JOB REPORT

The 50-million-ton deal.

Mining coal in India

India possesses the fourth largest deposits of black coal in the world, surpassed only by the USA, Russia and China. Some 12% of the world’s potential coal resources are found here. The world’s largest coal producer decided to make use of the surface mining technology to satisfy the demands for both high quality and effective operation.

The selective method is of prime importance for coal mining in India, as it produces useful minerals of superior quality. The calorific value is increased, and the ash content reduced. Selective mining additionally reduces the volume of overburden to be transported from the processing site to the spoil pile.

Following several trial operations, in which Wirtgen surface miners 2100 SM gave impressive proof of their power of performance, 20 surface miners 2100 SM and 2200 SM from Wirtgen are now mining some 50 million tons of coal per year in the Bilaspur and Randi coal fields. Mining some 9,000 tons of coal per day, the 2200 SM – equipped with a 3.80 m wide cutting drum and maximum cutting depth of 250 mm – is achieving an even higher production rate than the 2100 SM, which is producing an average of 6,000 tons per day. Both surface miners are capable of cutting, crushing and loading the mined material in one single operation, which results in reduced production costs when compared to other mining methods, such as drilling and blasting, and yields small-sized coal of high quality.