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Open-pit coal mining accounts for 93% of India's total coal production, playing a significant role in meeting the nation's substantial energy needs. The success of an open-pit mine hinges on maintaining the steepest and deepest slopes that remain stable over the mine's lifespan. However, slope failure is a complex issue influenced by numerous factors. In the context of openpit coal mines, the rise side highwall involves cutting through a rock mass containing various elements like an unconsolidated weathered mantle of sandstone, sandy clay, clay, carbonaceous shale and coal. Some opencast mines within the Godavari Valley Coal Field (GVCF), India have encountered significant pit slope failures. This paper uses a numerical modelling approach aimed at effectively assessing the stability of the rise side highwall, leveraging available geotechnical data from one of GVCF's largest opencast coal mines. The research investigates the impact of seven detrimental factors on slope stability, including dynamic loading due to blasting, employing a methodical One-Factor-At-A-Time (OFAT) approach. The study utilises Rocscience Phase2 version 9.0, a Finite Element Method (FEM) based numerical modelling software to gauge the sensitivity of each factor on the Factor of Safety (FoS). The numerical modelling results indicate that there is a linear decrease in FoS corresponding to the reduction in cohesion and an exponential increase in the FoS as the angle of internal friction rises. Furthermore, the analysis reveals significant impacts on the FoS due to groundwater and seismic loading from the blasting. This approach aims to comprehensively analyse and understand the intricacies of slope stability in the specific context of open-pit coal mining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and manufacturing of energy storage system (ESS) are essential for human society development. India has made significant efforts to improve its energy storage infrastructure. The main elements for energy storage development are batteries i.e., lithium-ion batteries (LIB), lithium air batteries, etc. and supercapacitors. As the lithium resources are specifically located in China, Japan, USA, and Chile, to reduce the dependency on these countries for lithium-ion battery, India must think about alternative material. Sodium-ion battery (SIB) is at the forefront of the development, and it aims at providing low-cost devices less affected to resources. This review paper addresses the fundamental principles, structure and focused on the components of sodium-ion battery. This paper also helps to address the electrolytes used in sodium-ion battery with their design and modelling. Current research and future directions has been discussed in this article for sodium-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of urbanization, demand for housing is increasing day by day in India. Traditional clay brick leads to resource scarcity and environmental pollution. To overwhelmed this problem, manufacturing of bricks was done using the waste of thermal power plants like Fly Ash along with Sand and Cement (FAS-C Brick) as key ingredients. Fly ash is an Industrial by-product of thermal power plant. An experimental study of mix-design was carried out to increase the quality of the FAS-C brick. This paper attempt to formulate the mix design of fly ash based brick by process planning. Laboratory tests were conducted to determine the compressive strength and water absorption of the bricks. The main objective of the research study was to design the Fly Ash, Sand, Cement (FAS-C) brick and find the compressive strength using different mix design methods as a part of quality improvement process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safe hand wash behaviour is a target to be achieved under Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 by 2030. Safe hand washing can prevent many infections and hence it is the least expensive preventive healthcare intervention. Insufficient hand hygiene can cause different infections like diarrhea. In India diarrhea causes 10.65% deaths every year. Hand hygiene should be maintained at least after defecation and before eating. With an increase in the safe defecation and access to toilets, it is expected that the hand wash with soap and water should be increased. However, 75% of Indian households follow safe hand wash behaviour after defecation but just 40% of households follow safe hand wash behaviour before eating. The present paper is focused to analyze the impact of hand hygiene before eating and occurrence of diarrhea. Technological intervention can bring the positive behaviour change for hand washing before eating particularly at workplaces/hospitals/ food courts. The overall behaviour can be positively changed with nudging through media campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countless people’s lives are jeopardized in India’s crowded metropolitan metropolises due to ambulances stuck in traffic. Most of the time, commuters are unable to move in these traffic jams to make way for approaching ambulances which has become one of the most pressing issues in India. The main reason in the back of that is growing population which ends up in multiplied number of cars, due to which emergency provider like ambulance gets affected. This paper proposes a solution to make such offerings effortlessly available to those in need. It includes a software application referred to as Ambulance service through which the user can book the ambulance with one faucet and track the ambulance by using Google map on his device, we also use microcontroller-based hardware module to provide an easy flow for ambulance to attain the preferred destination This is achieved by using imposing RF technology which might automatically control the visitors alerts within the course of ambulance accordingly minimizing the time required to reach the destination. Besides this, a portable health monitoring device will be placed in the ambulance which will measure patient’s body temperature, blood pressure which will be displayed in the hospital’s