB-4 AB-5 AB-6 AB-7 AB-8 AB-9 AB-10

Burden(m) 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.1 2.4 2.1 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.4

Spacing(m) 2.6 2.4 2.7 2.5 2.8 2.5 2.5 2.7 2.6 2.7

Depth of hole(m) 5 4.6 5 4.8 5.1 5 4.9 4.8 4.9 5.2

No of holes 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 32

No of rows 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Explosive per
55 45 55 50 55 55 50 50 50 55
hole(kg)

Total explosive(kg) 1780 1440 1760 1600 1760 1760 6300 1600 1600 1760

Powder factor(kg/t) .25 .27 .23 .27 .21 .27 .25 .22 .23 .21

Total broken
6900 5400 7500 4542 8200 6600 6200 7300 7000 8100
rock(t)
Staggered Diago-
Firing pattern SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP SDP
nal Pattern(SDP)

Front row burden 1.8 1.7 1.9 1.8 1.9 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.2

L/W ratio 2.8 2.7 2.9 3 2.9 3 2.6 2.7 3 3

Delay 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42 17,42

Boulder count(>1m) 8 7 6 9 8 7 6 9 7 6

Throw(m) 4.2 4.3 4.5 4.9 4.6 4.7 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7

Drop(m) 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.7 2.4 2.3 2.4 2.1 2.6 2.7

Spread(m) 22 21 23 22 23 24 22 20 21 22

End break
1.2 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.4 1.5
length(m)

Cycle time(sec) 32 31 30 29 28 27 31 29 27 28

MFS K50 .66 .89 .57 .51 .46 .30 .73 .44 .46 .33

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from 0.30 meter to 0.89 meter and the cycle time

MFS,K50(m) Powder factor(kg/te)
varies approximately between 27 second to 33 second.
.66 .25 For the coarser fragment size the cycle time is more.
There is an optimum fragmentation size which gives
.89 .27 way to the least cycle time. Cycle time increases due
.57 .23 to increase in boulder content.
• Better relation between mean fragmentation size and
.51 .27 cycle time has been observed for electronic initiation
system.
.46 .21
• With increase in powder factor fragmentation size
.30 .27 will decrease and with decrease with powder factor
will lead to increase in fragmentation size. For non
.73 .25
electric initiation system Powder factor varies from
.44 .22 0.27 kg/te to 0.34 kg/te and mean fragment size varies
from 0.31 meter to 0.98 meter and for electronic
.46 .23 initiation system powder factor varies from 0.21 kg/
.33 .21 te to 0.27 kg/te. There is an optimum powder factor
which will give the way to best fragmentation size.
• Better relation between mean fragmentation size
The above figure shows the relationship between Mean and powder factor has been observed for electronic
Fragment size and powder factor of site mixed emulsion initiation system.
explosive (density 1.1g/cc).Powder factor varies from 0.2 • The study provides the result effect of non electric
1to 0..27 kg/te. If required fragmentation size is 0.30 meter and electronic initiation system on fragmentation,
then powder factor varies from 0.22 to 0.26 kg/te. muckpile parameters which can be used to optimize
From above figure it is clear that with increase in powder the process.
factor fragmentation size will decrease and with decrease
in powder factor will lead to increase in boulder count. The VI. References:
thin curly line shows the best fit curve between powder 1. Choudhary , B.S. (2013). “Firing patterns and its effect
factor Vs MFS with a value of R2=0.3194. on muckpile shape Parameters and fragmentation in
quarry blasts”, IJRET, V.02 (09), pp: 32 – 45.
V. Conclusion 2. Manzoor, S.H. ,Choudhary,B.S. (2014).“Detonator:
From above study it may be concluded that:- evolution, classification and comparison”
,International Journal of research in Aeronautical and
• The present study shows the effect of non electric and
Mechanical Engineering ,V.02,PP:20-28.
electronic initiation system on blasting results with
the help of fragmentation analysis software named 3. Jimeno, C.L., Jimeno, E.L., Carcedo, F.J.A., (1995).
Fragalist4.0. Drilling and blasting of Rocks. Balkema, Rotterdam.

• From the above work it is clear that with the increment
in mean fragment size, the cycle time of the shovel
bench decreases to a certain limit for both non electric
and electronic initiation system. The Mean Fragment
size varies from 0.31 meter to 0.98 meter and cycle
time varies approximately between 29 second to 37
second for non electric initiation system and for
electronic initiation system mean fragment size varies
4. Bhandari, S.,(1997). Engineering Rock Blasting
Operation, Published by A.A. Balkema. ISBM – 10
5. Konya, C.J, (1991). Rock blasting and overbreak
control, Inter Continental development corporation,
Montvillo. Ohio, USA.
6. Marton, A. And Crookes, R (2000). A case study
inoptimizing fragmentation, The ausimmProcs.,
No.1, pp: 35-43.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Investigations On Improving Dragline Productivity

Through Re-Engineered Blast Design
Nachiket V Bhagade and V.M.S.R. Murthy
Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad

Abstract - Dragline is the prime cost-centre of an open
cast mine. One of the major reasons for under-performance
of a dragline is poor material preparation apart from its de-
ployment strategies and maintenance. Poor material prepa-
ration includes poor fragmentation, inadequate throw, high
boulder count, improper cut and improper muckpile shape.
These issues reduce diggability of dragline. Several problems
may arise in a dragline due to poor material preparation viz.,
damaged adapter, wear and tear of dragline teeth leading to
lower availability and utilization leading to poor productivity.
To minimize these issues and achieve superior blast results,
the blast design needs to be re-engineered. Investigations
were carried out at Nigahi OCP, NCL, on the blasting practic-
es addressing blast design components, explosive properties
and rock mass characterization. Investigations on blast de-
sign parameters covered revision of blast pattern, stemming
length, delay allocation and amount of charge detonated per
delay. Investigations on explosive properties covered mon-
itoring the density, in-hole continuous VOD measurement
and impedance matching. Measurement of fragmentation
and blast vibration monitoring and control were also carried
out. All these investigations were used to formulate a superi-
or blast design suitable to dragline benches to achieve ade-
quate material preparation and throw for enhancing dragline
productivity. The suggested modifications and their positive
impact are discussed in this work. The re-engineered blasts
along with other dragline operational parameters resulted in
a significant in the average monthly productivity of draglines
of Nigahi project.
obtaining a clean cut due to inadequate drop and movement
of burden. These require to be focused and addressed on
priority basis, as CIL in general and NCL in specific relies
predominantly on dragline mining.
2.0 Rock fragmentation- Impact and char-
acterization
Proper fragmentation coupled with diggable muckpile
profile is the prime concern in enhancing dragline
performance from blast intervention view point. Large
scale blasting in a dragline bench requires many holes to be
blasted in one go apart from the fact that the hole diameter
is large (269 mm or 311 mm), indicating that large amounts
of explosive used. Due to changes in stratification, variation
in explosive density, in-situ cracks and fractures (causing
venting of energy), stemming ejection and improper
profiling of benches, the results of the blast may suffer from
poor breakage. Over-size boulders pose difficulty to the
dragline bucket and also to its operation. Huge boulders
damage the adapters, teeth of the dragline bucket and fill
the bucket poorly leading to lower productivity. Dragging
and lifting over-size boulders causes the electric circuit
to trip, thus causing maintenance problems reducing
dragline availability and utilization and consequently its
productivity as shown in Fig. 1.

1.0 Introduction
Mining industry is largely dependent on drilling and
blasting technique of excavation which is popular due to its
applicability in different geo-mining conditions and its cost-
effectiveness. Draglines are used when the superincumbent
layer above a coal seam is very thick (bench height typically
30-40 m). The thickness of the coal seam normally to be 16-
25 m. Draglines used in India are typically, of specification Fig. 1 The month-wise trend of solid, rehandling and
24, 96 (24 m3 bucket size and 96 m boom length). The composite overburden volume of Nigahi in 2015-16
(Murthy et al., 2017)
removal of such a thick superincumbent layer requires very
The problem of fragmentation can be resolved by re-
efficient large scale drilling and blasting operation. The
engineering the blast design by allowing explosive energy
critical point of drilling and blasting operation is proper
to optimally fracture the rock (Mckenzie and Adamson,
material preparation to aid dragline productivity and cost
2011). This requires characterization of the rock mass
optimization. Typical issues on dragline bench blasting
(Ramulu et al., 2012; Singh et al., 2016), proper distribution
are poor fragmentation, overhangs, backbreak, endbreak,
of charges (Jhanwar et al., 2000) and assignment of
settlements in highwall, toe formations and difficulty in
optimum delay (both inter-row and inter-hole) (Johansson

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and Ouchterlony, 2013). Watery holes cause insufficient

compaction of stemming material and explosive leading
to poor containment of energy of the explosive leading to
stemming ejection and thus poor fragmentation (Fig. 2).

Fig.3: P-wave profile of Nigahi Line 1

(a) (b) Table 1: P-wave velocity profile of Nigahi Line 1

Subsurface Velocity Layering for Nigahi Line 1

Fig. 2: (a) Stemming ejection (b) Over-size boulder Sl. Layer P-wave Average Interpreted
formation leading to poor productivity No. Velocity (m/s) depth of Lithology
top layer
The issues that led to poor fragmentation, observed using
from
high speed video recording are as follows:
surface
1. Premature stemming ejection (m)
1. Layer-1 700 to 1400 0 to 5 Fractured/joint
2. Echelon firing sequence with only one available free
rock mass
face
2. Layer-2 1400 to 2000 5 to 12 Moderately
3. Choked blasting massive rock
4. Inadequate delay assignment leading to initiation mass
from two directions (initiation with detonating cord) 3. Layer-3 2000 to 2700 12 to 22 Massive Rock
mass
6. Improper direction of initiation
3.2 Vibration monitoring
These issues were addressed in the investigations that
Blast-induced vibration monitoring was carried out using
followed and suitable modifications were suggested.
4-channel and 8-channel seismographs of M/s Instantel
using triaxial borehole geophones. The recorded data
3.0 Design of experiment and field were statistically analyzed and based on the analysis
investigation the recommendations for explosive quantities that can
Experiments were carried out to characterize the be fired to limit the Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) of
fragmentation issues. The parameters relevant to ground vibration within different permissible limits were
fragmentation were systematically measured for 8 blasts calculated. In Nigahi, the instruments were placed at the
that were monitored in dragline benches of Nigahi project. West Sub-station and at Madhauli village. Fig. 4 shows the
monitoring instruments used.
3.1 Seismic refraction tomography
In-situ seismometry has proven to be useful in many field
investigations relating to blast induced damage and rock
competency studies (Trivino and Mohanty, 2013). A 24
channel digital seismograph (Geometrics, Geode) and
24 numbers 4.5 Hz vertical geophones at 2m geophone
interval in Nigahi Mines was used for Seismic Refraction (a) (b)
Tomography (SRT). A 60kg electrically operated Weight Fig. 4: (a) An assembly of vibration monitoring sensors (b)
Placement of sensor in field
drop system was used as seismic energy source. In-situ
P-wave characteristics were recorded using this method 3.3 Fragmentation assessment
for competency mapping of the rock mass of the different Scaled photography has proven to be a fairly robust
benches wherein draglines were deployed. The seismic technique of fragmentation assessment. Scaled photographs
survey data were acquired for 4 profiles (two in east and two of the muckpile were analyzed using Wipfrag software.
in west) in Nigahi project. Fig.3 shows the in-situ P-wave Typically, 3-4 photographs were taken for a single muckpile
velocity profile acquired and Table 1 shows the tabulated and using Wipfrag software, mean fragment size and
results of P-wave velocity profile. fragmentation distribution was obtained for each blast. Fig.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

5 shows the fragmentation profile achieved.

(a)

(b)

(b)
Fig. 5: (a) Fragmentation achieved (b) Fragmentation
distribution in Wipfrag
3.4 VOD Measurement
The VOD of the explosive was measured using continuous
in-hole method. Some of the VOD data measured by
D’Autriche method were provided by the NCL management.
(c)
4.0 Analysis of investigations
The investigations carried out followed by analysis revealed
some interesting results. The behavior of mean fragment
size was examined with a few relevant parameters.
The mean fragment size was correlated with rockmass
parameters like in-situ P-wave velocity and in-situ block
size. Behavior of mean fragment size was also examined
with explosive impedance and inter-row delay. These plots
are shown in Fig. 7.
(d)
Fig. 7 Mean fragment size vs. (a) In-situ P-wave velocity (b) In-
situ block size (c) Explosive impedance (d) Inter-row delay

The mean fragment was found to increase with in-situ

P-wave velocity and in-situ block size, indicating that
higher the competence of rockmass, the cracking caused
by explosive is lesser leading to larger fragment size. Mean
(a) fragment size has an inverse relationship with explosive
impedance, i.e., higher explosive energy leads to a finer
fragmentation. There is an increasing relationship of mean
fragment size with delay because in higher delays holes tend
to behave like individual blasts leading to larger fragment
size.
The plot between mean ratio of peak vector sum
fragment size with the and dominant frequency

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shows an increasing trend with a good coefficient of patch led to poor fragmentation. This indicates that near-
determination as shown in Fig. 6. field vibration monitoring can be a useful tool in blast
fragmentation assessment.

5.0 Modified Blast Design

The suggested modifications were made based on the
prevailing rockmass of the dragline bench as determined
by seismic refraction tomography and in-situ block
size measurement. To improve upon the fragmentation
and muckpile profile changes were made in the burden,
spacing, charge per hole (hence, the powder factor) and
Fig. 6 Mean fragment size vs. peak vector sum/frequency
inter-row delay. The suggested modifications for Nigahi
are shown in Table 2.
This means that energy wasted in the rear part of the

Table 2: Blast, explosive and initiation parameters for dragline bench blasting in Nigahi Opencast Project, NCL, Singrauli

Parameters East Section 1 East Section 2 West Section 1 West Section 2

(Balaram) (Balaram) (Krishna ) (Matang)
Dragline productivity 2.60 2.38 1.01
(lakh m3/month)
Dragline availability, % 80.85 81.32 77.35
Dragline utilization, % 70.09 66.70 50.27
Average Layer Thickness (m) 3.33 3.33 6.0 6.0
Lithological index
68 68 34 34
(%hard band)
Maximum thickness of a bed in 7.65m, 7.65m, 14.35m, Coarse to 14.35m, Coarse to
dragline bench and its type Medium Medium medium grained medium grained
grained grained sandstone sandstone
sandstone sandstone
Seismic velocity in-situ (m/s) 1700 1848 2284 2327
Geotechnical index (BI) 5.37 5.37 4.79 4.79
Fragmentation Quality/MFS Good/10 Good/10 Moderate/41 Moderate/41
(cm)
Hole diameter (mm) 311 311 269 311
Burden, m (Existing/Modified) 10 10 10 10 8.5 9 9 9
Spacing, m (Existing/Modified) 12 10 12 10 9 10 12.5 10
Hole depth, m 30 30 30 30
Bench height, m 29 29 29 29
Stemming, m 5-6 5-6 5-6 5-6

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Stemming material 4 mm-10 mm 4 mm-10 mm 4 mm-10 mm size of 4 mm-10 mm size of

size of crushed size of crushed crushed material(in a crushed material(in a
material(in a material(in a gunny bag) gunny bag)
gunny bag) gunny bag)
Deck length, m 3 3 3 3

Charge per hole, kg (Existing/ 2090 1900 2090 1900 1322.5 1700 1999 1700
Modified)
Existing PF Existing/Modified) 1.66 1.52 1.66 1.52 1.47 1.53 1.59 1.53
Existing initiation system Electronic DF (loss of 20% DF (loss of 20% DF (loss of 20%
explosive) explosive) explosive)

Suggested Initiation
Electronic Electronic Electronic Electronic
system
Delay (Row to row per 16 (Front)- 14 16 14 18 (Front)- 12 23 12
m of effective burden), 15 (Back) (Front)- (Front)- (Front)- 24 (Back) (Front)- (Front)- (Front)-
ms/m 18 (Back) 15 18 15 (Back) 20 (Back)
20 (Back)
(Back) (Back)
(Existing/Modified)
Delay (hole to hole) 17 ms (Echelon) or 17 ms (Echelon) or 17 ms (Echelon) or 17 ms (Echelon) or
17 ms (V1) 17 ms (V1) 17 ms (V1) 17 ms (V1)
Number of rows
9 8 9 8 9 8 9 8
(Existing/Modified)
Number of holes per
row 9 12 7 12 25 12 27 12
(Existing/Modified)
Total number of holes
81 96 63 96 233 96 243 96
(Existing/Modified)
Pattern of firing (one
V1 V1 V1 V1
free face)
Pattern of firing across
the strike firing (two Echelon Echelon Echelon Echelon
free face)
Maximum charge per
delay 1385 1140 3235 1140 10730 1020 11994 1020
(Existing/Modified)
Total charge per round
187356 182400 131670 182400 278835 163200 377068 163200
(Existing/Modified)

Note: Based on the fragmentation obtained and vibrations recorded the patterns may expand to improve the powder
factor. This has become necessary considering the difficulties faced by dragline in digging the muck. The charging is
proposed in two decks with bottom accounting for 65 to 70% of total charge.

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6.0 Re-engineering the blast design
The following issues were noticed during the
implementation of suggested patterns:
1. Fragmentation in the hard massive sandstone was the
principal concern (Balaram Bench). Higher P-wave
velocities were observed in this zone leading to
boulder formation.
2. The delays needed further optimization considering
the progressive free face generation.
3. The timing within a row and row to row needed
further fine tuning for better breakage and reduced
backbreak.
4. Burden and spacing values needed a minor change
considering the massive strata (localized variation).
5. Stemming ejection still requires to be controlled
though on the final blast taken there has been a
marked reduction in stemming ejection with use of
sized stemming material.
6. Low powder factor was also to be addressed.
Keeping these observations and additional requirements
in view, the blast delay design was further fine tuned. The
results of the study are discussed in the following sections
from fragmentation view point.
6.1 Fragmentation
The Balram patch had relatively harder rockmass as
compared to other dragline benches. This has led to minor
changes in the modifications suggested. The stemming
ejection was reduced by the introduction of electronic
initiation system. The burden movement was improved by
reducing the burden and spacing (8m x 10m). One of the
key contributors in blast fragmentation (keeping explosive
type and blast design same) is the progressive relief of blast
holes assigned using delay timings (Murthy et al., 2017;
Choudhary, 2013). The suggested row to row effective delay
was 14-18 ms/m and the suggested hole to hole delay was
17 ms. However, considering the typical issues faced in
Balaram dragline bench, Both in-row as well as intra-row
delays were fine tuned further. This was done by assigning
optimum delay considering the rockmass competence (20
ms inter-hole delay, front part inter-row delays ≈16ms/m
and back part inter-row delay≈38ms/m. The modified
pattern has resulted in relatively better fragmentation
as well as clean cut which are the key parameters for
enhancing the dragline productivity. The previous studies
(Singh, 2004) also indicated delay timing ranges close to
the suggested values of effective delay.
A typical view of the fragmented materials is shown in
Fig.8. It was observed that the mean fragment size has
reduced considerably to 37.7cm as compared to 69.6cm in
the previous blast at the same location (Fig.8b).
(a)
(b)
Fig. 8: (a) A typical view of fragmentation (b) fragmentation
distribution
Considerable improvement in fragmentation was observed
in modified blast as the uniformity index increased from
1.36 to 2.76 (approx. 50%) with mean fragment size
(MFS) varying from 69.6cm to 37.7cm. The modifications
suggested helped to increase in blast productivity.
6.2 Stemming Ejection
The differential stemming compactness (settled and fresh,
due to time lag/sleeping), stemming material present as
drill cuttings at different locations in the blast patch and
existence of hard band in the middle of the bench showed a
variable stemming ejection pattern which was construed as
inaccurate delaying. The stemming ejection was minimum
(approx. nil) in the blastholes stemmed earlier (a couple
of days before the blast) because the stemming material
was compacted (due to settling) and dried with passage
of time, whereas, the stemming ejection was maximum in
the freshly stemmed holes in which the stemming material
was wet with water in the blastholes. However, the overall
stemming ejection was lower than the previous blasts. The
energy was well contained in the holes stemmed earlier and
considerable burden movement was observed before the
onset of stemming ejection. This is one of the key reasons
for better fragmentation.
6.3 Velocity of detonation and impedance
matching
To ensure proper breakage, impedance matching of the
explosive and the rockmass is necessary. VOD can be
measured in two ways (Singh, 2000):
1. Instant VOD monitoring, measurement between two points
2. Continuous VOD monitoring, measurement of VOD for
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

the entire length of hole in confined condition.
The continuous VOD was measured in one of the holes
in the last row. A velocity of detonation of 3578m/s was
measured which is reasonably good for generating adequate
blasthole pressure (Fig.9).
There is, however, further scope to improve their
availability by resorting to machine-specific maintenance
(preventive and scheduled) as well as advanced planning
of dragline deployment commensurating with face advance
and monsoon preparations.

