著者

古川 博文 松井 紀久男 島田 英樹

出版者

一般社団法人 資源・素材学会

雑誌

資源と素材 (ISSN:09161740)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.121, no.9, pp.446-455, 2005 (Released:2007-02-24)

参考文献数

6

被引用文献数

1 3

---

India is the third largest coal producer in the world and has substantial coal reserves. It produced about 340 million tons of coal in 2002-2003. Open cast production accounts for 80% of the total output and the remaining 20% is from underground. The share of the underground output in the total production is expected to remain at the current level through 2010 even as the coal production increases. Despite its huge resource of coal, the quality of Indian coal is not so good. A considerable amount of good quality coal deposits in India lies in the thickness range of 5-12 m. However, an appropriate mining method for such thick seams could not be developed so far.The coal's share of total electric power generation in India is 75.5% in 2001. Because it is a reliable, domestic, and low-cost source of fuel, coal has played and will continue to play a significant role in the development of the Indian economy. Production, processing, and consumption of coal, however, can have significant environmental impacts, if not properly managed.The paper describes the present situation of the Indian coal mining industry, discusses problems in thick seam mining methods, and proposes a new mining method for thick seams considering today's environmental issues in Indian coal mining.