webpage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loosening of rockmass during its excavation in an infrastructure project is carried by rock blasting. The blast-induced ground vibrations pose a major challenge to the blasting engineers, whose main objective is to control their potential to cause any damage to the buildings in the vicinity. The research reported in this paper explains how the error in the prediction of the Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) by the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM)-based approach can be minimised using machine learning techniques. The complex correlation between the blast parameter and the PPV value has been modelled using the least square boosted decision tree approach after the selection of the best suitable feature has been selected based on the correlation matrix. The proposed model automatically maps the input blast feature (SD) with the target PPV values by aggregating the decision of various weak learners. The generalization of the proposed model has been validated through a 5-fold cross-validation approach using a dataset comprising of two hundred blast records generated by monitoring the blasts at International airport site, Navi Mumbai, India. The assessment of the prognostic ability of the proposed model demonstrates that it has outperformed the USBM-based approach for PPV prediction. The results establish that the predictions by the pro- posed model are closer to the measured values than the other regression models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depillaring by conventional techniques created many irregular shaped pillars, mainly located at shallow depths in different coalfields of India. Continuous Miner Technology (CMT) has been introduced to extract these coal pillars scientifically with safety and productivity with greater depth. Leaving a proper sized rib or snook is a legal requirement as it decides the efficiency and safety of the pillar. However, CMT of square/rectangular shaped pillars created irregular shaped rib and snook. With the conventional empirical formula it is difficult to estimate the strength of such ribs or snooks. These ribs or snooks should be of sufficient size to protect the adjacent slicing operation and junction as well as they should fail in a controlled manner when machines shift inside the extraction. Field studies of different mines found several factors affecting the design of rib or snook. They are various types of induced stress, geological disturbances, manner of extraction etc. Proper assessment of the performance of different sizes and shapes of ribs and snooks in the field is complex due to the problematic underground mining environment for depillaring. For successful operation of the CMT required to study every depending parameter scientifically. Therefore, a numerical model is conducted to estimate the factor of safety of rib and snook to calculate the rib and snook stability. Results of field and simulation studies are presented and discussed in this paper to determine the rib's stability in the continuous miner panel to create a safe environment for the men and machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is the prime source of energy in India and is abundantly available. Sustainable coal mining is very important for energy security of the country. Community participation is one of the important factor which is essential for sustainable development of coal sector. Sustainability of the sector requires conservation of coal, best mining practices, protecting environment and inclusive growth of the community and stakeholders. Land and local community are important input to coal mining sector. Economic, social and environmental consideration are addressed while implementing various projects and taking approvals, however, psychological dimension of local community has not been addressed while resettlement and rehabilitation strategies are chalked out. In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop a conceptual model to understand psychological needs of the society, relationship of perception of society in generating positive psychological climate which will lead to community participation towards sustainable mining. Some attributes have also been identified and its presence in the community is expected to play an important role in converting positive psychological climate towards sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nation’s standard of living depends on its quantum of production and use of natural resources, including coal. Coal plays a major role in the development of a country like India. India has great potential of producing coal economically. Unfortunately, even after the nationalisation of 50 years of major Indian coal mines, we still have lower productivity than other coal-producing countries. The Indian mining industry has improved productivity in the opencast sector, but unfortunately, the industry still has to improve productivity in the underground sector. The underground coal is more free from any dirt, which is more acceptable for the user. If the underground productivity of the Indian coal industry is seen, it is the lowest compared to the countries producing coal. Initially, the industry thought of using the longwall technology but could not succeed of its limitations. For the last 20 years, the underground coal mines have been experiencing continuous miner who is not very expensive (as in the case of Longwall), not requiring the major restructuring of the old structures, having good productivity and more safety in operation. This paper deals with continuous miners and their success in the bord and pillar method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is one of the most important coal producing countries globally; majorly produces through opencast mining. However, environmental limitations and fast depletion of near the crust reserves is forcing to replace the opencast coal mining activity with effective underground mass coal production technology. One of such technology compatible with Indian mining scenario is continuous miner (CM) technology. India has already adopted this technology by implementing few of