8.0 Conclusion
Dragline productivity is intimately linked with blasting
design, practice, in actuals and supervision. This is apart
from other planning related issues covering dragline
Fig. 9: Measured velocity of detonation of the explosive balancing and deployment methods. The study covers the
The weighted P-wave velocity in Balaram bench was found to blasting interventions for improving dragline productivity
be 2000 m/s. The average density of the rock is 1.934 gm/cc. through fragmentation improvement, vibration reduction
The effective density of the explosive used was 1.10 gm/cc. and stemming ejection control. This is in addition to
It is observed that the impedance of rockmass and explosive understanding the powder factor, muckpile displacement
are in agreement and proper energy transfer from explosive and cut investigations carried out in Nigahi OCP of NCL.
to the rockmass facilitated rock movement and breakage. Site investigations like seismic refraction tomography,
VOD measurement (instant and continuous), near-field
7.0 Dragline productivity vibration monitoring and fragmentation measurement were
The trends of the draglines productivity were analyzed and carried out. The mean fragment size was found to increase
shown in Fig. 10 and Table 3. The figures clearly indicate proportionally with in-situ P-wave velocity, in-situ block
that the productivity has risen in general by a reasonable size, inter-row delay. The same was found to vary inversely
margin. with explosive impedance. Mean fragment size was found
to be well-correlated with the ratio of peak vector sum and
frequency, indicating that near-field vibration monitoring
can be useful tool in blast assessment. Based on the
investigations on blasting results, dragline productivity and
potential issues, suitable changes in blast pattern, charging
scheme, delay allocation and firing electronic delays were
implemented. The modified blast conducted has shown a
higher powder factor in Balaram bench (from 1.30 to 1.66
Fig. 10 The average monthly productivity of the draglines of
m3/kg). The modifications were further fine tuned looking
Nigahi, OCP into the issues of fragmentation and stemming ejection and
a slightly modified delay of 16 ms/m in the front part and
Table 3: Comparison of the year-wise dragline productivity of all the
draglines of Nigahi OCP 38 ms/m in the rear part of the patch gave good results.
These investigations have led to improved fragmentation
Average productivity % increase aiding dragline productivity.
Project Draglines (lakh m3/month) in average
2016-17 2017-18
productivity Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support extended
Balram 2.55 2.56 0.40
by NCL mine management to support the visit and facilitate
Nigahi Krishna 2.42 2.78 14.87 the discussions, field visits and investigations.
Matang 0.85 1.51 77.64

The increase in productivity can be attributed to improved

dragline functioning in view of proper material preparation
through blasting interventions apart from dragline
deployment strategies and maintenance planning. Use
of electronic initiation system ensuring adequate cast to
achieve proper dragline sitting level was also encouraged.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

277

CSR vis a vis SDGs and Coal producing
company of Jharkhand – A way forward
towards Sustainability : A case study
Dr Manoj Kumar
Manager(M), E&F Deptt , CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
m.kumar7206@coalindia.in
K S Gaiwal*
Chief Mgr (M), Dir (T/Oprns) Secretariat., CCL,
CIL
Ranchi, India
ksgaiwal1972@gmail.com
Abstract — This paper attempts to link the 238 indicators
of Sustainable Development Goal -2030) (SDGs) with the ten
activities listed for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ex-
penditures in Schedule VII under Section 135 of Companies
Act 2013. This swotting is related with a major coal mining
company engaged in extraction of coal in different districts
of Jharkhand. The analysis aims with an objective of devel-
oping a model for expenditure pattern on CSR activities af-
ter enactment of Companies Act, 2013 and its mapping with
SDGs-2030 as set in 2015. The study was conducted by col-
lecting data from primary and secondary sources for CSR
expenditures incurred during 2014-2019, after the enactment
of Company Act 2013. In this study critical areas pertaining
to SDG goals neglected by study area as far as CSR invest-
ments are concerned were identified. We find that more CSR
investments must be drawn towards CSR (5), CSR (6), CSR
(8) & CSR (9) and SDG 5, SDG 7, SDG 11, SDG 14 & SDG 17.
The expenditure pattern for both CSR activities and derived
SDGs have a linear relationship over the year with different
coefficient of regression. Trend line equations were derived
year wise for CSR and SDGs. The average expenditure and its
standard deviation from mean for the year wise expenditure
for different CSR activities like CSR (1), CSR (2), CSR (4) &
CSR (10) have relatively peaks in its distribution while CSR
(3) & CSR (7) showing negative kurtosis have flat distribu-
tion compared to normal distribution. The year wise expen-
diture pattern shows that the data set tends kurtosis ranging
from 2.62 to 14.24 indicating a relatively peaked distribution
compared to normal distribution. These data set also reveals
that they possess positive skewness ranging from 2.02 - 3.96
indicating a distribution with an asymmetric tail extending
toward more positive values. The study area needs to deliver
results against each, accelerating local action to drive global
change while embarking on a major shift in the way it works.
Keywords—Sustainability, CSR, SDGs-2030, Kurtosis
278
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Sanjiv Kumar
Chief Mgr (M), CMC Deptt., CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
s.kumar8238@coalindia.in
Sanjay Kr Singh
Dy Mgr (M), Dir (T/Oprns) Secretariat, CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
bablooks@yahoo.com
I. Introduction
The UN General Assembly, and all its 193-member
countries, in September 2015 adopted a global development
vision entitled Transforming Our World[17, 28]: The 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development. This 2030 Agenda
was designed as a plan of action for people, planet and
prosperity. It lays out 17 new Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) [19,20,22,41]. India committed to these SDGs
at the September 2015 UN Summit and the SDGs officially
came into force on 1st January 2016 [1,2,17,18,,26,28]. The
Government of India has actively engaged in mainstreaming
the SDGs in its work from early 2016 [21,42]. NITI Aayog,
the National Institution for Transforming India, has been
entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the efforts
on SDGs.
Inculcation of national laws and locals plans by the Indian
government aims at accelerating the growth rates for
fulfilling of the SDGs. One such very important step is the
enforcement of the Companies Act 2013 (CA, 2013) which
introduces Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR
can be defined in as a Company’s sense of responsibility
towards the community and environment (both ecological
and social) in which it operates. Section 135 of CA, 2013 &
Schedule VII of Companies (CSR) Rules, 2014 prescribes
mandatory provisions for Companies to fulfil their CSR
[4,40]. The following activities (Fig. 1) can be performed
by a company to accomplish its CSR obligations:
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

SDG-3 9 4 13 26

SDG-4 7 3 10 11

SDG-5 6 3 9 13

SDG-6 6 2 8 11

SDG-7 3 2 5 6

SDG-8 10 2 12 17

SDG-9 5 3 8 12

Fig. 1. Framework of CSR as per Schedule 7 of Indian SDG-10 7 3 10 11

Companies Act, 2013
SDG-11 7 3 10 15
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), (Fig. 2)
otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to SDG-12 8 3 11 12
action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all SDG-13 3 2 5 7
people enjoy peace and prosperity. SDGs provide a holistic
SDG-14 7 3 10 10
blueprint for change – an integrated plan to end poverty,
protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy lasting SDG-15 9 3 12 13
peace and prosperity [6, 13,14,29,32]. SDG-16 10 2 12 23

SDG-17 19 0 19 25

Total 126 43 169 238

II. Objective , scope, material & methodology

A. Objective
Developing a model for expenditure pattern on CSR
activities after enactment of Companies Act, 2013 and
its mapping with SDGs-2030 as set in 2015 for a major
coal mining company engaged in extraction of coal in
Jharkhand..
B. Scope of this Study
 This paper includes the study of financial report
of contribution through CSR to the SDGs, in its 5
consecutive financial years after CA, 2013 came into
force.
 Deals with the expenditure on CSR Activities by the
Fig. 2. Sustainable Development Goals
company.
As contained in Annex IV of the Report of the Inter-Agency
 Both companies’ direct and indirect contribution through
and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (E/CN.3/2016/2/
central or state government is taken under count.
Rev.1) and agreed upon, as a practical starting point at the
 The amount distributed in various categories of SDGs
47th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission
are assumed to equal therefore equally divided.
held in March 2016, these sustainable goals consists of 129
 This project aims to estimate the companies
sub goals (Table 1) and 238 indicators. These indicators are contribution to the fulfilment of SDGs.
to measure global progress in the implementation of the
 Also determination of the percentage and average
Sendai Framework. contribution under each of the 17 goals.
TABLE I. Indicators of SDG as per Annex IV of the RIAEG  Model prepared at the end of the project will show
the expenditure patterns on the CSR Activities.
SDG Sub Goals
Expenditure patterns and changes in the pattern if any for
Additional Total Indicators the SDGs..
SDG-1 5 2 7 12 C. Study Area
This study was limited to a coal subsidiary of a major
SDG-2 5 3 8 14 coal producing company of India [8,30]. It is located in
Jharkhand. (Fig. 3)

279

Fig. 3. Location of Study Area.
III. Material & Methodology
A. Methodology
Step 1 – First of all we go through the Annual
Financial Report of CCL and study the table
of the amounts spend category wise in various
areas.
Step 2- The activities mentioned in the table are to
be recognised as a CSR activity and placed
under their respective categories of the CSR
activities mentioned in the Companies Act,
2013. Thereby formulating first table for the
expenditure by the company on every CSR
activity and its percentage over total amount.
Step 3- In the next step, expenditure by the company
which is categorised and formulated in the
CSR table is placed against the 17 Goals of
Sustainable development. Then each activity
were studied for its contribution in the SDGs,
considering the facts of interconnectedness
of the activities which contribute multiple
development goals . In this case the amount
spent is distributed equally amongst each
development goal if contributed to more than
1 SDGs.
Step 4- The percentage contribution of each goal is
then calculated for each year separately.
Step 5- Then a graphical representation pattern
were established based on the pattern of
expenditure by company under each goal.
Step 6- Graphical relations so developed of different
financial year is then studied and compared
to infer the patterns and percentage
contribution for the SDGs.
B. Data Collection
The year wise budgeted expenditure, Actual expenditure
and other figures were compiled from the annual book
uploaded on the company website of the study area.
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
C. CSR Project or Activity Identified (2014-2019)
In this paper, we have identified ten numbers of cross-
cutting actives (Table 2) adopted by the study area during
2014-18, after the enactment of CA, 2013. These were
the approaches, which the study have implemented as a
solution to achieve the mandate furnished in Schedule VII
of CA Rules 2014 [38,39].
TABLE II. CSR Project or Activity Identified (2014-2019)
Activity Description
Activity 1 Construction/renovation of community halls, culverts
sheds/Ghats, roads, boundary walls etc.
Activity 2 Infrastructural development at rural schools/college,
hostel for drop outs, CCL ke Lal/Ladli etc.
Activity 3 Installation of hand pumps, deep boring wells and
other mics. Jobs.
Activity 4 Organizing various health camps , Jan Arogya Kendra
etc.
Activity 5 Construction/ renovation of community Toilets/
Drains.
Activity 6 Construction/Renovation of ponds, check Dams .
Activity 7 Organising Vocational Training programs for poor
and unemployment rural people(Tailoring, Motor
Driving, Computer Training, Farmer’s Trainnig, etc)
social empowerment of physical disabled, old , women
and other disadvantaged sections of the society
Activity 8 Organising village football and other sport
tournaments, developments of playgrounds, Stadium
& other misc.jobs(distribution of sport items etc),
promotion of culture, etc
Activity 9 Other developmental jobs like providing food grains etc.
Activity 10 Construction/Renovation of 11545 toilets in 7823
schools across 4 states
IV. Analysis and interpretation
CSR expenditure undertaken for different years after the
enactment of CA, 2013 and upto March 2019 in the study
area were compiled [33,34,35,36,37]. The activity wise data
so collected as per table 2 was flagged with the activity
under schedule VII of CA, 2013 and termed as CSR(1),
CSR(2) and so on upto CSR(10). The listed activity which
could not be flagged were put into others [9,10].
A. Analysis – Rank Based
A ranking was developed for both the listed activity and
flagged CSR activity and were ranked 1 to 10 as per amount
of expenditure incurred. (Table 3).
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TABLE III. Amount Spent During the Year 2014-19 on CSR Project or Activity identified

(All Figures in Rs. Crores)

CSR Heads
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Others TOTAL RANK
Activity à )

(1) 0 0 12 3 4 0 0 0 1 123 0 142 2

(1) 0 14 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 16 4
(3) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6
(4) 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 5
(5) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
(6) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
(7) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 54 0 0 0 54 3
(8) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
(9) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7
(10) 26 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 129 0 159 1
Others 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
TOT 26 14 15 4 4 7 3 54 4 251 0 381
Rank 3 5 4 7 9 6 10 2 8 1

The activities flagged for different CSR activities were mapped with the SDGs-2030, The expenditure pattern in Rs, crores have
been put on table 4 for CSR & SDG activities. They were ranked from rank 1 to rank 13 depending on extent of expenditure.
TABLE IV. Schedule 7 and SDG‐wise CSR expenditure
Schedule 7 (in Cr) Total RA
SDGs
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) ors NK

1 0 3 0.5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7

2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 8 4

3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 8

4 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 6

5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13

6 141 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 128 0 269 1

7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13

8 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9

9 2 7 0 0 0 0 27 0 0 18 0 54 2

10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 10

11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13

12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.04 12

13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 11

14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13

15 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 5

16 0 0 0 0 0 0 27 0 0 0 0 27 3

17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13

Ors 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 Ꭓ

Tot 145 16 1 7 0 0 54 0 0 155 3 381

Rank 2 4 6 5 7 7 3 7 7 1 Ꭓ Ꭓ

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Though the SDGs are interrelated [11,15,16,25,27] these

were segregated according to the key topics falling under
each SDG [12,31]. In this way, by collating the data about
specific activities in the Schedule 7 of CA, 2013 at the study
area, the actual amount spent was generated. It is clear from
table no. 4 that the highest amount of money is spent on
SDG 6 – “Drinking water & Sanitation”, followed by SDG
9 –“ infrastructure” & SDG 16 –“Peace – Sports & Cultural
Activities”. The study area have concentrated on sanitation
and sports activities through Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that
came into being on October 2, 2014, took up the agenda to
achieve Swachh Bharat (Clean India) and therefore, it got
a lot of attention and funding. The primary agenda of this
mission is to provide clean drinking water, build toilets,
and promote proper sanitation in India. The study area
also concentrated their activities by establishing sports
academy in Jharkhand. Expenditures on Environmental
sustainability CSR (4) though ranked 5th as per scheduled
activities of Company’s Act 2013, attracts handsome
expenditure on SDG 15 (Ecosystem – Rank 5) for Rs. 679
Lakhs. shows study area are more of concerned with and
national determined commitment made in Paris agreement
2014 and thereafter. The lowest emphasis have been made
towards activities related to SDG 8 – “Livelihood”, SDG
10 – “Inequalities”, SDG 13- “Climate Change”, SDG 12
– “sustainable consumption and production”. The SDG 5,
SDG 7, SDG 11, SDG 14 and SDG 17 that were ranked 13
attracted nil expenditure.
Fig. 4. Mapping of CSR Activities
B. Analysis – Graphical
The expenditure pattern shows that expenditures
for most of activities (80%) revolve around CSR (10)
followed by CSR (1), which covers 42 % & 37 % respectively
(Fig. 4 & Fig 5). The CSR activities ranked 7 ie CSR (5),
CSR (6), CSR (8) & CSR (9) were not at all represented.
Activities under CSR (3) & CSR (4) were least represented
and ranked 6 & 5 respectively. The activities monitored
under table 2 shows that Activity no. 10 – “Construction/
Renovation of 11545 toilets in 7823 schools across 4 states”
holds lion share (66%) of Rs. 25120 Lakhs followed by
Activity no. 8-“ Organising village football and other sport
tournaments, developments of playgrounds, Stadium &
other misc.jobs(distribution of sport items etc), promotion
of culture, etc” & Activity no. 1-“ Construction/renovation
of community halls, culverts sheds/Ghats, roads, boundary
walls etc.” claiming share of (14%) i.e. Rs. 5358 Lakhs and
(7 %) i.e. Rs. 2623 Lakhs (Fig. 6).
C. Analysis – Yearwse
Year wise expenditure pattern under Schedule 7 of CA,
2013 for CSR activities (table 5) shows that year 2015-16
experienced 213 crores of expenditure which was almost
4 times than 2014-15. This impact was due to introduction
of Swachta mission.

TABLE VI. Yearwise Expenditure under SDGs 2030 (2014-19)

SDGs 14-15 15-16 16-17 17-18 18-19 14- 19 Rank

SDG-1 0 1 0 1 1 4 7
SDG-2 0 0 0 8 0 8 4
SDG-3 1 0 1 1 0 3 8
SDG-4 1 3 1 0 1 6 6
SDG-5 0 0 0 0 0 0 13
SDG-6 33 174 9 24 30 269 1

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

SDG-7 0 0 0 0 0 0 13
SDG-8 0 0 0 0 1 1 9
SDG-9 13 20 11 3 6 54 2
SDG-10 0 0 0 0 0 0.4 10
SDG-11 0 0 0 0 0 0 13
SDG-12 0 0 0 0 0 0.04 12
SDG-13 0 0 0 0 0 0.3 11
SDG-14 0 0 0 0 0 0 13
SDG-15 3 2 1 1 0 7 5
SDG-16 0 13 8 5 0 27 3
SDG-17 0 0 0 0 0 0 13
Ors 0 0 0 1 2 3 Ꭓ
Tot 51 213 30 46 41 381
Rank 2 1 5 3 4 Ꭓ

D. Trend Analysis E. Statistical Analysis

The trend of expenditure for schedule VII activities under The statistical analysis for different data set were perfumed
CSR was linear. The yar wise trend with coefficient of year wise. Parameters like kurtosis, skewness were
regression is sown at table 7. calculated (table 9) after trend analysis (Fig 7) as at section
TABLE VII. Trend Line Expenditure under Schedule 7 (2014-19) D above.
Table IX. Statistical Analysis of data set
Year Linear Equation R2

2014-15 y = 60.988x + 176.07 0.0363 Year kurtosis Skewness

2015-16 y = 46.436x + 1871.6 0.0015 2014-15 12.51 3.47

2016-17 y = 24.315x + 167.47 0.0206 2015-16 17.24 4.12

2017-18 y = -81.752x + 895.33 0.0963 2016-17 2.62 2.02

2018-19 y = 17.309x + 296.2 0.0067 2017-18 12.82 3.45

2014-19 y = 67.236x + 3407 0.0011 2018-19 16.00 3.94

The expenditure pattern shows a linear relationship for the 2014-19 7.68 3.96
expenditures incurred for SDGs.. The year wise relation is
shown at table 8.
TABLE VIII. Trend Line Expenditure under SDG (2014-19)

