Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Indian sole domestic coking coal supplier and an operational wholly-owned subsidiary of state-run miner Coal India Limited (CIL), will adopt Chinese technology to access coking coal locked up in underground mines, company officials said on Friday, October 5.
The officials said that, with new resources of coking coal very limited across the country and hence severe limitations in increasing domestic coking coal production, the technology sourced from China will enable BCCL to access high grade coking coal locked up in pillars in mines that are nearing the end of their life cycle or blocks in pillars supporting underground mines.
While it is difficult to give estimates of the total incremental volume that could be accessed by BCCL through this new technology, it is possible that each underground mine has about 3,000-5,000 metric tons of high grade coking coal locked up in pillars or unextractable areas, the officials said.
CIL’s consultancy wing, Central Mine Planning and Development Institute Limited (CMPDIL), prepared the detailed project report on deployment of the new technology, the officials added.