these machines to some of the underground mines, but the performance of majority of these machines are the matter of concern as they are not effective in terms of return on investment. This has exposed a broad arena of research for the improvement of productivity and finally of economy. This paper actually depicts the machine availability trend of a CM deployed in a mine belonging to one of the largest coal producing public company of the country. The availability of the overall system and subsystems were analyzed, a discussion was made with experienced mine personnel to obtain miner's perspective towards the lower availability of the system and sub-system. Finally appropriate recommendations were suggested to overcome the lower availability trend of the system and subsystems. Implementation of these remedial measures may not only improve the availability trend of the machine but also form a firm basis of development of a proper preventive maintenance programme for all such machines focusing on betterment of their performance in Indian scenario [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is the most abundant fossil fuel resource in India, and the country's industrial and economic heritage has been built upon indigenous coal. India is the world's 3rd largest energy consumer after China and USA. However, as the country goes through profound economic and societal transformations, such as economic and population growth, urbanization and industrialization, energy demand is expected to increase substantially. Looking into the significance of coal not only in the energy-mix but also in the economic development of India, the paper is aimed at an assessment of coal sector in India which shall also help contextualize the place of coal in India's contemporary energy, industrial and social sectors amidst a range of developments - both national and international - related to coal sector. The authors looked into various aspects of Indian coal sector from a policy perspective and suggested subsequent course of action so the same can be used by Indian coal mining stakeholders towards the larger goal of sustainable growth of coal sector including coal mining. The analysis produced important policy recommendations for coal industry stakeholders including the Indian Government, who is the sovereign owner of coal mine acreage in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geotechnical assessment, safe design and monitoring of highwalls is one of the major challenges in Indian open pit mines. The aim of opencast mines should be to attain steepest possible slope angle without compromising safety in order to maximize profits. Highwall stability is essential for economical and safe exploitation of mineral during open pit mining. Geotechnical investigations are required to quantify the properties of soils and rocks within the mining horizons. The required minimum safety factor for highwalls is 1.2. Highwall should be monitored during open pit operations. This paper addresses the main elements of pit slope failure, accident statistics, design, and monitoring and pit slope management and also the guidelines for safe design and monitoring of open pit highwalls in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is still a staple energy resource in India meeting over 50% of its energy requirement. Eastern Indian states are particularly blessed with coal with vast availability in Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. It has some major coalfields like Jharia, East and West Bokaro, Raniganj, Barakar, Karnpura, Ib valley, Talcher and Korba coalfields to name a few. Incidentally the land undulations, rivers, forest and geography render a climate range that supports soil fertility with rich promises of agricultural harvest. An additional booty of highly rich ecosystem services and aesthetics are offered due to pristine forest in the region. A balance has always been in the wish list that may bring inclusion and sustainability but so far been lurking. Mining companies must encompass sustainability as its key governing principle in corporate philosophy. Sustainability encompasses harmony in dimensions of society, economy and ecology (SEE) to be incorporated in its entire operating practices (exploration to mine closure) in order to realize sustainable and inclusive growth. The essence of the paper can be summarized by quoting a shloka from Atharva Veda: "What of thee, I dig out Let that quickly grow over Let me not hit, thy vitals, thy heart!". In order to meet ever evolving aspirations of growing population, adaptation to practices of sustainable agriculture appears a must. Meeting the need of food, feed, fiber and fuel for human and live-stocks, maintaining the sustainable balance among its various parameters extending to land, water, soil, biodiversity, agro biodiversity and agro ecosystem appears sine-qua-non. In totality, it constitutes the base of entire gamut of natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is striving hard to meet its energy and mineral needs for maintaining desired pace of development. This has led to pressure on boosting the production from mines. Unfortunately this growth was lopsided as almost all the growth in production was from opencast mines which was mainly due to obvious reason of availability of easy and shallow deposits. This may result in a sharp fa ll in production after the shallow deposits are exhausted. It is therefore desirable to increase the share of underground production by improving its financial viability so that the share of underground mines increases and a sustained production can be ensured. Providing fresh air to a working place at deep and remote place is a cost intensive process accounting for as much as 50% total energy consumption o f the mine. This paper presents a case for introduction of ventilation on demand (VOD) in Indian mines for improving the energy efficiency o f ventilation system of underground mines. The paper describes its essential component of VOD system, continuous airflow measuring system and its suitability for Indian mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal will continue to play a major role in