Year Linear Equation R2

2014-15 y = -24.621x + 487.05 0.0519

2015-16 y = -112.38x + 2249.8 0.0215

2016-17 y = 2.57x + 143.87 0.0016

2017-18 y = -24.031x + 512.5 0.0255

2018-19 y = -20.983x + 427.85 0.0254

Fig. 7. Statistical Analysis of data set
2014-19 y = -179.44x + 3821 0.0229

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

The statistical analysis shows that the data set for SDGs. This finding indicates that the study area may be
different years have Positive kurtosis ranging from 2.62 lacking focus or proper planning, as the allocated amount
to 17.24, with mean as 7.68 indicating a relatively peaked to these activities is not being spent to the optimal capacity.
distribution compared to normal distribution. This analysis The mapping of CSR activities with SDGs-2030 were
also reveals that the data set possess positive skewness established for the study area. The activities either for CSR
ranging from 2.02 - 3.96, with a mean value of 3.96, or for SDGs were pinpointed for company’s interventions
indicating a distribution with an asymmetric tail extending towards achievement of country’s SDGs-2030 targets. The
toward more positive values. The Skewness characterizes expenditure pattern for both CSR activities and derived
the degree of asymmetry of a distribution around its mean. SDGs have a linear relationship over the year with different
coefficient of regression. Trend line equations were derived
Table X. Statistical Analysis for year wise expenditure for different year wise for CSR and SDGs. The average expenditure and its
CSR activities
standard deviation from mean for the year wise expenditure
(1) (2) (3) (4) (7) (10) for different CSR activities like CSR (1), CSR (2), CSR (4)
& CSR (10) have relatively peaks in its distribution while
Skewness 1.99 1.70 0.67 1.02 0.97 1.90 CSR (3) & CSR (7) showing negative kurtosis have flat
Kurtosis 4.11 3.25 -0.74 1.55 -0.35 3.73 distribution compared to normal distribution. The year
wise expenditure pattern shows that the data set shows
Mean 2907 312 21 145 1071 3099
kurtosis ranging from 2.62 to 14.24 indicating a relatively
Std. Dev 3291 159 21 95 1062 3498 peaked distribution compared to normal distribution.
The average expenditure and its standard deviation from These data set also reveals that they possess positive
mean for the year wise expenditure for different CSR skewness ranging from 2.02 - 3.96 indicating a distribution
activities (Table 10) shows that CSR (1), CSR (2), CSR (4) with an asymmetric tail extending toward more positive
& CSR (10) have relatively peaks in its distribution while values. The study area needs to delivered results against
CSR (3) & CSR (7) showing negative kurtosis have flat each, accelerating local action to drive global change while
distribution compared to normal distribution. Positive embarking on a major shift in the way it works.
skewness for all CSR activities entails asymmetrical tails
extending towards values that are more positive. VI. Acknowledgement
The authors would like to acknowledge the coal mines
V. Conclusions officials of coal mining companies for extending their help
Based on the study, the following conclusions are drawn: and coordination to complete this study. We would also
like to thank all for extending online and offline support
Sustainable development goals need holistic approach.
for achieving the objective of this study. We would also like
Attempts to link the SDGs with the CSR expenditures can
to extend thanks to organizing team of the ICOMS 2019
also prove to be beneficial, as NITI Ayog, Government of
team for accepting this research paper in this conference.
India is making efforts to synergize SDGs with the national
The views presented by authors are solely their own
development goals. The analysis found that study area
interpretation and not necessarily of the organization to
has underspent the allocated funds as compared with the
which they belong.
budgeted CSR expenditure as per the Schedule 7 and the

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Psychosocial Hazards and Mental Health in the Mining
Industry
Madhurima Mukherjee
Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu
University,
Varanasi, India
madhurima.2323@gmail.com
Suresh K. Sharma
Department of Mining Engineering, IIT BHU,
Varanasi, India
sureshsharma.min@iitbhu.ac.in
Abstract — Despite increasing recognition of mental health
at workplace, in a key industry like mining, studies exploring
psychosocial hazards have been rather limited. Most stud-
ies till date have focused primarily on physical health risks,
accidents and diseases. Mining sector presents some unique
psychosocial issues such as working away from family in re-
mote locations, poor access to support services, productivity
demands, long working hours, shift patterns, experiencing or
witnessing accidents, unfavorable work climate like job inse-
curity, effort-reward imbalance, harassment, discrimination,
violence, and perception of lesser support to people with men-
tal health problems. Unpredictability of underground mines
also contributes to stress. These antecedent events act as risk
factors to psychosocial hazards like social isolation, substance
dependence, prolonged stress, frustration, and decreased mo-
rale. The potential sources of these hazards lie in job charac-
teristics, workplace and family relationships, lifestyle offered
by the job, and mental health status. Coping with work stress
as well as managing psychosocial hazards is crucial to en-
hance workplace mental health and in turn, productivity and
profits. It is important to outline the modifiable workplace
characteristics that pose as hazards. A review of studies in this
domain will facilitate future research which is important to
make appropriate mental health programs for mine workers.
It is also important to take an interdisciplinary approach to
integrate psychology with technology to maximize productiv-
ity and well being.
Keywords—Mental Health; Psychosocial Hazards; Per-
son-Related Factors; Work-Related Factors; Health Education
I. Introduction
With the development of organizational behavior studies,
recent years have seen a growing research interest in
the psychological experiences of workers in the mining
industry. Mining is the process of extraction of minerals or
Purnima Awasthi
Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu
University,
Varanasi, India
awasthip9@gmail.com
other geological materials from the Earth [1]. Mining has
always been considered as one of the most hazardous sectors
because of the prevailing dangers in its work environment
[2]. Both at underground and ground-level mines, miners
are continually exposed to potentially hazardous tools, and
physical, chemical, mechanical, and psychosocial risks,
with all mining divisions recording high injuries [1,3]. It has
been recognized from researches as well as experiences of
managers that in addition to physical health, mental health
and well-being can affect the employees both positively and
negatively. Workers with poor mental health tend to be less
efficient, make poor decisions, and are more absent from
work leading to a decline in overall productivity [4]. On
the other hand, a mentally sound individual is more likely
to enjoy the work, work efficiently and contribute better to
the productivity.
Studies in the mining sector have mostly focused
on occupational accidents, diseases, physical and
environmental risks with comparatively lesser studies that
identify the psychosocial hazards in this industry and its
effect on the mental health of the mine workers. However,
as mental health problems are rising in their contribution
to non-permanent disability worldwide, it becomes
essential to make the promotion of positive mental health
and psychological well being at workplace a global research
priority [5]. While exploring mental health and well-being
of workers in the mining industry, four domains emerged
which were crucial for the maintenance of mental health
[6]. The first thing to emerge was the importance of
relationships with colleagues and a sense of community, as
well as the importance of spending time with friends and
family in maintaining mental health. The inability to spend
time at home resulted in failed marriages and strained
relationships with children. The most important domain
emerging from the interviews was the money and lifestyle
285

offered by the job. Workers managed job-related stress by
balancing the higher income with the ability to do more of
what they enjoy during their time off. Thirdly, support and
appreciation received from the management, and enjoying
the work were reflected as the positive aspects of the job.
On the other hand, shift work, unrealistic performance
expectations, lack of mental stimulation and burnout were
stress-causing work characteristics. The final domain of
well-being was one’s personal experiences with mental
health issues such as depression and the support received
from co-workers and management. On this basis, it
becomes important to ensure that these domains are cared
for to an extent such that the mental health of workers is
not compromised while increasing productivity. Thus,
the purpose of this paper is to summarize and integrate
literature dealing with psychosocial hazards and mental
health in mines and to provide indications for where future
research might head. We begin by explaining the terms
mental health and well-being, followed by identifying the
psychosocial hazards that have emerged from researches.
Then we discuss the consequences of poor mental health
and how it can be improved through various interventions
and policies at the mines. Finally, the implications and
future directions for research are discussed.
Even after vast researches, there often lacks a consensus
about the definition of mental health. Therefore, it is
important to start this discussion by defining the meaning
of good mental health. Good mental health is not merely
being free of distress or mental illnesses, but rather
possessing positive attributes such as mastery, autonomy,
positive interpersonal relationships, sense of purpose and
meaning in life, and feelings of continued growth and
development [7]. Well-being is understood as a sense
of self-described happiness, satisfaction enjoyed by the
individual associated with life, job, and general health,
and the dominance of positive affect over negative affect
[8]. In the organizational realm, well-being encompasses
experiences such as job satisfaction, job attachment and
more specific dimensions such as satisfaction with the
pay. The maintenance of mental health and well-being is
crucial for its practical implications for individual health,
happiness and productivity [9].
Mental health and well-being are influenced by several
antecedent factors. An individual’s experience at work may
be physical, emotional, mental or social, but they all affect
the person during (productivity, efficiency, fatigue) and
after work hours (in the form of family relationships and
general personal well-being). When work-related stress
is carried over to non-work domains, it has detrimental
effects on body and mind [10]. Workplace characteristics
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
such as the nature of working relationships between
management and subordinates [11], work design [12],
health and safety practices [13], workplace aggression [14],
workplace violence [15], and sexual harassment [16] have
major impact on the workers. For instance, while loud noise
in the mines can impair hearing by physically damaging
the middle and inner ear canals [17], the same loud noise
can have psychological reactions in the form of irritability,
anxiety, and stress, in turn increasing worker’s fatigue and
reduction in efficiency [18].
It has been identified that a rapidly changing work
environment owing to globalization, global competition
and increased productivity needs have introduced newer
challenges to workers in the form of flexible contracts,
increased job insecurity, high work demands, irregular
working hours, poor rewards, etc. Along with this, poor
leadership, poor communication, dangerous working
conditions, and work-family imbalances have become
potential sources of psychosocial hazards for employees.
Psychosocial risks refer to those aspects of work design
and management that along with the socio-organizational
context and person-related factors may reduce physical or
psychological health of the workers. While every industry
is characterized by certain common risk factors, the mining
industry presents some unique psychosocial issues.
II. Identifying the psychosocial hazards
A. Person-related factors
Interesting associations exist between demographic
variables and psychosocial hazards. The age of the worker
has been found to mediate the relationship between the
work environment and risk of injury. Increasing age leads
to a decrease in alertness, agility, and physical and mental
abilities. Thus, workers above the age of 45 years are more
prone to occupational injuries [3]. On the other hand,
younger workers have lesser experience and knowledge,
and more risk-taking behaviours putting them at a risk
for injuries [19]. While investigating the extent to which
women miner’s gender-based workplace issues impacted
job satisfaction and mental health, it was found that
older women reported lower levels of interpersonal and
organizational sexism as compared to younger women.
They also reported higher job satisfaction and better mental
health [20].
Gender is emerging as an important source of psychosocial
hazards in the workplace especially in a male-dominated
sector like mining. The mining industry has been grossly
overrepresented by the male population with only 19.4% of
employees in the mining industry being women in Canada,
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
16.4% in Australia, 13.3% in the USA, and 0% in Japan [21].
Female underrepresentation violates the principle of gender
equity and puts women in minority status. In the context of
the present discussion, this minority status in the industry
puts women at the risk of greater mental health problems,
poor job satisfaction and discrimination due to poorer
social status [22]. Qualitative interviews with women
workers in mines have found that women miners have an
inferior status in the mines as they have fewer opportunities
for promotion [23], training [24], less job security [25],
poorer work-life balance, child-care responsibilities [26],
exposure to sexist comments [27], harassment [28], less
support from colleagues [29], lack of a sense of belonging
to the workplace [30] and fear of judged about being less
competent to their male colleagues [31]. An association
between sexism and mental health (depression, anxiety,
and stress) and job satisfaction has been found [32]. This
is important to note as it puts women in a vicious cycle of
poor performance due to discrimination, followed by sexist
comments leading to poor mental health.
The influence of culture on mental health has been studied
from different perspectives, on different populations.
Cultural influences have also been reported by women
working at Australian mine sites who reported significantly
less organizational and interpersonal sexism and fewer
mental health problems than women working in African,
South American, and Southeast Asian mines. This indicates
Australia’s western culture prescribing less sexism and
better mental health practices at the workplace [32]. Low
levels of sexism positively correlated with higher levels of
sense of belonging, mental health, and job satisfaction.
An inference that can be made from these results is that
the presence of progressive workplace strategies (e.g.,
flexible working arrangements, encouraging the diversity
of workforce), as well as less stigma towards mental illness
put by the mining company, improved mental health and
job satisfaction.
Further, personal characteristics such as lower social
networks, history of depression, anxiety or drug problems,
recent alcohol use contributed to higher psychological
distress in a coal mining industry population [33].
B. Work-related factors
In addition to demographic and cultural variables, another
potent source of psychosocial hazards is the working
condition of the mines. Intrinsic job factors such as
work overload, performance expectations, shift work,
long work hours, fatigue effect, job roles, management,
reduction in social support, risk and danger, effort and
reward dimensions, globalization and introduction of ever-
changing technologies, and the condition of the physical
working environment are potential sources of psychological
risk and they affect safety experience by making the workers
psycho-biologically more susceptible to stress.
Poor working conditions can result in poor person-
environment fit leading to increased occupational
injuries and poor mental health [34]. An associated factor
reported to be stressful to underground mine workers
is the unpredictability, high-risk and high-strain of the
underground mines [35]. The dynamic environment
creates a constant presence of danger making it difficult
to recognize, control and predict hazards which cause
immense psychological strain [1,3]. The perception of
a poor working environment, poor supervision, and
management with low support for health and safety and
mere preoccupation with production goals result in poor
mental health among workers [3]. When production goals
gain priority over safety goals, workers have little control
over their pace and practices at work. By resorting to unsafe
practices to increase productivity [36], there occurs a rise
in cases of workplace injuries [37].
Incongruent job roles can challenge the mine workers’
ability to cope with demands and pressures leading to
physical and psychological harm [38]. Role ambiguity,
role conflict, resource inadequacy and the degree of
responsibility for others are also major sources of potential
stress and emotional exhaustion [39]. Lack of participation,
poor communication, politics, and downsizing at work are
additional sources of stress [11]. While abundant research
has found work overload to be stressful, insufficient
workload can also lower self-esteem and increase smoking
and various other psychological problems [39].
The next crucial factor is social support that links the work
characteristics to one’s life away from work. Social support
has a major influence on health as it acts as a buffer to
reduce stress but being away from family due to work fuels
stress by reducing this level of support. If the mine provides
a community culture at work, social support is again
gained through companionship. Therefore, in isolated
mine settings, relationships with superiors, colleagues,
and subordinates are important. This experience of social
isolation contributes to job-related stress and weakens the
coping mechanisms [40]. While envy and jealousy may be
present among colleagues leading to harassment and violent
outcomes [41], supportive and attachment relationships,
and onsite support from administration trusted friends and
colleagues were found to facilitate mental health. [42].
A recurrent theme emerging from studies on mine
workers was the concept of emotional labor. Workers
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

reported having blurred the line between personal and conducted to increase the sense of belonging of the workers.
professional relationships. They face an emotional burden Further, through the provision of counseling services at
while maintaining personal and social relationships while work, mental health problems of the workers can be handled
working on the field. The cost of emotional labor is often where workers are reluctant to share their problems with
hidden due to cultural and professional norms [43]. With their colleagues due to the fear of stigma and job loss. Stress-
social support getting compromised, workers reported to management programs through transactional analysis are
have undergone feelings of emotional depletion, reduced popular in workplaces. To reduce the impact of gender and
ability to deal with stressors [44] and strained relationships sexism, it should become the management’s responsibility
with colleagues resulting in workplace conflict [43]. to reduce the actual and perceived disadvantage of women
in the mines by providing more opportunities for career
The psychosocial hazards lead to various mental as well
progression and equal rewards. Efforts should be made in
as physical health problems. For instance, prolonged
the workplace to manage both physical (posture, working
stress and strain reflect on physical health in the form of
surface) as well as psychosocial factors (reduction in
cardiovascular diseases, weight changes, poor functioning
effort, increasing rewards, improving work shifts) to
of the immune system, musculoskeletal diseases, and
improve performance and mental health. Flexible working
mental health as anxiety, insomnia, headaches, panic
arrangements and roster schedules that allow workers to get
attacks, depression, and personality disorders. The most
an adequate amount of rest and also give them time for the
overt signs of occupational stress include greater substance
family should be encouraged. The management should aim
abuse, accident proneness, family problems, aggression,
to achieve a balance between work demands and worker’s
and violence. Additionally, accidents or injuries to oneself,
personal control and safety while increasing productivity.
or witnessing the accident or death of a co-worker also lead
Such programs serve a greater purpose to the organization
to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
by lowering accidents, absenteeism, and medical costs
while improving morale and production.
III. Conclusions
As India is home to a variety of cultures, and the workers
From the above discussion, several psychosocial risk
in mines are often immigrants, the role of socio-cultural
factors have emerged which impact both the physical
variables such as intergroup relations, ethnic identity,
and mental health of the mine workers along with their
acculturation, and contact-acculturation may also be
productivity at the workplace. Demographic variables of
studied along with person-related and work-related factors
age and gender have a definite impact with is aggravated
with respect to mental health (e.g., acculturative stress,
by the presence of organizational and interpersonal sexism.
PTSD) of mine workers. Future research may assess the role
Cultural influences are observed in their prescription of
of health interventions in mental health of mine workers
gender roles as well as attitude towards mental health at
in Indian mine settings. Since a mentally healthy worksite
workplace. Workplace factors of leadership, management,
is crucial for improving performance, productivity, and
work design, excessive workload, and long working hours
corporate image, health policies and interventions may
also contribute to the mental strain. On this basis, it may
take into consideration the psychosocial hazards and their
be said that initiatives, policies, and interventions should
effect on the physiological, psychological, and interpersonal
aim at benefitting both the employees and the corporation.
consequences amongst the mine workers for improving
Through a combination of educational and organizational
their mental health as well as effective participation in
activities, such as health education (ranging from avoiding
mining activities.
accidents at work to childcare education), regular health
screening of the workers as well as their families, teaching
yoga and stress management, the lifestyle and health of
workers can be improved. Community events may be

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Role of CSR in Social Sustainability
Smt. Parul Yadav
Assistant Manager (Community Development)
Block-B Area
NCL, Singrauli
I. Introduction
Social sustainability is about identifying and managing
business impacts, both positive and negative, on people.
The quality of a company’s relationships and engagement
with its stakeholders is critical. Directly or indirectly,
companies affect what happens to employees, workers in
the value chain, customers and local communities, and it
is important to manage impacts proactively.-UN Global
Compact
On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development —
adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at an historic
UN Summit — officially came into force. Over the next
fifteen years, with these new Goals that universally apply
to all, countries will mobilize efforts to end all forms of
poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while
ensuring that no one is left behind.
Principles of human rights, livelihood, environment and
anti-corruption provide a common platform for corporate
social responsibility and SDGs to achieve targets of People,
Planet and Profit.
Shri R.B. Prasad
General Manager
Block-B Area
NCL, Singrauli
II. Sustainable Development Agenda
SDGs- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls
on countries to begin efforts to achieve the 17 SDGs over the
next 15 years. The goals address the needs of people in both
developed and developing countries, emphasizing that no
one should be left behind. Broad and ambitious in scope,
the Agenda addresses the three dimensions of sustainable
development: social, economic and environmental, as well
as important aspects related to peace, justice and effective
institutions.
Prime Minister of India in his statement at the sustainable
Development Summit in New York on 25 September 2015
strongly affirmed the India’s commitment to agenda 2030
and the SDGs. He drew attention to the fact that we live in
“an age of unprecedented prosperity, but also unspeakable
deprivation around the world” and pointed out that
“much of India’s development agenda is mirrored in the
Sustainable Development Goals”. Further, he has reiterated
the importance of the SDGs at global level, such as at G20
meetings.
. The corporate social responsibility in India become
responsibility of every profit making company be it private
or public. At the same time India as a nation is committed to
achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed
by UN.
For inclusive development and growth of a nation is directly
associated with the achievement of the targets set by the
UN, as our future agenda of sustainability.
The Government of India is strongly committed to Agenda
2030, including the Sustainable Development Goals. CSR
can play a vital role to achieve these goals. It will give an
opportunity to corporates to present its brand at a global
level. Therefore it is interesting to know how it is possible to
be part of the SDGs & CSR compliance together.
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

energy and agriculture. However, mining has contributed

too many of the challenges for the sustainability.
In recent decades, the industry has made significant
advances in mitigating and managing such impacts
and risks, by improving how companies manage their
environmental and social impacts, protect the health
of their workers, achieve energy efficiencies, report on
financial flows, and respect and support human rights.

