1. HIGHWALL MINING-INDIAN
SCENARIO
Pushon Ghosh
ID-111211013
IIEST Shibpur

2. INDIAN BACKGROUND
 Third largest coal producer
 60% of the total energy comes from the combustion
of coal
 80% of the total coal is obtained from the opencast
projects

3. (Source:
https://www.google.co.in/)

4. WHY HIGHWALL MINING?
 The thin seams are not extracted due to
• Uneconomical stripping ratio
• Surface obstructions
• Forest covers
• Mountain tops
 Highwall mining operations allow the extraction of
otherwise inaccessible coal.

5. WHY HIGHWALL MINING?
Applicability of Highwall Mining

6. THE HIGHWALL MINER
 Miniature form of the continuous miner
 Operates at the highwall face and sits at the pit
bottom
 The total operation from coal cutting to despatch of
coal is done by the single machine
 Remotely controlled
 Minimum manpower of only 3-4 persons

7. A Highwall Miner in Operation
(Source: https://www.google.co.in/)

8. PARTS OF A HIGHWALL MINER
 Base Unit
 Reels and Chains
 Push beams
 Cutter module
 Power-head assembly
 Controls
 Anchoring
 Right angle conveyor
 Generator

9. ADVANTAGES
 Low establishment costs
 Flexibility
 Access to smaller coal blocks
 Applicability
 Selective mining
 Higher safety
 Remotely controlled operation

10. INDIAN PICTURE
 Highwall mining is in a nascent stage
 Highwall mining was first introduced in
• Ramagundam Opencast-II (RG OC-II) of SCCL
• Sharda Opencast Project of SECL

11. FUTURE PROSPECTS
 Future projects of highwall mining in India
• Ramagundam Opencast-I of SCCL
• Quarry AB of West Bokaro Mines of TATA STEEL
• Quarry SEB of West Bokaro Mines of TATA STEEL
• 17 new mines have been identified by CIL

12. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
 Proper design of the cut height
 Proper design of the cut width
 Proper design of the web pillar thickness
 Ensuring that the cuts do not deviate and puncture
the previous holes
 Design of a suitable system to cope with the water
problems

13. CONCLUSION
 Ideal solution regarding mining of thin seams,
specially in India
 Proper and optimum design of the trenches
 Pilot projects should be launched to test the
feasibility
 If the results are positive, adoption of this
technology in a larger scale

14. THANK YOU!