economic development of India with particular reference to energy. The significant resources of coal in comparison with other fossil fuels have enabled this valuable mineral to remain at the centre stage of India's energy scene. This paper presents the detailed laboratory investigations in terms of characterization; size analysis and washability studies carried out on a typical high ash non-coking coal sample and suggest the concept of beneficiation for the improvement in the quality of run-of-mine (ROM) coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rajhara iron ore mine is working for the last fifty years and with deepening of mine, slopes have been enlarged and the excavation levels have approached very close to the groundwater table and intercepted causing water accumulation problem in the pit. The mine water accumulation obviously hampers the normal production particularly in wet months and during post-monsoon season when all aquifers are fully charged with water. Based on the pumping test conducted at mine site, quantitative estimation of water, aquifer parameters and pumping requirement during different period of year had been worked out and presented in this paper. Mine dewatering scheme is accordingly designed to keep the quarry bottom dry and thereby achieving the targeted production. It is concluded that scientifically planned geo-hydrological study, proper drainage system, water conservation and judicious water management is the best solution to reduce the mine-water related impacts for the Rajhara mine and mine area nearby. The mine dewatering and its planning, designed in 2006 and field implementation results derived in 2016, were helpful to remove lacunae and practical difficulties of current practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In general, underground mine/tunnels/roadways are supported especially in India, by using wooden cogs/props as support in addition to the massive use of roof bolting. But as wood is becoming scarce, there is need for suitable alternative supports to replace timbers in mines. Keeping in mind the Indian mining condition the support should be of greater longevity, light enough for easy portability and requiring less maintenance. Further, it should have facilities for height variation, sufficient yielding, continuous load monitoring and releasing remotely as the coal seam thickness varies widely in Indian mines. Then, the support material must be easily available and should have ease in operation by even an unskilled worker. Finally, the device must be economically viable for Indian mines, which is thriving for its longer life and should provide safety for miners. In this direction several efforts have been made to design such slow loading yielding props to meet all these requirements. After numerous attempts such innovative prop consisting of multiple disc springs has been designed and developed at CSIR-CIMFR of which the details description has been discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents basic issues concerning the pit slope stability with special reference to the stability of highwall slopes in Indian coal mines. Scientific design of highwall slopes along with the implementation of an appropriate slope monitoring plan are suggested as the key inputs towards effective planning and management of highwall slopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highwall mining technology is the modified version of earlier auger mining. It facilitates recovery of locked up deposit in open pit highwalls, below villages, road, and other surface structures. Mining operations consist of driving series of parallel roadways at intervals in a planned way to recover considerable amount of coal from the highwall. The method offers great safety to mining personnel because of remotely controlled highly mechanised mining operations and unmanned extraction drivages. Although key to successful operations is scientific design of web pillars that support these drivages, optimum design to increase recovery is the main requirement. Design methodology includes estimation of long and narrow pillar strength through CIMFR empirical equation with some modification and application of numerical simulation to consider multi-seam interaction, pillar stress, etc. This methodology' has been utilised for highwall mine design at Opencast Project II (OCP-II) mine of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and Medapalli OCP (MOCP) of SCCL by CIMFR. Although, mining operations at both the sites are successful, performance analysis reveals that ooccurrence of roof fall, breakdown on account of geological disturbances and poor power supply, exposure of stone bands in the seam, working in cross gradient, etc., are some of the issues that has jeopardised full production capacity of the CHM. The highwall mining design methodology and performance analysis at couple of sites are discussed in detail in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-wall mining, an extension to open cut mining, commonly use auger and continuous highwall mining system. Rock properties and structural geology' of rock are the vital parameters for designing highwall mining. The limitations of basic equations/models developed for computing web and barrier pillar strength, geological conditions and improper execution of highwall mining are the key causes for instability of highwall. Meticulous monitoring of displacement rates is imperative to evaluate the stability of the highwall and, in turn, safety of men, material and machinery. There are several land based, airborne and satellite based techniques of highwall movement monitoring systems. Frequency of measurement depends on the rate of ground movement. Total station can be used for daily monitoring whereas slope stability radar can be adopted for continuous monitoring if required. A study was conducted at OC-II of Singerani Collieries Company Ltd. by Total Station. The safe limits of highwall stability in terms of strain are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to bring the different facets of explosives drivers with detailed impetus of major segments of driving input. Various inputs in term of