IV. Corporate Social Responsibility

India is the first country in the world to make corporate
1. No Poverty 2. Zero Hunger social responsibility (CSR) mandatory, following an
3. Good Health And Well-Being 4. Quality Education amendment to the Companies Act, 2013 in April 2014.
Businesses can invest their profits in areas such as
5. Gender Equality 6. Clean Water And Sanitation
education, poverty, gender equality, and hunger as part of
7. Affordable And Clean Energy 8. Decent Work And Economic any CSR compliance.
Growth
The amendment notified in the Companies Act, 2013
9. Industry Innovation And 10. Reduced Inequalities
Infrastructure
requires companies with a net worth of INR 500 crore (US
$70 million) or more, or an annual turnover of INR 1000
11. Sustainable Cities And 12. Responsible Consumption crore (US $140 million) or more, or net profit of INR 5
Communities And Production
crore (US $699,125) or more, to spend 2 percent of their
13. Climate Action 14. Life Below Water average net profits of three years on CSR.
15. Life On Land 16. Peace Justice And Straong Schedule VII (Section 135)
Institutions
Activities relating to:—
17. Partnerships For The Goals
(i) Eradicating extreme hunger and poverty;
III. Mining To The Social Development (ii) Promotion of education;
Meeting the SDGs by 2030 will require unprecedented (iii) Promoting gender equality and empowering women;
cooperation and collaboration among governments, non- (iv) Reducing child mortality and improving maternal
governmental organizations, development partners, the health;
private sector and communities. Therefore, achieving
(v) Combating human immunodeficiency virus,
the SDGs requires all stakeholders to incorporate the
acquired immune deficiency syndrome, malaria and
SDGs into their own practices and operations. Citizens
other diseases;
will increasingly hold government, civil society, financial
institutions and businesses accountable for their (vi) Ensuring environmental sustainability;
constructive contributions to the SDGs. (vii) Employment enhancing vocational skills;
This is especially true for the mining industry. Large- (viii) Social business projects;
scale mining is a global industry, with 6,000 companies (ix) contribution to the Prime Minister’s National
employing 2.5 million people. Mining is often located in Relief Fund or any other fund set up by the Central
remote and less-developed areas where it can create jobs Government or the State Governments for socio-
and innovation and bring investment and infrastructure at economic development and relief and funds for the
a game-changing scale over long time horizons. welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes,
other backward classes, minorities and women; and
The mining industry can impact positively and negatively
across the SDGs. Mining can foster economic development (x) Such other matters as may be prescribed.
by providing opportunities for decent employment, business
development, increased fiscal revenues, and infrastructure
linkages. Many of the minerals produced by mining are also
essential building blocks to technologies, infrastructure,

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
V. SDG and Schedule VII Together
SN ACTIVITIES PRESCRIBED IN
SCHEDULE VII
1 Eradicating hunger, poverty and malnu-
trition, promoting preventive health care
and sanitation and making available safe
drinking water
2 Promoting education, including special
education and employment enhancing
vocation skills especially among chil-
dren, women, elderly and the differently
abled and livelihood enhancement proj-
ects.
3 Promoting gender equality, empowering
women, setting up homes and hostels for
women and orphans; setting up old age
homes, day care centers and such other
facilities for senior citizens and measures
for reducing inequalities faced by social-
ly and economically backward groups.
4 Ensuring environmental sustainability,
ecological balance, protection of flora
and fauna, animal welfare, agroforestry,
conservation of natural resources and
maintaining quality of soil, air and wa-
ter including contribution to the Clean
Ganga Fund set-up by the Central Gov-
ernment for rejuvenation of river Ganga.
5 Protection of national heritage, art and
culture including restoration of buildings
and sites of historical importance and
works of art; setting up public libraries;
promotion and development of tradition-
al art and handicrafts
6 Measures for the benefit of armed forces
veterans, war widows and their dependents
7 Training to promote rural sports, na-
tionally recognized sports, Paralympic
sports and Olympic sports
8 Contribution to the Prime Minister’s na-
tional relief fund or any other fund set up
by the central govt. for socio economic
development and relief and welfare of
the schedule caste, tribes, other back-
ward classes, minorities and women;
9 Contributions or funds provided to tech-
nology incubators located within aca-
demic institutions which are approved
by the central govt.
10 Rural development projects
VI. Benefits of a Robust CSR Program
SDGs AD- Based As the business environment gets increasingly
DRESSED complex and stakeholders become vocal about their
expectations, good CSR practices can only bring in greater
1,2,3,6 benefits, some of which are as follows:
• Communities provide the license to operate: State policies
allow the community to play a vital role in sanctioning of
licenses for the operations.
4,8,5,10,11
• Communities as suppliers: There are certain innovative
CSR initiatives emerging, wherein companies have invested
in enhancing community livelihood by incorporating them
into their supply chain. This has benefitted communities
and increased their income levels, while providing these
5,10 companies with an additional and secure supply chain.
• Enhancing corporate reputation: The traditional benefit
of generating goodwill, creating a positive image and
branding benefits continue to exist for companies that
operate effective CSR programs.
CSR activities allow companies to position themselves as
7,13,14,15
responsible corporate citizens.
.VII. National Statistics
Spending on CSR meet the magical figure of Rs. 50,000
crore in just 4 years with a growth of 12 % in fiscal 2018.
The cumulative spend is more than the fiscal 2018 Union
11,4 Budget allocation for health and family welfare and 2/3rd
of the allocation for education.
Among the states, average CSR spend per company was the
highest in the National Capital Territory, closely followed
by Karnataka and Maharashtra. In terms of the quantum of
spend, Tamil Nadu saw a whopping 26% jump, followed by
5,10,16
Maharashtra with 22% and Karnataka with 19%.
While the improvement in CSR parameters is heartening,
10
it also emerges that the improvement rode on widespread
use of implementing agencies such as non-government
organizations (NGOs). As many as 74% of the eligible
All SDGs
companies – including two-thirds of the small ones used
addressed
implementing agencies last fiscal when spending on CSR.-
useful for generating direct/ Indirect jobs.
Commendably, the improvement came despite a high base
of fiscal 2016, which had seen a whopping 22% spurt in
4,9 spending, led by government push to schemes such as the
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. Also, the growth was despite the
jitters caused by demonetization and impending rollout of
the Goods and Services Tax.
1,2,3,4,5,
10,15,17 Listed companies in India spent INR 10,000 crore (US$1.4
291

billion) in various programs ranging from educational
programs, skill development, social welfare, healthcare,
and environment conservation, while the Prime
Minister’s Relief Fund saw an increase of 139 percent
in CSR contribution over last one year. The education
sector received the maximum funding (38 percent of the
total) followed by hunger, poverty, and healthcare (25
percent), environmental sustainability (12 percent), rural
development (11 percent).
VIII. Scheme wise Comparison
Average budget allotment for to the specific schemes and
avg. expenditure of CSR for the financial years. Financial
impact of the expenditure made in CSR activities in the
economy can be assessed by comparing the major schemes
of GoI with the average CSR expenditure of the year
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
IX. Conclusion
Corporates are doing well in creating assets whether
physical or intellectual for the community and the country.
Sustainable Development provides them opportunity to act
and achieve in their respective goal achievement with the
inclusive development.
Moving the development agenda with sustainability should
be the priority of each and every CSR activity planning
being done at any level for the better results and good
future.
Mining industry which is very prone to hazardous
development has created many issues which are being
targeted under sustainable development goals such as
environment degradation, carbon emission, displacement
of people, community conflicts, corruption etc. Sustainable
development gives them opportunity to promote rule of
law and good governance in the country and community
where they are working to mitigate the ill effects they are
creating on society.
This ultimately will leads to respect of human rights, the
environment and the stability of businesses, knowing that
all rights are respected and protected well.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Low Back Disablity Among Mine Workers : An Overview
Vibha Yadav
Department of Psychology,
Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, 221005
vibhammv@gmail.com
Namita Srivastava
Department of Psychology,
Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, 221 005.
namitasri29april@gmail.com
Abstract -The mining industry serves as a key source of fi-
nancial independence for a wide range of people especially for
those with disabilities. It is quite evident that the employment
rate of persons with disabilities is very low in a country like
India because of certain limitations such as issues after the on-
set of disability, low education level, discrimination in hiring,
lack of skills and many more. The individuals working in the
mining industry are continuously plagued by low back pain
and disability caused by it making it difficult for the individ-
uals to adjust to the unique demands of the mining environ-
ment such as restricted postures, lifting capacity and muscle
strength. Therefore, the present paper attempts to highlight a
major disability among mine workers, i.e. low back disability
and various factors affecting it, such as social, personal, phys-
ical and economic factors. Also, the emphasis would be on
the aftermath of having lower back pain and disability while
working in mines. The later part of the paper would focus on
the methods such as intervention for psychosocial work stress
occupational health psychologists, improved communication
with injured employees, and wellness behavior by those with
disability and improved work place design. These methods
can be effective in preventing the pain, reducing the disability
associated as well as its future recurrence. There is no mag-
ic solution for the disability but following these methods and
strategies can enhance the working capacity and reduction in
low back disability among mine workers.
Keywords: Back pain, Disability, Injury, Mining
I Introduction
Low back pain (LBP) is a common experience across age
groups, sexes, socioeconomic groups, and occupation and
education level. It is the leading cause of disability than any
other condition and may occur in similar proportion in many
cultures and hinders the work performance and quality of life
of the individuals (1). LBP is not a disease rather the term
refers to the subjective perception of pain of variable duration
in legs, buttocks or low back and afflicted so often that it is
the most common reason for medical consultation (2). The
Dr. Purnima Awasthi
Department of Psychology,
Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, 221005
awasthip9@gmail.com
S. K. Sharma
Department of Mining
Engineering, I. I. T..,
Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, 221005
sureshsharma.min@iitbhu.ac.in
pain can range from minimal to severe pain, with minimal
pain causing annoyance without affecting activity whereas
slight pain may lead to small effect on physical activity,
moderate pain can result in marked handicap and finally
severe pain may cause marked handicap consequently
impeding the activity altogether. The incorrect posture of
sitting, standing, or bending or lifting awkwardly can lead to
pain that is generally not considered serious but depending
on the severity it becomes debilitation and distressing later.
In the past decade the disability led by LBP has been
increasing and is considered the most expensive health
problems related to work in industries in many countries.
According to the statistics approximately two third of the
adult population in United States suffer from low back
disability and this number is increasing 14 times faster than
the population growth (3). LBP affects nearly one in ten
people (4) and the situation is alarming in India as about
60% people experience LBP at some point of time in their
lives. Thus, the LBP and disability may restrict the normal
functioning and mobility of the individual especially in
physically demanding jobs (5,6).
II. Low Back Disability in Mining
Industry
Low back pain (LBP) and the disability is a common
epidemic in mining industry. Evidence indicate that the
highest claims for back injury (7), back pain compensations
(8), and exposure to disorders related to muscles (9) as well
as risk factors associated are in the mining industry.
Reports witness that every year almost one million people
demand for spare time in order to get treatment and
recover from LBP or loss of function caused by exertionand
repetitive motion of back (10).
The mining industry is no doubt a physically demanding
job that requires heavy manual work, prolonged awkward
standing or sitting postures and even whole body vibration
293

that consequently leads to disability in mining industry
workers. Not only do physically active workers suffer from
LBPand disability but also those with sedentary work style
as well (11).Evidence show that there is a relationship
between back pain and physical load thatintensifies other
conditions (12). The activities such as whole body vibration,
heavy and bulk lifting, frequent bending, and twisting are
mostly associated with risk of LBP and disability (13, 14,
15).
The extremely restricted workspace, poor lighting, wet
ground condition intensifies the severity of work. Other
finding indicates that exposure to high occupational risk
and load that affects the spine tolerance which is believed to
vary with age, repetitive motion and time of the day (16). The
finding shows that the risks of musculoskeletal problems
may significantly increase in case of workers with unusual
and restricted posture demand in comparison to workers
who don’t work in similar occupational environment (17).
Also, the nature of the work might vary the risk for example,
54 per cent for transport equipment or production operators,
47 per cent for service employees and east for clerks.
Research indicates that working in restricted postures
declines the physical capabilities that in turn increase the
probability of LBP. The capacity to lift heavy objects in
restricted prolonged postures as stooping, kneeling, lying,
or any other posture has a far adverse effect than doing
it when standing or less restricted posture, consequently
increased risk of injury, poor performance and satisfaction.
This suggests that 20-30 per cent of the loads should be
reduced when manually handling in order to reduce the
exertion on the lower back (18, 19).
Studies reflected the restricted position and movement
leads to increased reliance on back muscles and legs and
hips resulting in deconditioning of low back muscles. The
muscle strength then reduces by 16 per cent compared to
standing or similar postures (20, 21).
III. Causes of Low Back Pain and
disability
Earlier much was not known about the causes of low
back disability, but recent researches show some insight.
There are various sources or causes that seem to be highly
associated with of LBP and are responsible for a large
portion of low back disability. They can be specific or non-
specific in nature and most cases that are reported are of
non- specific cause and few are specific in origin.The non-
specific back pain is very painful although the cause usually
includes those related to age and affected by personal
behavior, occupation and genetics. However, for majority
of the people the specific cause is not clear and 85% has no
known cause (22). Studies have indicated that LBP (LBP)
has an adverse effect on functional ability in the young and
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
adult population (23, 24). The causal pathway leading from
disease to disability is complex and multifactorial. Some of
the major causes specific to mining industry are as follows:
A. Structure of the spine
The structure of the spinal region are the most suspected
and frequent source of LBP. Some of these structures may
be responsible for long term and some for short term
LBP depending on the severity of the damage done to the
structure involved. For example, the lower or the lumbar
spine is directly because it is subjected to huge stress and
force and maximum weight-bearing forces. The other
structure, invertebral disc, provides flexibility and acts as
a shock absorber for the spine and the degeneration of the
disc due to lack of nutrition leads to LBP and disability
The muscles help in motion and holding postures and on
lifting heavy objects these muscles exert large forces on the
spine leading to stress, strain and pain (25).The vertebral
end plates are cartilaginous structures between the each
vertebrae providing nutrition to invertebral disc. The
fracture to endplates can occur by repeated overloading of
the spine, or by fall, heavy lifting or extreme jerks (11). In
this process, a tiny fractures turns into a major fracture as
people continue to work believing it to be safe. Similarly, the
facets joints are small set of joints when loaded begin wear
and tear the surface of the joint that leads to arthritis. The
movements cause damage and degeneration and the limited
supply of blood further slows down the process of repairing
the damaged tissues as in case of disc degeneration (26).
In addition, other conditions and disease may cause LBP
and contributing to physical disability.There are some risk
factors in mining industryas.
B.Personal factors
With the advancing age the prevalence of LBP increases
and in case if the problem persists then it becomes more
constant and frequent (27, 28). The symptoms of back pain
also vary with age such as in early adulthood it is acute
but of short termed, in 40 it becomes more localized and
during 50s it becomes constant.
The effect of body weight on LBP is not very much
prominent but can be considered as a weak risk factor.
Research indicates that with increase in obesity the
prevalence of LBP and disability also increases (29).
The level of fitness, prior injury, physical strength, pain
tolerance and any psychological disorder may be complex
in nature but cannot be controlled completely.
Finding shows that LBP resulting due to disc degeneration
is a predominant factor. It was found in familial and twin
studies that genetic factor contributed to approximately
74% in cases with LBP and disability caused by disc
degeneration (30, 31).
C. Social Factors
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
Apart from personal there are wide range of psychosocial
factors that influence LBP and disability in mining
industry. Relationship with supervisor, lack of control
over job, job dissatisfaction, poor working environment ,
income inadequacy are some major variables that seem to
contribute in reporting LBP ( 32, 33, 2). Study show that
monotony at work generally leads to low job satisfaction
and higher level of LBP. One of the consistent findings
related to workplace psychosocial stressors is that low job
satisfaction is associated with LBP(34, 35).
Recent findings have indicated that the low social support,
stress, and physical work enhances the rates of LBP twice in
mining industry than the demand for physical work alone
(36, 37). One interesting study suggested that psychological
and psycho social issues can play a very crucial role in the
advancement of LBP to low back disability (38, 39).
IV. Treatment and Prevention
It is vital for any program that wishes to control the impact
of LBP in the workplace which leads to the issue of low
back disability (i.e., lost time from work). Many techniques
are effective in reducing disability and these are beneficial
for patients with low back disability. (40, 2) suggested many
approaches to effective control of low back disability such
as workplace design, proactive return-to-work programs,
communication, and management commitment.
Workplace should be designed to accommodate workers
with low back disability. In fact, good workplace design
increases the efficiency of injured workers. It is important
in maintaining a good relationship between the injured
worker and the company. Study revealed that proper design
of workplace help the employees to remain on the job than
job absenteeism and dissatisfaction (40). Workplace design
may also be a benefit in preventing the recurrence of injury.
Workers with low back disability may face many difficulties
such as tolerating awkward postures, forward bending and
prolonged sitting etc. Study revealed that use of lift tables
and lifting aids (e.g., overhead pulley systems, vacuum
hoists) significantly reduced the low back disorder rate
in repetitive manual handling jobs (41). Study revealed
one of the best ways to avoid torso flexion in unrestricted
settings is not storing materials on the floor. Workers with
LBP also have difficulty handling objects when excessive
forward reaching is involved (42, 43) and sitting for long
periods of time. Therefore, it may be possible to provide a
work station where workers can sit or stand or change their
position according to their comfort or discomfort.
Studies have revealed that giving accommodations in the
workplace through job design can significantly reduce lost
time from work resulting from LBP cases. Loisel et al. (44)
conducted a study among 130 workers who had been off
work for six weeks because of LBP assessed the effects of
an intervention involving workplace redesign and time-
limited light duty. The result revealed that the time to get
workers back on the job was reduced from 131 to 67 days.
A prospective study by a company examined changing
from standard care to an approach that included worker
rotation schedules, reduced lifting loads, and ergonomic
redesign of tasks. The total days lost per 100,000 hour
worked dropped from 60.9 days for standard care to 1.1
days for the occupational management approach, and then
increased again to 95.8 days when the company selected
an early intervention program of intensive physical therapy
and work hardening (45, 46).
Proactive return-to-work programs contribute a major
role in personally assisting the disabled employee from the
beginning of the episode to its positive resolution. In this
program, the actions and responsibilities of individuals
within the company and external providers are spelled out
and related to the goal of resumption of employment (47).
Good communication is very beneficial when workers
become temporarily disabled. Supervisors should be
instructed to follow up every disability case with a telephone
call or visit before two days of lost work time have elapsed.
This is because to let the worker know that the company is
alarmed and want to know the status of his or her recovery.
A company recently instituted a program that increased
the communication among the worker, employer, medical
practitioner, and insurer. When a worker compensation
claim was received, the employer made immediate contact
with the worker and insurer and followed up with calls
at regular 10-day intervals to make certain that the claim
was progressing smoothly. The tone of the communication
was always pleasant, and the focus was always on the best
interests of the worker. The message strongly communicated
to the worker was: “You are a vital part of our team, your
work is important, and your job is waiting for you.” This
program is very effective in reducing the proportion of to
effective control of low back disability: workplace design,
proactive return-to-work programs, communication, and
management commitment.Interest of the worker and to let
know the worker that they are very valuable and the vital
part of the communication (2).
Management commitment plays an important role for the
workers to remain in the job actively. Goals and objectives
and standard operating procedures (SOPs) should be
provided by management, along with proper resources,
to foster the safety and health program and return to
work for injured employees. It include establishing goals,
assigning staff, providing staff time, making resources
available, evaluating results, communicating with
employees, and encouraging employee involvement in the
program. The main purpose is to build cooperative and
supportive environment for low back disability workers.
295

