Tata Steel to employ new technology to extract coal from crevices

KOLKATA: Tata Steel's West Bokaro Divison has inaugurated ‘High Wall Mining’, a unique coal mining initiative that provides a solution to mine coal that is blocked coal safely in barriers. This technology will help in extracting 30 -35% of the blocked coal. While it is touted as an eco-friendly and efficient method of coal extraction, High Wall Mining is also the safest method of extraction as it does not require any personnel to go underground. The company said it expects to produce five lakh tonne per annum through High Wall Mining.

T V Narendran, managing director Tata Steel, India and SEA inaugurated the High Wall Mining at South Eastern Quarry. Anand Sen, President, TQM and Steel Business, Rajeev Singhal, Vice President, Raw Materials, Mr Sanjay Rajoria, GM, West Bokaro, Tata Steel, Shri Mohan Mahto, President Rashtiye Colliery Mazdoor Sangh (RCMS), West Bokaro and Mr Avneesh Gupta, PEO were among the other officials present on the occasion.

An official statement issued by Tata Steel on Monday said the High Wall miner machine stands on the pit floor or on a bench, directly in front of the exposed seam and makes long parallel rectangular drives into the coal seam. A remote-operated cutter is pushed into the seam by a string of push beams (unmanned coal-conveying elements) that transport the mined coal back to the entry of the drive onto a stockpile.