planned production of coal and lignite along with infrastructure vision associated with steel, cement and other major and minor minerals. The total consumption of explosives is estimated to grow from a present level of 0.65 million tonnes to a level of approx over 13 million tonnes by the end of year 2026-27. Some thoughts have also been across at global and national level. Innovative explosive products are the area of concern in the days to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minerals are essential inputs for the economic and social development of a nation. India is endowed with variety of mineral resources. India's non-coal mineral sector which includes, ferrous minerals, non-ferrous minerals, base metals, fertilizers, refractory and many other industrial minerals catering to the various core and non-core mineral based industries and contributing significantly for the economic growth of the nation. In 1991, India initiated wide-ranging programme of economic reforms. In tune with this, a new era was ushered in when the National Mineral Policy was pronounced in March 1993 and the mining sector was opened up for private initiative and investment. To give further boost to the mineral sector of India, the new National Mineral Policy 2008 (NMP 2008) came into effect envisaging refinement, transparency and simplifications of the mineral concession procedure. The NMP 2008 enunciates that research and development in the mineral sector has to cover the entire gamut of activities from geological survey, exploration, mining, beneficiation, concentration of minerals to development of materials. Cascading reforms in the form of Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill 2011 is underway. Further the government has prepared a detailed strategic plan document "Unlocking the Potential of the Indian Minerals Sector" in order to systematize the functioning and align it more directly with the vision emanating from the National Mineral Policy. At the same time, action has been initiated to finalise and implement the objectives and goals for the Twelfth Five Year Plan. Thus, presently, Indian mineral sector is on the threshold of major structural reforms. The present paper deals with the status of non-coal mining sector, technology related policy initiatives in the mineral sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure development has been gaining importance over the years both from the economic perspective and as an area of sustained growth. Presently, the infrastructure sector in India accounts for 26.7% of India's industrial output and is therefore an effective tool to balance the economy. Over the last four years the infrastructure industry in India recorded a growth rate of almost 8.5%. Now the Indian government has announced further investment in infrastructure in their 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017), with which substantial growth has grown in the planning of tunnels, hydroelectric projects, storage caverns, metro projects and underground projects within the rail, road, sewage and hydropower sectors. To achieve time bound programmes of construction of mega projects in a period of four to five years, modern methods of rapid tunnel driving are being considered as only solution to achieve a high rate of progress. We now have bigger and faster drill machines and excavators. in explosives technology too significant progress has been made towards having safer explosives and accurate initiating systems that have increased overall control over blasting in terms of vibration, fragmentation, throw of basted muckpile and overall blast economics. The developments have been mainly done in automation and precise drilling techniques. These include automation of the drill rigs, improved design of bits, rods, bit inserts, and the bailing systems. Underground blasting in India has traditionally been done with packaged explosives. Though packaged explosives have served the industry for decades, they possess safety hazards, slow charging, manual handling, no product flexibility and partial energy utilization due to decoupling. This had compelled blasting engineers and researchers of the eighties to initiate a thought process in search of a system, which would lead to a paradigm shift in underground blasting technology. In the late eighties a few explosives manufacturers came up with their charging systems for underground. These systems had inherent advantages of pumped emulsion explosives like speed and safety, besides introducing a concept of flexibility of product. Product flexibility leads to greater rate of advance and lower damage at the backs for better roof stability. The electronic detonators specifically designed for tunnelling provide the accuracy and flexibility of electronic timing at a reasonable price with rapid and easy operations at the tunnel face. In this paper, the author discusses about the latest developments which have taken place in explosives, initiating systems and drilling technology for tunnelling at a few tunnelling and cavern excavation sites for enhanced rate of excavation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Talabira-I coal mine located in Sambalpur district of Orissa represents the southern most extension of Ib-valley coalfield. The deposit occurs within Barakar formation. It is a synclinal sub-basin deposit with a circular strike having 5° to 10° dip towards the centre. Talabira-I block consists of a total of seven coal seams, of which, Rampur top is the thickest one. This paper provides a geology-controlled geostatistical modelling approach to the estimation of coal quality parameters and grade requirement for mining by continuous surface miner in respect of Rampur top seam. Graphical plot of borehole lithologs and correlation of coal bands intersected in the upper 14 m of Rampur top seam has been carried out to obtain the extent of the subsurface litho-units. Classical statistical modelling of variables, viz. thickness, ash, moisture and (ash+moisture) contents revealed a normal distribution for ash and (ash+moisture) contents, and a 2-parameter lognormal distribution for thickness and moisture content. Omni-directional