Trust building and employee advocacy are important
ingredients. Occupational safety and health literature
stresses the importance of management commitment in
successful safety and health programs (48, 49, 50, 51). The
Michigan Disability Prevention Study reported that lower
levels of disability are associated with management policies
and practices, particularly safety diligence, safety training,
and proactive return-to-work programs (47).
U.K. occupational health guidelines reported that
workplace organizational and/or management strategies
may reduce absenteeism and duration of work loss (52).
Study revealed that decrease in lost-time LBP cases from
20 to 2 per year after an improvement in top management
commitment (48). Carter and Birrell (52) argued high
satisfaction with job and good relations in the industry are
the most important psychosocial characteristics associated
with low disability and sickness absence rates attributed to
low back disability.
V. Alternative Approaches to Low Back
Pain
Low back disability patients cannot be given a precise
diagnosis as to the cause. Once systemic disease has been
ruled out, what course of action should be taken depends on
the type of practitioner visited. There are several treatment
options that may be attempted (53). Instead of the many
treatment alternatives, the outcomes are similar to one
another (van Tulder et al. 2000). Somewhat in response to
the poor treatment outcomes, recent scientific literature
has placed an increasing emphasis on encouraging patients
to take on responsibility for dealing with their own LBP
(54, 55). There is evidence that the following approaches
can provide some assistance for coping with LBP:
A.Yoga and Exercises
Three important exercises include (1) lying face down with
the head turned to the side, (2) lying down in extension
(placing elbows on the ground underneath the shoulders,
and (3) extension in lying – perform a pushup, but only
raising the upper half of the body (the hips and legs remain
on the floor). Studies revealed that these exercises (10 of
each up to every 2 hr) can reduce symptoms in 40%– 89%
of people with low back disability (56, 57).
B.Remain active
Patients should be encouraged to be active in life. Study has
shown that staying active resulted in improved recovery,
more rapid return to work, and less disability (40).
C. Avoid forward bending
Patients with low back disability may face inadopting a
forward- bending position and such a posture should be
avoided (Snook 2004). During the first hour after waking
avoiding this posture is particularly important (58). Aids
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
can be used to help reduce flexion such as chairs with good
lumbar support and armrests (which can facilitate standing
up), long-handled shoe horns, and reaches to help pick up
an object off the floor without bending.
D. Control the pain
Nonprescription pain relievers such as aspirin, taken in
their proper dosages, seem to be just as effective as other
painkillers and have fewer side effects (40). Neither aspirin
nor ibuprofen should be taken if indigestion or ulcers
are present. A physician should be consulted if there are
any questions or concerns when taking these or other
medications.
Cognitive behavior therapy and physical fitness are most
effective treatment in low back disability (59). Whereas
drug therapy provide short term relief but it is very
beneficial in chronic back pain (60). Paracetamol and non-
steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are play a role in bring
the pain condition to tolerable condition. Narcotics alone
are not prescribed for longer period of time, it causes the
risk of habituation and addiction grows over time. In Japan
spas, moist heat, and cold cabinets are used in rehabilitation
centre but they are not as much helpful for the low back
disability patients (61).
E. Consult with qualified health providers
It is suggested that take consultationa qualified health
provider if having LBP a week or two or worsens.
Chiropractic “adjustment”, Osteopathic manipulation,
Acupuncture, Spa therapy and other forms of moist heat
and physical therapy and Herbals treatments worldwide
has won many adherents to this treatment. Bigos et.al (62)
suggested that it works better than other treatment.
VI. Conclusions
Low back disability is not a disease but a constellation of
symptoms that usually is acute and self-limited. Coping
with back pain is the biggest obstacle to improvement, and
heroic treatments that ultimately fail to help and may even
be harmful should be avoided. If such pain persist for a long
time it may be dangerous to health. Hadler (63) suggested
that coping with inadequacies exacerbated by a hostile
environment and aggravated by legal and compensation
issues not only complicate our understanding of back
pain but often prevent appropriate treatment and a good
prognosis (63). Back pain is both a major cause of temporary
disability and a challenge to medical and surgical treatment
decisions. It strains compensation systems and is frequently
misinterpreted, especially in the industrial context. Studies
that use the outcome measures recommended by the
panel of WHO’sLBP initiative should go far in clarifying
the appropriate approach to this ubiquitous syndrome of
regional pain.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

297

A Critical Analysis for Prospects of Application of Solar &
Wind Power for Generation of Renewable Energy Within
NCL to Become a Lead Example of Sustainable Development
L. P. Godse 1
Area General Manager, Kakri Project, NCL
Sonbhadra, India
gmkak.ncl@coalindia.in
Arpit Kumar Nagar 3
Management Trainee (E&M), Kakri Project, NCL
Sonbhadra, India
arpitkumar.nagar@coalindia.in
Abstract — This paper presents a critical analysis for
prospects of application of Solar or Wind Power for genera-
tion of renewable energy at various locations like haul roads,
dumping, office rooftops, hospital rooftops as well as rooftops
in residential colonies of the projects etc., in effect this will
lead to reduction in carbon footprint. The methodology used
for the analysis is, by use of software’s like SAM by NREL &
RETScreen, Canada for energy generation by solar & wind
power at various sites. Different scenarios like use of solar PV
panels for a period of 20 years & 25 years, have been exam-
ined for possible outcomes. The analysis also helps to choose
which will be more effective, solar or wind alternative.
I. Introduction
Since the dawn of human life on this earth, the present
technological advances have been achieved in short
duration after Industrial revolution. Amidst the global race
of development, the price is being paid on the account of
changes in biosphere or ecosphere all around the earth due
to Anthropological activities. In the present global scenario,
there are pressing concerns regarding the harmful impacts
of Global warming and its associated climate change which
would affect all forms of life on this beautiful earth in the
decades to come. United Nations (UN) is committed to
ensure the countries achieve the development, in form of
Sustainable Development and restrict the climate change to
minimum. To achieve the above every country in UN have
committed to UN Sustainable Development Goals and
United Nations Framework Convention on climate change.
[1]
NCL is one of the key subsidiaries of CIL and shoulders
298
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Mayank Singh 2
Dy. Manager (Min),
Advanced PG Diploma in Renewable Energy,
Kakri Project, NCL
Sonbhadra, India
mayank.singh@coalindia.in
the responsibility to ensure energy security of India by
mining and offtake of more than 100 MT coal per year. As
per BP Energy Outlook 2019 [2] and NITI Aayog [3], share
of coal for primary energy consumption will be around
50% of the total primary energy demand of India even
in 2040 for which NCL shall remain a prime coal mining
company in the decades to come. However, NCL have to
also be committed to contribute to the objectives under UN
Sustainable Development Goal 7 for increasing renewable
energy, energy efficiency and energy access as a responsible
company of the country.
NCL operates 10 opencast mines under its command area
along with its headquarter at Singrauli, Central Workshop
at Jayant, Nehru Shatabdi Chikitsalaya, Jayant and IWSS,
Khadia. All these facilities have vast infrastructure under
them. Each Opencast mine have sites such as dumping areas,
haul roads, residential colonies, office premises, shopping
centres, rooftops available on buildings like schools, mandir
complex, parks, hospitals etc. Consumption of electricity is
both for industrial and township use in NCL provided by
respective state DISCOMS of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh respectively.
With vast infrastructure available in NCL there is also
availability of potential sites where renewable energy
sources can be tapped for generation of electricity. The
renewable energy available for utilisation is primarily in
form of solar insolation and wind energy.
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

II. Solar Energy IIA. Simulation in SAM

The System Advisor Model (SAM) is a free techno-
a. Availability of potential sites and viability economic software model that facilitates decision-making
NCL lies in tropical belt with high Global solar irradiance for people in the renewable energy industry:
throughout the year. To analyse the viability of generation
of electricity by solar energy for inhouse consumption • Project managers and engineers
using Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Modules, Kakri Project was • Policy analysts
chosen for the study as the applicability of results can easily • Technology developers
be extrapolated for other projects of NCL. Kakri Project is
• Researchers
situated at 24.180 N and 82.7680 E.
SAM can model many types of renewable energy systems
Three separate potential sites were analysed as mentioned including Photovoltaic systems, from small residential
below: - rooftop to large utility-scale systems [4].
1. Case 1: - Rooftop area available in residential colony
b. Location and Resource
of Kakri project.
The location of Kakri Project in latitude and longitude was
2. Case 2: - Rooftop area available in Office of Kakri entered and the weather files were downloaded which are
Project. provided in SAM.
3. Case 3: - Areas available in mines of thin patches
having width not more than 3 metres.
Each of the cases have were analysed separately using SAM
for the expected annual electricity generation and the case
1 has been analysed in RETScreen for the viability as well
as expected saving of emission.
General Information: - Solar PV modules generally have life
of 25 years. Since Kakri Project is in Northern hemisphere
the PV modules have to be facing southwards. Fixed tilt
angle throughout the year has been considered where the
tilt is equal to the angle of latitude.

Case 1: Rooftop area available in residential colony of

Kakri project. Fig. 1(a). Location and Resource data entered in SAM.
Kakri colony comprises of 1111 residential quarters in total.
Four quarters clubbed together to form a block with two
rooftops adjacent to each other. In addition to above other
rooftops available are the rooftops of DAV school, Saraswati
Shishu Mandir and Saraswati Vidya Mandir School,
Maulana Azad school, Shopping complex, Officers Club,
Workers Club and Union office premises. Actual Rooftop
area was measured of B type quarters which came to 6.8m
X 5.7m and is the base rooftop for our case 1 simulation
purpose. Survey of the blocks of other types confirmed that
roof top area available was either similar or more than the
base rooftop area measured above. For simulation purpose
the limiting rooftop area considered was 80% of the base Fig. 1(b). Location and Resource data entered in SAM.
rooftop area for the deployment of array of strings of Solar c. Module Selection
PV modules. All this arrays have to be connected in Grid Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight as a source
for optimum utilisation. Base model of rooftop array for of energy to generate direct current electricity [7]. A
a B-type quarter was proportionately multiplied to get the photovoltaic module is a packaged, connected assembly of
approximate number of modules in the grid for analysis by photovoltaic solar cells available in different voltages and
RETScreen. wattages. The solar PV module selected was SunPower –

299
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

SPR-X21-335 mono crystalline silicon based with following turbines and photovoltaic (PV) solar systems to maximize
Module characteristics: - power extraction under all conditions.
1. Nominal efficiency: 20.5%
2. Maximum power (Pmp): 335.205 Wdc
3. Max power voltage (Vmp): 57.3 Vdc
4. Max power current (Imp): 5.8 Adc
5. Open circuit voltage (Voc): 67.9 Vdc
6. Short circuit current (Isc): 6.2 Adc

Fig. 3. Inverter input.

e. System Design
System Design is the most crucial part of the simulation.
The design consists of PV modules connected in an array of
series and parallel. The array consists of strings connected
in parallel. A string is modules connected in series. Various
parameters such as (a) numbers of modules per string (b)
strings in parallel in subarray determine the outcome. Out
of the various simulations using the limiting area of 30 m2
the optimum numbers of modules per string in subarray
used was 6 and strings in parallel in subarray 3 required
rooftop area of 29.4 m2.

Fig. 2. Module parameters.

d. Inverter Selection
A solar inverter is one of the most important elements of
the solar electric power system. It converts the variable
direct current (DC) output of a photovoltaic (PV) solar
panel into alternating current (AC). This AC electricity
then can directly be fed into residences to operate
appliances or through grid. Maximum power point
tracking (MPPT) [7] or sometimes just power point
tracking (PPT)) is a technique used commonly with wind

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Fig. 4. System Design.

Fig. 6. Losses.

f. Shading and Layout h. Results of Simulation

Shading a solar cell is similar to introducing a clog in Following are the summary of results of simulation: -
a pipe of water. The clog in the pipe restricts the flow of
water through the entire pipe. Similarly, when a solar cell
is shaded, the current through the entire string is reduced.

Fig.7(a). Result Monthly Energy Production

Average energy yearly – 8743 kWh

Fig. 5. Shading and Layout
Capacity Factor – 16.5%
g. Losses Performance ratio – 0.77%
Soiling losses due to dust, DC and AC losses have been
considered. Average annual soiling loss of 5%, Total DC
power loss of 4.44% and AC losses due to wiring of 1%
considered.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Fig. 10. Financial viability

Payback period maximum 12 years. Net cash flow becomes

Fig. 7(b). P10, P50 and P90 analysis
positive from this period. Energy production cost expected
IIB. Simulation in RETScreen is Rs 9.07 per kWh.

RETScreen is a Clean Energy Management

Software system for energy efficiency, renewable energy
and cogeneration project feasibility analysis as well as
ongoing energy performance analysis[5].
Considering the base array of 18 modules and multiplying
it by 555 (near to half of 1100 quarters) equals to about
10000 modules in the grid. Using this financial viability for
period of 20 years and 25 years was calculated.

Fig. 11. Greenhouse gas reduction

Gross annual GHG reduction is 4147 tCO2 in the proposed

case 1. This will definitely help to reduce carbon footprint.

b. For a period of 25 years

Fig. 8. Facility location and Climate data.

a. For a period of 20 years

Fig. 12. Financial Viability

Payback period maximum 12 years. Net cash flow becomes
positive from this period. Energy production cost expected
is Rs 8.52 per kWh.

IIc. Case 2: - Rooftop Area Available in GM Office of

Fig. 9. Entry of basic data same as used in SAM for case 1. Kakri Project.
The actual roof top area measured was 550 m2. Taking

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80% of the rooftop as limiting area for simulation purpose
was 440 m2. Modules per string in subarray 6 and string
in parallel 40 required rooftop area of 391.4 m2. Simulation
done in SAM with these parameters gave following results.
Fig. 13. Monthly Energy Production.
The above is result of single array hence multiple such
arrays can be used according to availability of places so that
maximum generation can be ensured.
III. Wind Energy
Electricity is generated by use of wind turbine. A wind
turbine, or alternatively referred to as a wind energy
converter, is a device that converts the wind’s kinetic energy
into electrical energy. Wind turbines are manufactured in
a wide range of vertical and horizontal axis. The annual
wind power potential for the area in and around NCL in
lying in the states of UP and MP both at 50 m and 100 m
Above Ground Level are very low as compared to coastal
areas of India.
Analysis was done using RETScreen for a period of 20 years
for which the following results were obtained:

Fig. 14. Summary of result of simulation for case 2.

IId. Case 3 – Area Available in Mines of Thin Patches
Having Width not More Than 3 Metres
Several places in mines have width not more than 3 meters
but length not an issue for installing 2 strings of module.
Such places where modules can be permanently installed
at safe distance from blasting zone are for e.g., dumping’s
which have reached their final height and haul roads away
from faces. The electricity generated can be used to power
the lights for illumination purpose in mines after sunset.
Assuming 6 modules per string with 2 strings in parallel just
required an area of 19.6 m2. Simulation in SAM resulted in
the following outputs: Fig. 17. Climate data by NASA.

Fig. 15. Monthly Energy Production.

Fig. 18. Cumulative cash flow.

Fig. 16. Summary of result of simulation for case 3.

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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

The total amount of annual electricity generated by solar

PV module array is directly proportional to the installation
area. Some of opencast projects of NCL are similar to
infrastructural facilities like Kakri Project whereas Mega
opencast projects of NCL are far bigger than Kakri Project
and so it the area available for installation. Hence similar
case study can be devised for each and every projects of
NCL and approximate annual electricity generation by use
of solar PV modules in such areas can be predicted. It is
also safe to say that results obtained above will have similar
characteristics for other projects of NCL.
Fig. 19. Financial Viability.

Net cash flow is negative for the above period. Energy The above simulations can also be tested in premium paid
production cost is Rs 50.33 per kWh. software’s like PVSyst and Aurora for confirmation of the
same.
IV. Analysis And Interpretation
V. Conclusions
In the cases analysed through simulation it is clearly evident
that only use of Solar Energy for generation of electricity is Based on the study, the following conclusions are drawn:
feasible. Use of wind energy is not feasible.
Vast potential remains untapped in the field of use of
Below is the table showing actual consumption of electricity solar energy for generation and inhouse consumption of
for Township of Kakri Project for last three financial years electricity in NCL. Solar energy tapping through use of
as per cost sheet figures[6] vs proposed annual electricity solar PV modules is financially viable option than use
generation in case 1. of wind turbine. The results have clearly indicated that
significant amount of electricity would be generated by the
Fig in ‘000’ kWh FY 16-17 FY 17-18 FY 18-19 use of solar power for inhouse consumption which will be
Township 7032.28 6810.09 6285.49 of renewable in nature thereby reducing carbon footprint
and will not only help NCL in financial savings in long
Proposed Annual
electricity run but also put an example of a model in sustainable
generation in 4852.365 4852.365 4852.365 development in front of the world.
case 1
% of actual 69% 71.25% 77.19% References
consumption
[1] https://unfccc.int
Table 1. Comparison. [2] https://www.bp.com
In the above comparison the actual consumption of [3] https://niti.gov.in
industrial use for last three financial years has not been
[4] https://sam.nrel.gov
taken. The table indicates that about 70% of annual
electricity consumption can be fulfilled by the use of [5] https://www.nrcan.gc.ca
PV modules as per case 1 along with gross annual GHG [6] Cost sheets of KakriProject for FY 16-17, FY 17-18 &
reduction of about 4000 tCO2 as indicated in the simulation FY 18-19.
in RETScreen. Case 2 indicates there is also considerable [7] Klaus Jäger, Olindo Isabella, Arno H.M. Smets René,
potential if added to grid of case1. Case 3 indicates that vast A.C.M.M. van Swaaij, Miro Zeman, “Solar Energ:
potential remains untapped in mines as annual energy of Fundamentals, Technology and Systems”, Book
5767 kWh is generated in just an area of less than 20 m2. Published in 2014 by Delft University of Technology
The payback period is 12 years which should be kept in
mind while planning. Per unit cost of electricity generated
is reduced in the 25 years model in comparison to 20 years
model. Hence installations should be preferred in those
places which have life more than 12 years and longer the
better.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
The Performance Evaluation of Solar Energy System
Based on the Environmental Parameters in Mines
Ganti prafulkumar
Dept. of Mining, National Institute of Technology
Rourkela, India
Email: 518mn1002@nitrkl.ac.in
Abstract — This paper highlights the world’s most energy
source is Fossil fuels by making up eighty-two percent of the
global energy supply. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy
resources, as they have taken millions of years and years to
form the energy resources. Renewable energy is an energy
which is produced from sources that do not exhaust. But most
common examples of Renewable energy sources are wind en-
ergy, solar energy, geo-thermal energy, biomass energy, and
hydropower energy. This paper focuses on solar power en-
ergy and influence of mining environmental parameters like
dust, temperature, humidity and wind, along with the min-
ing site factors in generation of solar energy is reviewed. This
study presents an overview on the solar energy system and
its application in surface mines. Some case studies are also
presented here collecting data from an active opencast mine.
Keywords— Fossil fuels, Renewable energy, solar
energy, Environmental parameters.
I. Introduction
Solar power is the most generous, renewable energy
source in the universe. In which solar power system
that converts the sun’s heat or light to another form of
solarize power for use. Solar power technologies have
been efficiently developed and used increasingly in many
countries that have large amount of solar radiation. Solar
energy systems are considered the most attractive energy
sources [1]. Photovoltaic (PV) systems can be used as
stand-alone systems and can be connected to grid there
are two levels of technologies that harness solar power,
1.solar PV and 2.solar thermal. Solar PV system is a
technology that converts sunlight into DC electricity by
using semiconductors in the system. The amount of power
generated by a PV panel depends on solar irradiance falling
on the surface, operating temperature, and load connected.
A maximum [2] power point tracker MMPT is an electronic
DC to DC converter that optimizes the match between the
solar array (PV panels), and the battery bank or utility grid.
They convert a higher voltage DC output from solar panels
down to the lower voltage needed to charge batteries. In
contrast, with it is a technology that utilizes the heat energy
from the sun for heating or electricity production. Fig: 1
shows that total installed renewable energy capacity.
Prof. H.K.Naik
Dept. of Mining, National Institute of Technology
Rourkela, India
Email: hknaik@nitrkl.ac.in
Fig. 1. Total installed Renewable Energy Capacity (GW)
II. Photovoltaic System
Photovoltaic is the technology that generates direct
current (DC) electrical power measured in watts (W) from
semiconductors when they are illuminated by photons
as long as light shining on the solar cell it generates
the electrical power. When light stops electricity stops
Photovoltaic (PV) system is an arrangement of several
components, including solar panel. [3] It is used to
absorb sun light and convert in to electrical production
to a solar inverter. It is used to convert the output from
direct ac system, as well as amounting cable system, and
other electrical accessories of the solar panel to set up a
working system. Photovoltaic technology can significantly
impact the socio-economic development of isolated rural
world. The progressive electrification of area has not yet
interconnected to the main electricity grid. Although with
decreasing PV prices significantly, increasing cost of diesel
fuel for operating DG. [4]The diesel generator set faces high
cost of per unit generation, increases cost of fuel adding
fuel transportation cost, adds high cost for single source
of power generation comparing to Solar PV. Photovoltaic
panels’ installation has many limitations all over the
world. There are many models to estimate solar flux over
a geographical area. The performance of photovoltaic solar
cells is intimately related to the properties of the materials
from which they are made, and many materials science
problems are encountered in the understanding of existing
305

solar cells and the development of more efficient, less costly
and more stable cells. Every semiconducting material in
a suitable electronic environment is capable of exhibiting
properties that might properly be called photovoltaic. It
should operate in silently without harming or affecting the
Environmental parameters of the Photovoltaic system.
Fig. 2. Photovoltaic system
III. Pv Cell
The term “photo” means light and “voltaic” means electricity.
Thus, a photovoltaic cell is a device that converts sunlight
directly into electricity. The electric current generated
depends on solar irradiation. PV cell can generate around
0.5 to 0.9V. Because of the small power generated by PV
cell, modules contain several PV cells connected in parallel
and series to form PV panel. [5] The equivalent circuit of a
PV cell includes diode, shunt resistance, series resistance
representing an internal resistance to current flow, and
current source Furthermore, panels are connected in
parallel and/or series to form an array A PV Panel consist
of several PV modules connected in series and parallel.
Typically solar cells are made up of semi-conductors
materials, which have weakly bonded electrons occupying
a band of energy called the valence band. [14] When the
solar cell is exposed to sun light of sufficient energy, the
incident solar photons are absorbed by the atoms, breaking
the bonds of valence electrons and pumping them up to
higher energy in the conduction band.
Fig. 3. Single diode equivalent circuit of PV cell
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
 Ip = Photo or light generated current (A),
 Id = Current through diode (A),
 RSh = Shunt resistance (Ω), and
 RS = Series resistance (Ω)
Partial shading is defined as a shadow falling on part of
the PV system, which will in turn decrease the current
generated for shaded cells, and resulted in decreasing the
overall power generated from the PV system
IV. Impact Of Environmental Parameters
On The Photovoltaic System
A. Impact of temperature on the phtovoltaic system
In PV system usually, Solar cells works best at low
temperatures. But in Higher temperatures will cause the
semiconductor properties to change the result in a slight
increase in current, but a larger decrease in voltage too.
Since much of the sunlight rays falling directly on the
solar cells it[15] becomes over heat, but in proper thermal
management it improves both efficiency and lifetime of
the photovoltaic system. The effect of temperature on the
electrical efficiency of a PV cell/module can be traced to
the former’s influence upon the current, I, and the voltage,
as the maximum power is given by
Pm=VmIm(FF)VocIsc (1)
In this fundamental expression, which also serves as
a definition of the fill factor, FF, subscript refers to the
maximum power point in the module’s I–V curve, while
subscripts oc and sc denote open circuit and short circuit.
B. Impact of wind on the photovoltaic system
According to the impact of temperature on the Photovoltaic
system performance is this: cooler panels allow more energy
to get through as an electric current than hot panels do.
Here where the wind enters in to a system in this process
[16] Wind cools solar panels of the system. The growth of
wind and photovoltaic (PV) power generation systems has
exceeded the most optimistic estimation.
Fig. 4. Block diagram of PV/wind
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

C. Impact of humidity on the photovoltaic system: solar fraction is larger than any of those for the maximum
In this impact of humidity on the Solar panel system which solar radiation at the top of the collector by about 5 to
creates obstruction for drastic variation in the power 8°.The optimum tilt angle of the collector depends on the
generated system, indirectly in photovoltaic system it operation strategy.
makes the device work less efficiently than it could have
without it. Whereas humidity can decelerate efficiency in
two ways:
• In this first efficiency way tiny water droplet like beads
of sweat and reflects sunlight away from solar cells.
In this process this reduces the amount of sunlight
hitting the solar panel and producing electricity.
• In this second efficiency way in Consistent hot,
humidity climatic weather it can degrade the solar
panels of the system themselves over their lifetime.
It is for combination of both crystalline silicon cells
Fig. 5. Solar radiation on an inclined surface.
and thin film modules, in case of cadmium telluride
(thin film) of the solar cells can perform all about five
percentage in the tropical climatic condition.
VI. Solar Pv Panel
Solar Photovoltaic (PV) is a technology that converts
D. Impact of dust on the photovoltaic system
sunlight (solar radiation) into direct current Electricity by
In the process of mining, large amount of Dust comes at
mineral mine sites from following activities like Heavy using semiconductors. When the sun hits the semiconductor
Earth moving Machines (HEMM), drilling the rock within the PV cell, electrons are freed and form an electric
and soil, bulldozing, blasting, and heavy truck vehicles current. [9] Solar PV technology is generally employed
travelling on dirt roads. [11] In this case, most of the dust on a panel (hence solar panels). PV cells are typically
particles coming from the mining process are large tiny found connected to each other and mounted on a frame
dust particles, also called Particulate Matter (PM10). These called a module. PV cells can be made from various semi-
types of tiny particles are generated when soil is disturbed conductor materials. The most commonly used material
or when wind blows over bare ground and stockpiles in today is silicon
the mine area. [12] Dust accumulation is one of the main
concerns that may cause a significant deterioration of PV • Monocrystalline Silicon
efficiency. The performance of PV systems is generally • Polycrystalline Silicon
affected by the real weather conditions in remote mining • Amorphous Silicon
areas. • Cadmium Telluride (CdTe)
• Copper Indium Gallium Selenide (CIGS)
V. Tilt Angle On Pv Panel System One important advantage of solar PV is it that utilizes the
Under most circumstances a solar collector of the flat most abundant renewable energy resource on the planet, the
plate type will be a fixed installation which has no tracking sun. Estimates show that there is 10,000x more solar energy
device to follow the sun. In order to absorb the largest rate coming to the Earth’s surface than global annual fossil
of energy around noontime, when the altitude of the sun fuel demand [10] Another advantage of solar PV’s is that
has a maximum, [7] the plate should always face south or it transitions electricity generation from large, centralized
north depending on the hemisphere under consideration. facilities to smaller, decentralized production sites.
However, apart from that, the collector will be tilted from
the horizontal PV panels are most efficient when they
are directly facing the sun. Because it depends upon the
location and its own geographical latitude and longitude
which plays main role for maximum power from the PV
panel system. [13] Solar collectors need to be tilted at the
correct angle to maximize the performance of the system.
The orientation of the collector is described by its azimuth
and tilt angles. [8] Generally, systems installed in the
northern hemisphere are oriented due south and tilted at
a certain angle. The optimum tilt angle for the maximum Fig. 6. Solar PV panels Installed at mine-A

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VII. Solar Energy Generation Per Day Fig. 8. Inverter-1 Installed at mine-A

Table II. Details of Inverter-2

Details Of Inverter-2

TRIO-27.6-TL-
01 Model
OUTD

02 Nominal output power 30KVA

03 Maximum dc current/MPPT 32A

04 Number of MPPT 2

05 Voltage range MPP 500-800V

06 Frequency 50HZ

Fig: 7. solar energy generation per day at mine-A

VIII. Inverter
An inverter that converts direct current electricity to
alternating current either for stand-alone PV systems or to
supply power to an electricity grid. This converts sun’s direct
dc current to ac current. In most photovoltaic systems, one
inverter is linking several solar panels to the grid or separate
network. [17] In decentralized systems the nominal power
is typically about 1kW to 3kW, in some applications lower.
The panels are arranged in series and in parallel to obtain a
DC-power source. The inverter is linked to this source via a
DC-line. The possibility to expand a photovoltaic system by
Fig. 9. Inverter-2 Installed at mine-A
adding solar panels is inherent, if the inverter is integrated
TABLE III. Total No. Of Modules Connected In Series &
into the panels.
Parallel In Mine -A
Table I. Details of Inverter-1
Details Of Inverter-1 For Inverter-1 17 in Series 4 in Parallel
01 Model ABB TRIO- 19 in Series 6 in Parallel
TM-60.0-480
For Inverter-2 17 in series 3 in parallel
02 Nominal output power 60KVA
20 in series 2 in parallel
03 Maximum dc voltage 1000V

04 Maximum dc current per MPPT 36A IX. Conclusion

05 Voltage Range MPP 300-950V Based on the study, the following conclusion is Solar
energy system is rapidly increasing as an alternative energy
06 frequency 50HZ
source. Solar energy system really is better option of power
generating system world-wide, especially in remote mining
areas. In this study some preliminary investigation was
carried in an opencast mine where they have installed
PV panels in their mines. The power generated per day is
presented and it is planned to do further study with respect
to weather conditions in the mines and effect of dust and
tilt angle.

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
GHG Emission Factor – A Way Forward for Green
Mining Initiatives
Dr Manoj Kumar*
Manager(M), E&F Deptt , CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
m.kumar7206@coalindia.in
Sangeeta
Sr Mgr (Env), E&F Deptt., CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
sangeetaccl@gmail.com
Abstract — This article provides a new methodology for
deriving emission factor for Front End Pay loader (FEL),
Electric Shovel (ES), Electric operated Hydraulic Shovel
(EoHS), Diesel operated Hydraulic Shovel (DoHS), Surface
Miner (SM), Side Discharge Loader (SDL) and Load Haul
Dump (LHD) machine and thereby using it to develop emis-
sion model for coal mines. This model sets to works as per
Defra guidelines and IPCC standards under stipulated as-
sumptions. This model uses, Visual studio, Management stu-
dio, SQL server and coding in C Sharp, C++, and html and
uses java script.
The findings are of the recent field study for the mining
activities from 2012-2017 in different opencast coal and un-
derground coal mining complexes of major coal producing
company of India. We successfully sampled 262 equipment,
with 9995 data sets. Emission factors (EF) for the equipment
are derived from measurements, which are in consistent with
the results. The EF for target equipment in kg CO2e/ton of
coal production was 2.93 : 2.17 : 3.29 : 4.22 : 0.42 : 6.21 : 4.44.
The EF for target equipment in kg CO2e/hr of working was
176.46 : 165.63 : 188.61 : 227.29 : 257.40 : 37.07 : 34.86.
Keywords— Underground, Opencast, CO2e, Emission
I. Introduction
. Climate change and its effects are a harsh reality faced
today. The ambitious emission reduction measures
modelled in most global emission pathways are not
enough to achieve the Paris Agreement targets for limiting
temperature rise [23]. It is the high time, where we have to
think of aligning the pledge with the 1.5 degree Celsius goal
– a more stringent target than existing agreement to limit
average temperature rise within 2 degree Celsius by 2100.
The most scientific estimates show that to keep the goal of
limiting Green House Gas (GHG) emission so as limiting
warming to 1.5 degree Celsius rather than 2 degrees, the
global emissions trajectory must not only reach net zero by
the second half of the century but also continue downward
into net negative emission. There is need to pursue
aggressive emission reductions. It’s scientifically possible
K S Gaiwal
Chief Mgr (M), Dir (T/Oprns) Secretariat.
CCL, CIL
Ranchi, India
Ksgaiwal1972@gmail.com
Rajesh Kr Jha
AMIE/FI, Nigahi Project, NCL, CIL
Singrauli, India
rkumar_jha@yahoo.co.in
to do that. India has already taken several actions in the
direction”. Though coal-mining activities shows lower
GHG emission but still some activities needs attention
for reduction in GHG emission [3]. Knowledge of process
wise, equipment wise emission factor will help the process.
For this emission inventory needs to be pinpointed or
flagged. There are possibilities that some equipment used
in some processes are emitting little bit GHG but they can
be removed or lessened using green initiatives in the coal
mining process. Many technologies could potentially play
a role in less GHG emission into atmosphere to meet the
target set at Paris. The removal of CO2 and its storage is
immense expensive [9]. Thus, inexpensive way to meet
the target is reducing emission from the already prevailing
system. Some work for estimation of carbon footprint
have been made [1, 3, 8, 14, 15, 16, and 17]. The study is
limited to Front End Pay loader (FEL), Electric Shovel
(ES), Electric operated Hydraulic Shovel (EoHS), Diesel
operated Hydraulic Shovel (DoHS), Surface Miner (SM),
Side Discharge Loader (SDL) and Load Haul Dump (LHD).
As per Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), the scope of emission of this equipment falls in
scope 1 for burning fossil fuel (Diesel) and oxidizing of
lubricants being used in loading coal and allied activities
and Scope-II for using purchased electricity [11,12,13].
II. Hupothesis & Objective
A. Hypothesis
The hypothesis of this swotting is that the estimation of
cumulative emissions by using GHG Emission model
may be used as a tool of green mining initiatives which
will further enhance production on one hand and help
the country in achieving INDUC commitment to Paris
Agreement.
B. Objective
The main objective of the study is to deduce or derive
Emission factor and develop a GHG emission model based
on hypothesis for FEL, ES, EoHS, DoHS, SM, SDL, LHD.
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

III. Material & Methodology IV. Data Collection

A. Equipment under Study . The adaptation of data collection compared to those of
The target equipment are off road vehicle usually deployed our previous work of GHG emission assessment for an
in opencast and underground coal mines. Table 1 illustrate opencast mine [2, 14], Study already made for derivation of
the population, dataset and period of study. emission factor [18, 19, 20] enabled cramming to identify
TABLE I : Details Of Equipment Under Study.
the corresponding target equipment more precisely.
Sl No. Equipment No(s). Data Set Period
The protocol was flexible allowing the selection of target
1 FEL 43 1188 2013-16 equipment in desired mining complexes.
2 ES 83 7920 2012-17
A. Front End Loader (FEL)
3 EoHS 19 * 2012-17 For the convenience of study, 43 equipment of the study
4 DoHS 80 * 2012-17
area were divided into 9 mining complexes i.e. MC1 to
MC9. These mining complexes are of one of the major
5 SM 02 365 2014-15 subsidiary of the major coal producing company of India
6 SDL 35 522 2012-16 situated in Jharkhand, India. The location where the study
were made is illustrated in fig.3.
7 LHD 06 ** 2012-16

Total 268 9995 B. Shovel

The equipment under study was grouped in to three
Note : *  included at sl no. 2, ** included at sl no. 6 category based on operating fuels used, All together 182
B. Methodology equipments were considered in this paper.
The methodology for different equipment involves
C. Surface Miner : This is environmental friendly
calculating the total emissions [11, 12, 13] from the specific
machine and eliminates drilling and blasing in the
equipment and dividing that figure by the total amount of
coal produced hereby termed as production (P) or time coal winning process. 2 numbers of surface miner
taken by specific equipment in hours, hereby termed as were considred for this study (Fig. 2).
working hour (WH) [18, 19, 20]. Data for the quantities D. SDL & LHD : These equipment are deployed below
of coal produced, working hour, Diesel consumption and ground for the coal winning process. 35 number of
lubricant consumption for specific equipment within eqipment of these category were taken under this
dedicated mining complexes were collected from different research work.
mining complexes, and their corporate offices and
dedicated websites.
Total emissions were calculated from different data set
collected at different mining complexes at different time
and by applying the appropriate default emission factors
as per Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
[4,5,6,7,10].

Fig. 1 : Methodology of deducing EF for mining equipment Fig 2 : Location of Target Equipment (SM only)

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By using equation (1) and equation (2) as above, the

emission in the study area was estimated for each equipment
using data sets collected during the survey (Table 2).

TABLE 2 : Measured Emission In Study Area (As Per Measured Set Of Data)

Equipment GHG emission in MT CO2e

ES 1.30752332

EoHS 0.70637252

DoHS 1.82880521

FEL 0.00497

SM -

SDL 0.0014348

LHD 0.0001398
Once the total emissions from the sampled equipment
were calculated, the total emission was divided by the total
amount of coal production and total working hours taken
by respective equipment to load the coal for deriving the
equipment specific emission factor. Emission factor so
derived is given by box equation (3) comprising of 16 nos.
of sub equation.
Fig 3 : Location of Target Equipment (Except SM)
The individual equipment were coded [18] and allotted a
unique number. The diesel consumption, lubricant usages,
electricity consumption and working hour were collected
for the target equipment along with coal loaded/handled by
this equipment from the selected mining complexes. These
data sets were successfully sampled, collected, segregated, ------------- (3-I)
analyzed and compiled.
V. Data Analysis
Different equipment were classified on the basis of make
model. By using data set collected, GHG emission were
estimated for equipment under study.
------------- (3-II)
VI. Calculation of Carbon footprint
For calculating GHG emission for individual equipment
following empirical relation developed by Manoj &
Sangeeta et. al. 2015 were used.

------------- (3-III)
(1)

Where,
TE = Total emission in kg
ES = Emission due to various activity level

------------- (3-IV)
----------------- (2)

311

------------- (3-V)
------------- (3-VI)
------------- (3-VII)
------------- (3-VIII)
------------- (3-IX)
------------- (3-X)
------------- (3-XI)
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
------------- (3-XII)
------------- (3-XIII)
------------- (3-XIV)
------------- (3-XV)
------------- (3-XVI)
The emission factor using equation (3-I to 3-XVI) has been
tabulated at table 3. These equation can also be used for
calculating total GHG emission of the mining premises or
where these equipment is deployed depending on avail-
ability and estimation of data either in tones of coal (Table
4) or cum of coal/OB (Table 5) or working hours of equip-
ment (Table 6).
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

TABLE 3 : Derived Emission Factors VII. Use Of Emission Factor

Emission Emission Emission fac- The emission factor calculated above may be used as
factor on factor on Pro- tor on Work-
Equipment Production duction basis ing hours
emission inventory estimation and would encourage mine
basis in Kg in Kg CO2e / basis in Kg managers in taking corrective steps towards sustainability.
CO2e / tons Cum CO2e / hrs On the basis of EF so derived an interactive software has
been developed using Visual studio, Management studio,
FEL 2.93 176.46
SQL server and coding in C Sharp, C++, and html and
ES 2.17 1.38 165.63 uses java script. This software is module based and can be
accessed on www.mkpatna.in.
EoHS 3.29 2.09 188.61

DoHS 4.22 2.69 227.29

VIII. Conclusions
Based on the study, the following conclusions are drawn:
SM 0.42 257.40 The present study developed the Framework to assess
D
emission factor for Front End Loader /Pay loader.
Emission factors (EF) for the equipment were derived from
SDL 6.21 37.07 measurements, which are in consistent with the results.
Two nos. of empirical relation namely for EF on production
LHD 4.44 34.86 basis and EF on working hour basis.
TABLE 4 : GHG Emission Estimation - Type Of Equipment ( The emission factor as tabulated for FEL/Pay loader, ES,
Production In Tes) EoHS & DoHS, SM, SDL, LHD on production basis is 2.93,
kg CO2e / tones, 2.17 Kg CO2e/ tes, 3.29 Kg CO2e/ tes & 4.22
Emission Total Kg
Equipment Tonne x
factor CO2e Kg CO2e/ tes, 0.42 kg CO2e / tons 6.21, 4.44 respectively
kg CO2e/ton of coal production respectively. On Working
FEL x 2.93
hour basis it is 176.46 kg CO2e/ hr, 165.63 Kg CO2e/ hr,
ES x 2.17 188.61 Kg CO2e/ hr & 227.29 Kg CO2e/ hr, 257.40 kg
EoHS x 3.29 CO2e/ working hour, 37.07, 34.86 kg CO2e/ working hour
DoHS x 4.22 respectively.
SM x 0.42 The emission factor on excavated material basis for ES,
EoHS & DoHS were found to be 1.38 Kg CO2e/ Cum, 2.09
D
Kg CO2e/ Cum & 2.69 Kg CO2e/ Cum respectively.
SDL x 6.21 This application has been applied for few equipments
LHD x 4.44 which would necessitates to include more machinery from
TABLE 5 : GHG Emission Estimation - Type Of Equipment different locations in future with varied size of complex-
(Working Hours In Hrs Basis) es along with different geographical locations. Study for
Equipment Hours x
Emission Total Kg absorption, adsorption, release of fugitive emission due to
factor CO2e handling of coal is required to be incorporated for future
FEL x 176.46 work for accurate estimation of GHG emission to the open
ES x 165.63 atmosphere due to deployment of equipments under study.
EoHS x 188.61
Though the emission factor so developed has wide appli-
cation in assessing GHG emission at workplace where this
DoHS x 227.29
equipment are planned to be deployed for the purpose of
SM x 257.40 loading coal. The uniqueness of this factor is that it has
D both the components i.e. carbon footprints as well as sus-
SDL x 37.07 tainability aspects. Results of this would encourage mine
managers in taking corrective steps towards sustainability.
LHD x 34.86
TABLE 6 : GHG Emission Estimation - Type Of Equipment
Acknowledgement
(Production In Cum) The authors would like to acknowledge hat tip gratitude
Emission Total Kg to the coal mines officials for extending their help and
Equipment Cum x
factor CO2e coordination. We would also like to thank all for online
ES x 1.38 and offline support for completing this study. The views
presented by authors are solely their interpretation. The
EoHS x 2.09
authors extend their endettement to ICOMS-2019 team for
DoHS x 2.69 accepting this paper.