semi-variograms in respect of all the variables indicated adequate regionalized phenomena. Geostatistical estimation carried out employing ordinary kriging technique provided block-by-block estimate maps for all variables. For each of these estimated blocks, gross calorific values were computed. A computer program using MA TLAB programming language has been developed to decide the combination of blocks to be mined by continuous surface miner that would satisfy the specified gross caloric value requirement of power plant. The approach has been tested for a hypothetical set of gross calorific values and further work is in progress in this aspect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum caused by various manmade and natural activities. Most of the coalfields of India are facing significant subsidence problem due to underground coal mining. Extraction of thick seams at shallow depths has damaged the ground surface in the form of subsidence and formation of cracks reaching up to the surface, enhancing the chances of spontaneous heating of coal seams leading to mine fires. A proposed alignment of Giridih-Koderma broad gauge (BG) railway track neat Giridih Railway station lies above old, abandoned underground coal mine workings. This site lies at the southern fringe of the Giridih coalfield (also known as Karharbari formation). The mining was commenced in 1871, first by the Bengal Coal Co., then by the National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC) and lastly by the East India Railway and it was closed in 1936. Bord and pillar mining method was practiced in this mine and it was closed without any de-pillaring and backfilling. The present undulating topography depicts the existence of subsidence at different parts of the coalfield. Total 117 boreholes were drilled for investigating the ground condition and to evaluate ground stability for laying railway tracks to run MBG (1987) train load along the proposed layout above the basin. The paper deals with the causes and subsidence potentiality over old abandoned underground coal mines neat Giridih town of Karharbari formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface miners have proved to be one of the major mechanical excavators, particularly, in soft and medium hard rock for meeting the higher demand for minerals. Selecting proper specifications of surface miner in a given geo-excavation set up is still a challenge faced by excavation engineers. Selection and performance of surface miner is influenced by a host of intact rock/rock mass properties apart from various machine design and operating parameters. These parameters need to be identified for their successful application and operational effectiveness. Production evaluation of surface miners was done in three limestone mines and three coal mines located at various parts of India. This paper presents the influence of rock/rock mass properties, namely, uniaxial compressive strength, tensile strength, P-wave velocity, modulus of elasticity and brittleness index on normalized production potential of surface miner. Laboratory P-wave velocity, modulus of elasticity and brittleness index showed better relation with normalized production in comparison with other parameters. A multiple regression model considering these variables has been developed for production evaluation using surface miner. The model has a reasonable degree of index of determination (0.78) and can be used as a good starting point for production evaluation in new projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any correct selection of machinery and equipment through the development stage is one of the most important decisions performed in surface mining. Technical and economical feasibility and safety are major criteria in this process. Selection of equipment for ground preparation and materials handling (loading and haulage) are generally the first and most important task. The equipment and machinery required for any other operations may be followed reasonably from materials handling equipment. Modernization in technology had an overwhelming effect on the development of mines. Technology is the key to higher production, productivity and safety. A combination of conventional and modern technology to suit the indigenous condition and environment would always give the best results. In line with modern technology, surface miners entered the global mining scene in the early 1980s. Initially, limestone quarries deployed surface miners in India which got extended to coal later on. In 1990s, surface miners started working in India and first introduced in limestone mines through outsourcing. The machines proved the ability of mining and sizing the product without the need for drilling, blasting and primary crushing. This paper illustrates how the surface miner has been more successful for winning the mineral more efficiently without causing much damage to the surrounding environs in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest to develop a benign mining under least environmental impact in the coal mining sector with due regard to safety, hassled to the birth of Talabira mining operation -first blast-free opencast coal mine in India and first private captive coal mining in Orissa through ripper dozer and surface miner technology. The mine is situated in the IB valley coalfields, odisha. The mine is owned by Hindalco Industries Ltd and it caters to the needs of captive power plant located at Hirakud, Sambalpur, Odisha. The mine is surrounded in south and west side by backwaters of Hirakud dam. As the coal mining takes place below the highest flood level of hirakud reservoir water, blasting is prohibited in the mine. The mine has adopted innovative ripper dozer-surface mining technology for ripping of sand stone parting and other hard intrabands, surface miner is being used for cutting of coal; hence totally avoiding the blasting. The mine has started production in September 2003. Due to initial apprehensions about the success of technology as well as less coal requirement of the power plant, mine started with 0.4Mtpa capacity. With expansion of power plant mine capacity also expanded in stages from 0.4 Mtpa to 1.5 Mtpa and now the capacity is 3.0 Mtpa. Till date cumulative production achieved from the mine is 13.65 Mt. The paper deals in the experiences of blast free coal mining in the mine and how the increased confidence in the technology has led to increase in production and productivity as well as mining of thin & thick seam at the mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanical cutting machines are presently extensively used for its eco-friendly environment. Such machines are applicable especially where drilling-and-blasting is difficult due to sensitive surrounding and/or where selective winning of mineral/ore beds/seams, partings and overburden is essential. Despite of its lucrative benefits and successful application in different parts of globe, cannot be universally accepted due to the rigid boundary conditions. Considering techno-feasible information of different surface miners available in the world and un-controllable parameters viz., ground topography, stability and intact rock strength properties of the limestone mine in Khasi Hills of Meghalaya plateau, the paper discusses about the feasibility of surface miner in this mine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human response is complimentary to blasting near habitats. This often results in loss of productivity due to frequent halting of blasting due to complaints or inefficient blasting due to restrictions from regulatory authorities on charge per delay and size of the blasting. This paper discusses the methodology adopted to address the human response for mitigation of complaints to ensure productivity in a limestone mine in India. The method comprised of conducting trials in a phased manner, with calculated charge per delay and establishing an attenuation relationship of the vibration along with the frequency domain of the vibrations. On the basis of the vibration analysis the maximum charge per delay was fixed and proper approval from regulatory authorities was obtained for regular blasting. The data was further validated and cross checked at different times. A list of the habitats around the mine was prepared and systematic blast plan was evolved. This was followed by addressing of the problems on individual and mass level, educating the habitants about the vibrations and their impact on the houses, continuous monitoring and displaying of vibration data generated in each blast and addressing genuine problems while meeting the fake claims with firmness and shifting of habitants in nearby locations. With the application of systematic efforts the mine could achieve targets of production within a short span of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the open pit mines, to have better productivity the requirement of large equipment is inevitable. Due to the huge investments involved, no mine can afford to have loss in investment then its equipment inefficient work, increased the idle time of equipment. Shovel-dumper combination is the most preferred one in surface mining. Therefore, capacity of shovel and dumper should closely match with each other. In surface mining operations, truck/dumper haulage contributes maximum towards operating costs, accounting for 50 to 60% of the total. To control the same, it is necessary to align the shovel with dumper/truck. Shovel-truck combination is the most sought and effective in small as well as large-scale mines, especially in Indian mines. The optimization of shovel-truck combination is essential in order to increase productivity of mine. Optimization studies aim at eliminating the excess number of shovel or dumper in order to minimize the total cost, incurred. This paper describes shovel and truck operation optimization approaches, done on real time basis. A case study in this regard done in one of the lignite mines of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Output per man shift from Indian underground coal mines has been stagnant since decades and a cause of concern. Introduction of continuous miner technology, though it works fo r 10% of its cycle time, is considered as an appropriate technology to boost productivity from already developed coal mining properties. A continuous miner is a mining machine that produces a constant flow of ore from the working face of the mine. The machine continuously extracts as it is loading coal with a cutting steel drum and conveyor system. This paper briefly describes Indian experience with using the continuous miner technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground control is one of the most important activities in underground mines to control the roof and side fall injuries in India. Since long wooden prop and cog were being used to support the mines panels, or roadways. Scarcity of timber due to ecological reasons and therefore increase in its cost make the support designer's or engineers to innovate the alternatives. In Indian mines different types of standing supports like square hollow section (SHS) prop, steel telescopic prop, pit prop, hydraulic prop, steel cogs etc. are being used in longwall as well as bord and pillar mining as per geological conditions of respective mines workings. These props are heavy, cumbersome portability, requiring regular maintenance and not user friendly. Keeping in mind the Indian mining condition, the support should be of greater longevity, light enough for easy portability and requiring less maintenance. Further it should have facility for height variation, sufficient yielding, continuous load monitoring and releasing remotely as coal seam thickness widely various Indian mines. This paper describes the design, working principle, advantages etc. of a slow loading suitable yielding prop with greater longevity, portability, sufficient yielding and continuous load monitoring with its use in varying coal seam thickness by replacing the conventional wooden and steel prop. This newly invented and patented prop has undergone a successful field trial and got the regular approval by the authority who looks after the mines safety i.e Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), Government of India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]