313

A review of Catalytic Pyrolysis and Torrefaction of
Biomass to Enhance High-Value Chemicals in Bio-oil and
Maximize High Energy Gases in Non-condensable Volatiles
Satyajit Shukla
Chemical Engineering, IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, India
satyajit.krshukla.rs.che18@iitbhu.ac.in
Abstract—
Torrefied bio-oil contains various chemicals in trace quantities
which decrease its value. Some metal chlorides such as MgCl2,
ZnCl2, AlCl3, FeCl3, etc. have been reported to enhance certain
high-value chemicals such as furfural, an important platform
chemical, in torrefied bio-oil. Catalytic microwave torrefaction
reduces the number of chemical compounds and effectively
increases the yield of furfural. Using catalysts helps in lowering
the decomposition temperature of hemicelluloses resulting in
energy savings. By using a central composite design of response
surface methodology, we can know conditions for maximum
furfural production. Using Gas chromatographic analysis,
we obtain the chemical composition of bio-oil and non-
condensable gases. Douglas fir sawdust catalytic microwave
torrefaction performed by ren et al. (2019) reported furfural
concentrations over 20 mg/g at 250°C reaction temperature,
10 min reaction time, and eight wt. % catalyst/reactant ratio.
Increasing torrefaction reaction temperature, time, and catalyst
loading increases the yield of torrefied bio-oil but decreases
the yield of torrefied biochar. The bio-oil analysis suggested
low temperature, long reaction time, and high catalyst loading
enhances furfural production. The non-condensable gas
analysis shows high reaction temperature and catalyst loading
to enhance carbon monoxide and methane gases. These are
important gases for energy production. We can mix torrefied
biomass with coal for co-combustion, which will reduce total
ash content, thus mitigating the pollution level. Furfural
can be used to produce various important products such as
ink, plastics, antacids, fungicides, fertilizers, and flavoring
compounds. Therefore catalytic microwave torrefaction is a
breakthrough method that results in many benefits.
Keywords- catalytic torrefaction, process enhancement, furfural,
methane and hydrogen, selective catalysts for torrefaction
I. Introduction
Excessive usage of non-renewable energy sources and
its associated environmental impacts has prompted
researchers to focus their attention on renewable energy
sources. Biomass is one such important renewable energy
314
Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
Dr. Jyoti Prasad Chakraborty
Chemical Engineering, IIT (BHU),
Varanasi, India
jpc.che@iitbhu.ac.in
source. We can convert biomass into various biofuels and
chemicals via thermochemical and biochemical conversion
technologies. Despite having enough potential to meet our
energy demands, biomass resources are underutilized due
to some inherent drawbacks such as high moisture content,
hydrophilicity, low energy and mass yields, low density, and
low higher heating values (HHV). Torrefaction process,
which is mild pyrolysis between the temperature range
of 200-300 °C under an inert atmosphere, has proven to
be a suitable solution for efficient utilization of biomass
as it makes biomass hydrophobic, improves grindability,
flowability properties and increases HHV. The Torrefaction
process produces solid biochar, liquid bio-oil, and non-
condensable gases. Biochar, also known as biocoal, can
be used for co-combustion applications with coal as it
has low ash content and no nitrogen and sulfur content.
Therefore it helps in reducing environmental pollution.
Bio-oil contains various chemicals such as levoglucosan
(LG), levoglucosenone(LGO), furfural (FF), and phenolic
compounds, etc. The non-condensable gases include H2,
CO2, CO, CH4 mainly.
As we observe the composition of bio-oil and non-
condensable gases, there is a mixture of compounds/
gases. We can maximize the concentration of some of
these high-value chemicals and high energy gases by
introducing some catalysts in the torrefaction process.
Researchers have used oxides and chlorides of alkali earth
metals as catalysts in torrefaction and pyrolysis. These
catalysts can selectively increase the production of desired
products while suppressing the production of all undesired
products. For example, simple torrefaction produces non-
condensable gases, mainly consisting of carbon dioxide
and carbon monoxide, while hydrogen and methane are in
trace quantities. [1] But by using magnesium chloride as a
catalyst in torrefaction of doulas fir sawdust, Ren et al. have
optimized the production of methane.[2] Similarly, Zeng et
al. have performed catalytic pyrolysis of the torrefied cotton
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
stalk and found out increased production of hydrogen
from 1.39 to 3.67 mmol/g. [3] Ren et al. have successfully
obtained furfural, an important platform chemical, in the
concentration of over 20 mg/g at torrefaction temperature,
time, and catalyst/reactant ratio of 250 °C, 10 min and eight
wt. % using MgCl2 as a catalyst. [2]
Therefore, we observe that there exists a way to selectively
increase the concentration of certain high-value chemicals
in bio-oil and increase the concentration of high energy
gases in non-condensable gas fraction as compared to simple
non-catalytic torrefaction and pyrolysis. In this review
article, we aim to emphasize on catalytic torrefaction and
catalytic pyrolysis processes. We start by introducing the
torrefaction process and its important process parameters
and products and then move towards the catalytic process.
Important catalysts used in torrefaction and pyrolysis and
their effect on product composition are discussed next. We
conclude by discussing possible future ways to improve
current technology.
II. Drawbacks of raw biomass
Raw biomass feedstock contains high moisture content
and is usually hydrophilic. Therefore long-term storage
of biomass becomes difficult. Even drying cannot solve
this problem as biomass re-absorbs moisture after some
time. [4] The energy density of raw biomass is also less, so
a large volume of biomass is required for certain energy
production. It increases transportation costs. Raw biomass
also has significantly lower HHV close to 15 MJ/Kg. Lower
HHV of raw biomass is attributed to less fixed carbon
content and more hydrogen and oxygen content. Lower
HHV again compels us to use more amount of biomass for
certain energy production. Fibrous nature of raw biomass
increases energy consumption for grinding. [5]The
poor spherical shape of biomass leads to low flowability.
These issues associated with raw biomass make its direct
utilization in combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis
difficult. The Torrefaction process improves the properties
of raw biomass and eliminates its drawbacks. Details of the
torrefaction process are discussed in the next section.
III. Torrefaction Process- General
Principles, Types, Instruments And
Process Parameters
A. Process definition
Torrefaction is defined as low-temperature pyrolysis or
high temperature drying between 200 to 300 °C under an
inert atmosphere of mostly nitrogen gas at suitable heating
rates between 5 to 15 °C/min for a certain time ( 15 to
45 minutes mostly). Traditionally, torrefaction in the lab
is performed by utilizing a thermogravimetric analyzer
(TGA) or bench scale tube furnace and reactor assembly.
A certain weight of dried biomass sample is heated from
room temperature to the desired temperature at a constant
heating rate and kept at that desired temperature for
certain residence time in TGA. Solid biochar is taken out
for further characterization and analysis. Volatiles are
separated as condensable liquid and non-condensable gases
and are further analyzed for composition and properties.
In the furnace and reactor assembly, we get more amount
of solid torrefied biomass, which helps in grindability and
hydrophobic behavior analysis. [1]
B. Types of torrefaction
To improve the torrefaction process, some researchers are also
investigating different types of torrefaction. Wet torrefaction
using hot compressed water at 180-260 °C is one such
method. Wet torrefied biomass is more hydrophobic and has
higher energy density than dry torrefied biomass; however,
it undergoes more rapid and concentrated combustion as
compared to coal-like combustion behavior of dry torrefied
biomass.[1] [6] Tong et al. [7] investigated a gas-pressurized
(GP) torrefaction method for biomass waste. They found
out that the GP torrefied biomass had lower volatile matter
content and higher carbon content than the torrefied
biomass obtained by the traditional method with carrier
gas under atmospheric pressure. Gas pressure promoted
thermal decomposition of hemicelluloses and cellulose. [7]
HHV of rice straw and sawdust, obtained by GP torrefaction,
was significantly higher than atmospheric pressure (AP)
torrefaction. Higher oxygen removal was also possible in GP
torrefaction. Microwave torrefaction (MWT) of biomass has
recently emerged as a new technology of torrefaction. The
advantages of microwave heating over traditional heating
are fast and uniform internal heating as well as lower energy
consumption. [8] However, MWT depends on the type
of biomass. This technology works efficiently if biomass
feedstock is a good absorber of microwave irradiation. Types
of biomass torrefied by MWT include rice husk, rice straw,
sugarcane residues, sewage sludge, empty fruit bunch and
doulas fir pellets, etc. MW power level plays an important
role in MWT. Higher the MW power level, more is the
heating rate. Higher yields of liquid and gas were obtained
at a higher MW power level, while the yield of solid char
decreased. Also, Furfural and phenol were predominant
in bio-oil at a higher MW power level. [9] Brachi et al.
[10] investigated torrefaction in a fluidized bed reactor
using air as carrier gas instead of nitrogen. The process
becomes economical by using air as a carrier gas. They
have established that fluidized bed torrefaction depends on
315

the type of biomass. Physical properties (mass and energy
density, hardness, and durability) of torrefied olive pomace
pellets improved by using air, however, process performance
(mass and energy yields of char) was relatively less compared
to nitrogen-based torrefaction. [10] In this article, we have
focused mainly on dry torrefaction, unless stated otherwise,
because it is simple, economical and practical.
C. Mechanism and process parameters
Solid biochar obtained from the torrefaction reactor
is further analyzed. Volatiles are condensed through
counter-current condenser and chiller assembly, and non-
condensable volatiles is collected in the gas collector for
further analysis. Primary constituents of any biomass are
hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. [1/60] Torrefaction
depends on the degradation of these constituents.
Agricultural residues degrade faster than ligneous plants.
[1/20] Deciduous trees degrade more actively than
coniferous trees because of xylan containing hemicellulose
part as compared to glucomannan in the hemicellulose
part of coniferous trees. [1/35] It has been established
that torrefaction is mainly due to the decomposition
of hemicellulose. Decomposition temperature range of
hemicelluloses, cellulose and lignin are reported to be 150-
350°C, 275-350°C and 250-500°C. [4/55] So it is evident
that torrefaction removes almost all hemicellulose but
retains most of cellulose and lignin content in solid biochar.
Thus fixed carbon content of biochar increases while
hydrogen and oxygen content decreases, therefore energy
density and HHV of solid torrefied biomass increases.
Volatiles such as water, CO2 are removed from the solid
product. The removal of hydroxyl groups makes solid
biomass hydrophobic because char loses its capability to
form hydrogen bonds. Deoxygenation, decarbonylation,
and dehydrogenation reactions of the torrefaction process
increase energy density and HHV of torrefied biomass.
Singh et al. [4] have studied flowability indices such as
carr compressibility index (CCI) and hausner ratio (HR)
for torrefied pigeon pea stalk. They found a reduction of
17.70% and 8.11 % in CCI and HR, respectively which
improved flowability of torrefied biomass. [4]
Important process parameters of torrefaction are
temperature, residence time, and heating rate. But the effect
of moisture content and particle size of biomass feedstock
should also be considered. Out of these parameters,
temperature is the most important one, as established by
several torrefaction studies conducted so far. Bridgeman et
al. [1/42] have found various parameters affect torrefaction
in the order of temperature > residence time > particle size.
Similarly Burrati et al. [4/12] studied impact of operating
parameters on HHV by statistical analysis. They found the
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
importance of parameters was in the order of temperature
> residence time > heating rate. Similar results were also
reported by many researchers including Mundike et al.
[4/13], Nimlos et al. [1/63], Sadaka et al. [1/64], and Chen
et al.[1/22] Effect of temperature and initial moisture
content (imc) was studied by Medic et al. [1/2] and they
established that the impact of temperature on energy and
mass loss was more as compared to imc. Mass and energy
losses were higher for higher imc of biomass. Solid yield
decreases while liquid and gas yield increases with an
increase in temperature and residence time. Temperature
selected for torrefaction experiment should be optimum in
a way that torrefaction should remove most hemicellulose
but retain cellulose and lignin content in biochar.
Optimization of process parameters for better performance
can be done using response surface methodology (RSM)
based simulations. Singh et al. [20] used central composite
design of RSM to optimize torrefaction of acacia nilotica
(babool) and found maximum energy yield and HHV
simultaneously at 252 °C, 60 min residence time and 5 °C/
min heating rate. Such knowledge of optimized process
parameters beforehand via simulation helps in saving time
and improving overall economy of the process.
D. Need for catalytic torrefaction
Analysis of composition of bio-oil by GC-MS shows many
chemicals in insignificant quantities. These chemicals
include polysaccharide sugars, phenolic compounds,
furfural and other furans etc. Furfural obtained from bio-
oil is an important platform chemical as it can be converted
to many useful high-value products such as ink, plastics,
antacids, fungicides, fertilizers, and flavouring compounds.
In non-catalytic torrefaction yield of furfural is very less
but it can be significantly increased using certain catalysts
such as MgCl2. [2]
Similarly GC-TCD analysis of gas sample shows CO2
and CO in significant quantity but H2 and CH4 in trace
quantities. Hydrogen combined with carbon monoxide
produces high energy syngas while methane also has
significant heating value. Therefore increasing amount
of these gases by using some type of selective catalysts in
torrefaction becomes important.
IV. Selective enhancement of high value
products in catalytic pyrolysis and
torrefaction
Various researchers have tried to study catalytic pyrolysis
and torrefaction. Their main focus has been on enhancing
high value chemicals in bio-oil and increasing amount of
energy producing gases such as H2, CO, and CH4. We will
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
discuss main findings of their research in this section.
A. Catalytic pyrolysis
Kuan et al. [21] studied the catalytic effects of microwave
pyrolysis on sugarcane bagasse. They used NiO, CuO, MgO
and CaO as catalysts. Production of H2 was enhanced by
using NiO and CaO catalysts (1-3 vol%) while CuO and
MgO slightly decreased the amount of H2 produced (3-6
vol%). CaO was the most effective catalyst in reducing
reaction temperature. CaO also increased total gaseous
production from 2.4 L to 2.5 L while all other catalysts
reduced it. However they observed decrease in amount of
methane with all four catalysts and decrease was more as
more catalysts were used. Only CuO increased CO gas and
Only MgO increased CO2 gas.
Pradana et al. [22] investigated the catalytic effects of CaO
and MgO in pyrolysis of Indonesian sugarcane bagasse
(SCB) for biofuel production. They carried out pyrolysis
experiment in a fixed bed reactor within a temperature
range of 20-480 °C. Two decomposition stages of pyrolysis-
rapid (260-340 °C) and slow (340-480 °C) were found in
the experiment. CaO was found to be very effective in
improving reaction kinetics as compared to MgO catalyzed
and non-catalyzed pyrolysis. Moreover CaO provided
higher weight reduction compared to MgO due to catalytic
effect of converting more SCB into liquid and gaseous
products. MgO improved reaction kinetics only in rapid
decomposition zone while being ineffective as catalyst in
slow decomposition zone.
Vichaphund et al. [23] investigated fast pyrolysis of
Jatropha residues using calcium oxide based catalysts at
500 °C. These catalysts were prepared from lime mud, the
industrial waste from pulp and paper mills. Fe/CaO and Ni/
CaO catalysts were obtained using wet impregnation and
calcinations process. An optimum biomass to catalyst ratio
was found to be 1:5. Complete elimination of undesired
acids and sugars in bio-oil and significant reduction of
N-containing compounds was obtained using derived CaO
catalysts, while formation of aliphatic hydrocarbons went
up by 37.3%. The Fe/CaO and Ni/CaO catalysts further
increased the selectivity for aliphatic hydrocarbons, and
reduced aldehyde formation compared to with CaO, with
Ni/CaO being the best catalyst for hydrocarbon selectivity
(47.5%) [23] They found these CaO based catalysts very
effective in catalytic fast pyrolysis applications.
Wang et al. [24] studied catalytic pyrolysis of pine wood
at 700 °C using K2CO3 and Ca(OH)2 as catalysts. K2CO3
catalyst enhanced yields of gaseous and char products and
reduced yield of bio-oil. K2CO3 (17.7 wt. %) successfully
eliminated all types of saccharides, aldehydes and alcohols
and suppressed formation of acids, furans and guaiacols
significantly. It promoted yields of alkanes and phenols.
It also increased cumulative yields of H2, CO2 and CO at
700°C. Ca(OH)2 (22.2 wt. %) eliminated acids and aldehydes
and significantly suppressed yields of saccharides, furans
and guaiacols. It remarkably promoted yield of alcohols as
compared to potassium carbonate. Though Ca(OH)2 did
not increase total yield of gaseous products, it enhanced
amount of hydrogen produced.
Wang et al. [25] studied pyrolysis of corncob with acid
(MCM-41) and base (CaO) catalysts using TGA-FTIR
analysis. Acid catalyst promoted formation of phenols,
hydrocarbons and methane while suppressed formation of
carbonyl compounds. Base catalyst CaO was more effective
than acid catalyst as it decreased formation of acids to a
larger extent while promoting formation of hydrocarbons
and methane more significantly. They found CaO to be very
effective in deacidification and conversion of acids promoted
formation of hydrocarbons and methane. With CaO catalyst,
major weight loss of 31% was obtained between 235-310 °C
with further weight loss of 21% during 650-800 °C.
Auta et al. [26] studied catalytic pyrolysis of palm oil empty
fruit bunch (EFB) using three catalysts K2CO3, Ca(OH)2 and
MgO. Calcium hydroxide was the most effective catalyst
as it gives maximum yield (42.64%) of bio-oil at 600°C
using 10 wt% catalyst. GC-MS analysis of bio-oil showed
relative increase in desirable phenolic content and decrease
in undesirable acidic content ,when compared with non-
catalytic bio-oil. Therefore calcium hydroxide has emerged
as an effective catalyst in improving quality and quantity of
bio-oil.
Sun et al. [27] studied a three stage biomass conversion process
comprising biomass pyrolysis, steam biochar gasification,
and catalyst regeneration with CO2 capture. They used Zr
modified CaO-HZSM-5 catalyst for this study. Catalyst
was prepared using ion exchange and wet impregnation
methods. This catalyst showed best bio-oil selectivity as 56%
of phenols and 73% of aromatic compounds was present in
bio-oil analysis by GC-MS. This modified catalyst was able to
produce higher yields of hydrogen also.
Charusiri and Numcharoenpinij [28] studied catalytic
pyrolysis of brown salwood in a continuous pyrolysis
reactor using 1 wt% dolomite catalyst. They used response
surface methodology to determine optimum conditions
for maximum bio-oil yield. These conditions were a
temperature of 540°C, a biomass feed rate of 0.45 kg/h and
a nitrogen gas flow rate of 155.00 cm3/ min. They found
maximum bio-oil yield of 44.78 ± 0.47 wt% at optimum
conditions. Catalytic pyrolysis of brown salwood using
317
 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

dolomite proved very effective in producing higher yields Ca(OH)2

of bio-oil and more value-added chemicals. Fixed bed eliminated acids
reactor under and aldehydes
Chai et al. [29] developed a new co-pyrolysis-gasification atmospheric suppressed
process using a mixture of waste plastic and biomass to pressure yields of
enhance production of hydrogen. They used NI-CaO-C 2.2 g sample, saccharides,
22.2 wt % furans and
as catalyst. Experimental results showed a high hydrogen K2CO3 calcium guaiacols and
yield (86.74 mol %) and low CO2 production (7.31 mol %) Wang et al. Pine wood
and hydroxide promoted
[24] sawdust
with this new catalyst. This research demonstrated that a Ca(OH)2 (700 °C, 5 alcohol in bio-
number of ways exist for maximizing hydrogen production min, 10 °C/ oil.
min) Increased H2
in pyrolysis/ gasification.
yield
From this study of catalytic pyrolysis methods, we observe
TGA
following points- pyrolysis
i. Many new catalysts can be developed for maximixing CaO suppressed
5mg corncob
acids and
yield of desired products. 5mg catalyst
promoted
1000 °C, 90
ii. Most of the time Calcium hydroxide or calcium MCM-41 K/min
hydrocarbon
oxide proved its effectiveness in maximizing yield of Wang et al. Corncob and methane in
and CaO Inert
[25] residue bio-oil.
desired products both in bio-oil and gaseous pyrolysis atmosphere
product. (N2)

iii. Bio-oil should be less acidic and it should be rich in B. Catalytic torrefaction
high value biochemicals. Recently researchers have started using catalysts in
iv. In gaseous phase, we usually get CO2 in non-catalytic torrefaction process also so as to maximize yields of
pyrolysis but catalytic pyrolysis enhances yield of valuable products. In this section, we review some
energy rich gases such as hydrogen, methane and important research papers based on catalytic torrefaction.
carbon monoxide. All these gases are very valuable
Zeng et al. [3] studied effect of torrefaction with Mg based
from energy security point of view.
additive on the pyrolysis of cotton stalk. They used MgO
We have summarized above findings in following table and MgO- K2CO3 as additives in torrefaction. Torrefaction
with a focus on using calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide
was performed at various temperature levels (200, 230,
as a catalyst
Table 1. Catalytic pyrolysis research
260, 290, 320, 350 °C) with additive to biomass mass ratio
of 0.5,1 and 2. Then they performed catalytic pyrolysis
Type of Type of Pyrolysis using torrefied feedstock at 550 °C for 10 min in a fixed-
Author Major findings
Biomass catalysts conditions
bed reactor. From the analysis of pyrolysis products, it
Sugarcane was observed that MgO increased bio-char yield with
bagasse (3-5
g) torrefaction severity, as temperature increased to 350
CaO increased
Catalyst °C. Yield of bio-oil decreased as temperature increased
H2 production,
loading from 200 °C to 350 °C. Yield of bio-gas first increased
lowered
NiO, (3,5&10 %)
Kuan et al. CuO, Microwave
reaction as temperature increased to 270 °C but beyond that it
Sugarcane temperature decreased. MgO-K2CO3 was very effective in selectively
[21] MgO and pyrolysis at
bagasse and increased
CaO 500 W for increasing hydrogen production from 1.39 to 3.67 mmol/g.
total gaseous
30min at 496-
516°C
production With this catalyst, aromatic hydrocarbon content increased
CaO provided in bio-oil, while acidic content decreased.
Fixed bed faster reaction
Indonesian reactor kinetics with
Ren et al. .[2] studied microwave catalytic torrefaction
Pradana et MgO and of douglas fir sawdust. They used metal chlorides of
sugarcane pyrolysis at lower reaction
al. [22] CaO
bagasse 20-480 °C order magnesium, iron and aluminium as catalyst in the
Pyroprobe torrefaction process. Results reveal that number of
Elimination
pyrolyzer
(500 °C for
of acids and chemical compounds in bio-oil decreased significantly
sugars in bio-oil and bio-oil composition was dominated by a very useful
Lime 30s)
Reduction of
mud Jatropha
N-containing platform chemical, namely, furfural. At 250 °C torrefaction
derived residue
compounds temperature, 10 minute residence time and 8 wt % catalyst/
Vichaphund Jatropha CaO, Fe/ (0.4mg)
Enhancement reactant ratio. obtained furfural concentration was over
et al. [23] residue CaO and Biomass to
of aliphatic
Ni/CaO catalyst ratio
hydrocarbons
20mg/g. Using magnesium chloride catalyst for further
of 1:5

318
International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
study, they found yield of bio-char decreased and yield of
bio-oil increased as experimental parameters (temperature,
time, and catalyst loading) were increased. Optimum
condition for higher yield of furfural was established as low
temperature, long reaction time, and high catalyst loading.
Higher yield of methane and carbon monoxide was
obtained at high reaction temperature and high catalyst
loading.
Safar et al. [30] studied effect of impregnated potassium
as catalyst in torrefaction of rubber wood sawdust.
Torrefaction was performed in TGA at various temperatures
(150, 200, 250 and 300 °C). Catalyst concentrations of
0.004M, 0.008M, and 0.012M were used in the experiment.
Results revealed that potassium addition enhances thermal
degradation of biomass as more weight loss was observed.
Catalytic effect was more pronounced at higher torrefaction
temperature above 250 °C. Practically, a reduction of
torrefaction temperature and time can be obtained due to
catalytic effect, if potassium loading is increased. This will
lead to more energy savings and economical process.
Above studies clearly suggest a new emerging field of
catalytic torrefaction in energy production field. Mixing of
catalytically torrefied bio-char with coal for co-combustion
can prove very effective from energy generation and
pollution mitigation point of view.
V. Conclusion
Therefore we have summarized properties of raw biomass
which inhibit its extensive usage. Then a proper review
of torrefaction process was given. We not only discussed
general mechanism and process parameters of torrefaction
but also emphasized on the need for catalytic torrefaction.
To establish our point, we have given examples of research
already conducted in the field of catalytic pyrolysis.
Calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide clearly emerged as a
very effective catalyst in maximizing high value products.
Then three major research papers in the field of catalytic
torrefaction were discussed.
These research papers suggest that catalytic torrefaction
can be further developed for other kinds of biomass types,
using suitable type of catalysts. Amount of furfural in
bio-oil should be optimized and energy rich gases can be
produced in sufficient amount. Catalytically torrefied bio-
char have more brittle structure due to higher degradation
and can be economically grinded and further converted
in form of bio-pellets. Bio-pellets can be used for cooking
food in place of wood. We recommend extensive marketing
of bio-pellets to create awareness among rural people.
Further socio-economic analysis in this area should be
helpful in deciding future of bio-pellets. This step can be
helpful in mitigating rural pollution. Collective technique
of torrefaction and pyrolysis can also be developed in future
to enhance production of high value products. This field
can be developed further to address energy security and
pollution concerns of India and other developing countries.
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Technology for proper

disposal of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in the Urban
Environment
Sabiya Sandeep Raj
E&M, Northern Coalfields Limited E&M, Northern Coalfields Limited
Singrauli, India Singrauli, India
sab.ahmed100@gmail.com, sandeep.raj3326@coalindia.in
sabiya.6436@coalindia.in

Pradeep Magare
ENV Dept., Northern Coalfields Limited
Singrauli, India
Magare.pradeep1@gmail.com
Abstract —With increasing urbanization and consump-
tion of goods and services for high standard of living, disposal
of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) has become one of major
challenges achieving adequate sustainability in the urban en-
vironment. Indian cities are generating millions of Tonnes of
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per annum. Various studies
reveal that about 90% of MSW is disposed of unscientifical-
ly in open dumps and landfills, creating problems to public
health and the environment. Waste-to-Energy (WTE) tech-
nology provides an opportunity to lessen this increasing bur-
den of MSW by converting it into valuable energy source.
This technology provides an alternative source of renewable
energy in a world with limited fossil reserves, thus addressing
two sets of environmental issues at one stroke i.e. sustainabil-
ity related to energy and waste treatment can be improved
simultaneously. This paper introduces various WTE technol-
ogies such as incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, and plas-
ma arc gasification and their applications. An attempt has
been made to provide a comprehensive review pertaining to
MSWM for Indian cities, various adopted treatment technol-
ogies for MSW, along with their advantages and limitations.
It is concluded with a few fruitful suggestions, which may be
beneficial to encourage the competent authorities/researchers
to work towards sustainable urban energy development.
both human health and preservation of the environment.
According to a report by the world bank, In 2016 the
worlds’ cities generated 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste,
amounting to a footprint of 0.74 kilograms per person per
day. The annual waste generation is expected to increase
by 70% from 2016 level to 3.40 billion tonnes in 2050 [1].
India alone generates 12% of the globally generated waste
and has been ranked 2nd among the G20 countries in waste
generation, published by Verisk Maplecroft’s, a global risk
and strategic consulting firm. It is envisaged that the total
quantity of waste generated from municipalities, Industries,
commercial institutes, and agricultural activities seem to be
higher than the reported data. And is expected to rise even
more [2].
TABLE I. population growth, impact on waste generation and future
prediction [3]
Population Waste Generation (kg/capita/
Year
(Millions) day)
2001 197.3 .439

Keywords—Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Waste-to-En- 2011 260.1 .498

ergy (WTE) technology, Incineration, Pyrolysis, Gasification, 2021 342.8 .569
Plasma Arc Gasification
2031 451.8 .649
I. Introduction 2036 518.6 .693
Population, urbanization and economic growth have
2041 595.4 .741
rapidly increased in the last century and will continue to
increase in the coming decades. With urbanization people II. Current Practices
strive to improve their standard of living, leading to increase
in production as well as consumption. This pattern of Effective waste management is quite expensive, often com-
production and consumption has led to exponential rise in prising 20%–50% of municipal budgets [1]. Due to poor
management and financial crunches of public services,
waste generation. It’s becoming a high priority concern for
MSW gets accumulated in the public places. And if collect-

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability
ed they are disposed unscientifically in the landfills due to
unavailability of proper facilities for its treatment. Landfills
are still considered the most economic method to handle
MSW. Over 75% of MSW in the India is dumped without
processing. Rain water and water from other water sources
when mixed with the partially decomposed organic mat-
ter and other liquids and chemicals in the landfill, forms
landfill leachate. And if not managed properly, it is at risk
of mixing with ground water near the site and adversely
affect the environment and human health. Landfills are
also responsible for 3-19 % of the total methane emission.
Methane is the major contributor in Green House Gases
(GHSs) and it is 20 times more effective in trapping heat in
the atmosphere than carbon dioxide [4]. Waste to Energy
(WTE) technology is a much needed sustainable method
of MSW treatment and disposal. This technology will not
only lessen the burden of MSW but will also generate re-
newable energy in a world with limited fossil reserves and
increasing energy demand.
III. Methods For Disposal And Treatment
MSW generally consists of biodegradable waste (Kitchen
waste, Agro-waste, Vegetables, and Garden Waste),
Recyclables (Plastic, Paper, Syringes, Tin can, Metals,
Glass) and inert waste (Sand, Pebbles, and Gravels).
There composition depends upon population density,
urbanization and socio-economic behavior. Yet a major
fraction of MSW remains organic. The moisture content of
urban MSW is 47% and the average calorific value is 7.3
MJ/kg (1745 kcal/kg) [3]
Composition of MSW in India
Others
1%
Inerts
31% Organic
51%
Recyclables
17%
Fig. 1. Composition of MSW [3]
There are various mechanisms for Disposal and treatment
of MSW (fig.2). Composting is a Biochemical treatment
and more popular. WTE technologies are relatively new
concept in India. They are briefly introduced in this section.
Incineration [4-6]
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves
the complete combustion of organic substances contained
in waste material. The waste is fed into a furnace and burnt
at 1200ºC in presence of excess oxygen. The waste on
combustion produces Ash, Flue gases and Heat. The flue
gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants
before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. The heat
generated in the process is recovered to generate electric
power.
Fig. 2. Mechanisms for Disposal and treatment
Incinerators reduces the solid mass of the original waste by
80–85% and the volume by 95–96% [1]. This means that
while incineration does not completely replace landfilling
, it significantly reduces the necessary volume for disposal.
Incineration has particularly strong benefits for the
treatment of certain waste types such as clinical wastes and
certain hazardous wastes where pathogens and toxins can
be destroyed by high temperatures.
Most of these setups doesn’t have segregation system to
remove hazardous, bulky or recyclable materials before
combustion. Have inadequate levels of gas cleaning. This
tends to risk the health of the plant workers and the local
environment. Still this method is particularly popular in
countries such as Japan, Singapore and the Netherlands,
where land is a scarce resource.
Pyrolysis [4-6]
In this process, unlike Incineration, segregated and
shredded waste is fed into a reactor with little or no oxygen.
Actual burning or combustion of waste doesn’t take place.
The organic compounds are thermally unstable, and at high
temperatures, the chemical bonds of organic molecules
break, producing thermodynamically stable smaller
molecules such as hydrocarbon gases (CO) and hydrogen
gas (H2). This flammable gaseous mixture of CO and H2
is called “syngas”. It is then used for power generation
after removal of harmful substance and particulate matter
present in it. The solid (ash, char) and Fluid (Bio oil) left
at the bottom of the reactor may also be used as fuel after
further processing.
Gasification [4-6]
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 Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli

This process is similar to incineration but here a controlled Plasma arc Gasi- vitrified slag Lowest
and stoichiometric volume of oxygen is used in the fication
combustion process. MSW after pre-processing is fed into
a Gasifier and heated to a temperature 1600 ºC to produce
TABLE IV. Toxicity Leaching Test Results on Vitrified Slag [6-7]
syngas. Steam is also added to enhance the production of
Syngas. The calorific value of the syngas produced in this Heavy Metals Permissible Measured
case is higher in comparison to the calorific value of gas Concentration concentration
produced in Incineration and Pyrolysis. (mg/l) (mg/l)

Plasma Arc Gasification Process [4-6] Arsenic 5.0 <0.1

This method is an advance version of gasification and Barium 100.0 .47
generates more power per ton of MSW. Follows similar
Cadmium 1.0 <0.1
process for the production of Syngas, except the utilization
of high-voltage arcs and high temperature ranging between Chromium 5.0 <0.1
4000-7000 ºC. The solid residue in this technique is a glass Lead 5.0 <0.1
like material called vitrified slag. It doesn’t leach out like
residues from conventional gasification does. And can be Mercury 0.2 <0.1
used for insulation purpose and floorings tiles. Selenium 1.0 <0.1
All the above thermal technologies should essentially Silver 5.0 <0.1
accompanied by pre-processing (i.e. segregation of inert,
recyclable and hazardous waste) and air pollution control
(emission control accessories). Followed by safe and From Table II, it can be surmised that Plasma arc gasification
sanitary disposal of residues, if any. is highly thermal efficient, producing 816 kWh/ton of MSW
in comparison to other WTE technologies [6]. But it is also
true that it operates at highest temperature in a plasma arc
IV. Comparision (Sustaninability &
gasification reactor leading to a high initial capital cost.
Economic viability)
WTE technologies drastically reduces the waste volume,
TABLE II. operating temperature and energy production
unlike Landfills. But Incineration, Pyrolysis and
per ton msw [6]
Gasification techniques also produces some amount of ash
Operating Temper- Energy Production and other residues, which are not environment friendly has
Technologies
ature (ºC) (kWh/ton MSW) to be disposed again in landfills. Plasma arc Gasification on
the other hand produces an environment friendly residue
Incineration 1000-2000 F 544
called. Vitrified Slag. This slag is non-leaching in nature
Pyrolysis 1200-2200 F 571 and can be used in the production of floor tiles, roof tiles,
insulation etc. Toxicity leaching tests were conducted by
Conventional Gas-
1400-2800 F 685 EPA [7] on the vitrified slag produced from MSW treated
ification
in a plasma arc gasification reactor. It was found that the
Plasma arc Gasifi- vitrified slag is environmentally sound. It is non-leaching
7200-12600 F 816
cation and exceeds EPA leach test standard. Results are shown in
Table IV.
TABLE III. degree of pollution and by products [4]
V. implementation
Technologies Residue Degree of Pol-
lution caused Globally
WTE technology is adopted all over the world. However
Incineration Ash , exhaust gases Medium
it has seen a major rise in China. China has been looking
Pyrolysis Ash, char, metals Low for methods for handling its population boom and related
Conventional Ash, char, metals Low rapid increase in waste generation. Being world’s most
Gasification populous country, It is generating about 15-16% of global
municipal waste. Whereas United States after India ranks
third in population (represents only 4 % of the global

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International Conference on Opencast Mining Technology & Sustainability

population) contributes 12 % of the global municipal waste Himachal Pradesh 1.0

[2]. Chinese companies have been able to construct WTE
Jharkhand 8.0
facilities at about one third of the capital cost as facilities
in the U.S. and Europe. This is due to China’s unique Karnataka 125.0
level of governmental support, faster municipal, approval Kerala 32.0
than in other countries, cost savings on labor, and rapid
development of in-country component manufacturing and Madhya Pradesh 68.0
construction capabilities. [8] Maharashtra 250.0

Countries like Oslo, Norway and Sweden has also Manipur 1.5
successfully accomplished the adoption of WTE Meghalaya 1.5
technologies. But they are facing another problem. They
are running out of MSW supply to feed their WTE plants. Mizoram 1.0

Some of them are also importing trash from their near-by Orissa 19.0
countries [4]. Pondicherry 2.0
Thus for sustainable and economically viable Punjab 39.0
implementation of WTE, planning, anticipation and
Rajasthan 53.0
forward thinking is necessary.
Tamil Nadu 137.0
Nationally
Tripura 1.0
India is a 2nd most populous country, generating a huge
amount of waste daily. (0.5 kg/capita/day) [3]. Ministry Uttar Pradesh 154.0
of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has estimated an Uttarakhand 4.0
existence of a potential of about 1460 MW of energy from
West Bengal 126.0
MSW. Table V gives a measure of state-wise potential of
energy recovery from the MSW generated [5][9]. Total 1457.0

India’s first large scale waste incineration plant was set up

TABLE VI. list of wte plants currently operational/under trial run
at Timarpur, New Delhi in 1987, by Miijotecknik volunteer, during 2014-15 [10]
Denmark, having a capacity of 300 TPD [5]. However the
plant was shut down within 6 months of its opening. Capacity
S. no State City/Town
(MW)
In a report on status of WTE during 2014-15 by Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy, it was stated that total 1 Maharashtra Solapur 3.0
of 5 Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) to Energy plants 2 Delhi Okhla 12.0
with cumulative installed capacity of 66.5 MW were in
3 Delhi Gazipur 16.0
operation/trial run in the country. Listed in TABLE VI [10].
Narela-Bha-
TABLE V. State-wise energy recovery potential [5][9] 4 Delhi 24.0
wana
5 Madhya Pradesh Jabalpur 11.5
State/Union Territory Energy recovery potential
(MW) Total 66.5
Andhra Pradesh 107.0
This year the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has
Assam 6.0
started receiving 2 MW power from waste-to-energy plant
Bihar 67.0 set up in Ghazipur. It is also reported that the plant will take
Chandigarh 5.0 approximately 17.5 million units per annum from this plan
[11].
Chhattisgargh 22.0

Delhi 111.0
VI. Challanges
Gujrat 98.0 Until now India has tried many times to implement WTE
Haryana 18.0 for waste management, but has often met failures. Since

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1987, 15 WTE plants have been set up across the country.
However seven of these have shut down [12]. There are
reasons why these technologies are flourishing in the
developed countries and failing in India [12-13].
The compositional characteristics of waste in India are very
distinct compared to those in developed countries. MSW
in India has low calorific value and high moisture content.
That decreases efficiency of WTE. The waste fed in these
Plants is often unsegregated and contains inert wastes. Thus
the plant draws additional energy to burn them, making
its operation expensive. Moreover the energy/electricity
generated by these plants is also costly. They produce power
at nearly Rs.7 per unit, which is more than Rs.3-5 offered by
thermal as well as solar sources. [12-13]
VII. Government Policy and Rules
WTE plants can get benefits from several government
subsidies. Under the programme on “Energy from urban,
Industrial and Agricultural Waste/Residue” Central
Financial Assistance (CFA) of Rs.78.0 crore has been
approved with physical target of 57.0 MWeq for the period
of 2017-18 to 2019-20 [14]. For the demonstration projects
of WTE plants, government offers direct subsidy of up to
50 % of the plant’s capital cost. Municipalities can receive
incentives for facilitating local garbage free of cost to these
WTE plants. Also state nodal agencies can receive incentive
for promoting and monitoring all kinds of WTE projects
[14-15].
VIII. Conclusions
The initial failure of WTE technologies have turned people
against the technology and it is going to take a while before
people change their mind set and adopt it positively. Efforts
should be made to make these technologies sustainable and
financially viable. To encourage the authorities/researchers
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Northern Coalfields Limited, Singrauli
in this direction, few suggestion are made.
Segregation of waste at source. It will reduce the time and
manpower of already burdened municipalities/Urban local
bodies.
Inclusion of civil society in the MSW management. It can
be done by educating and spreading awareness among
the society about the hazardous effects of improper waste
disposal and benefits of proper MSW management.
Strict implementation of Solid Waste Management (SWM)
Rule, 2016, that clearly mentions only segregated non-
recyclable high calorific should be fed to the WTE plants
[15]. This will increase the efficiency of the plants and will
make their operation more economical.
Proper infrastructure for collection, transportation and
Pre-processing of waste.
Proper Site-Selection for the establishment of WTE plants.
Bridging the gap between government policies for MSW
management and their implementation.
Selection of economically viable and a sustainable
technology, suitable for the unique compositional
characteristics of Indian MSW.
Logical implementation of WTE technologies keeping in
mind the current need and anticipated growth of waste
generation in the future.
Hence it can be concluded that the lack of resources,
planning and infrastructure are main barrier in the success
of WTE technologies in India. We must take steps forward
for its Proper Implementation. It’s high time we start
managing waste as a resource, it is the way to sustainable
development and energy security of the nation.