Open-pit mining for coal extraction: Petrobangla to conduct study

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Anisul Islam Noor :
The state-run Petrobangla will submit a proposal to Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) for approval of carrying out the feasibility study of the open pit mining for coal extraction at Barapukuria in Dinajpur, official said.
Petrobangla also said that Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Limited (BCMCL) would conduct the study. The estimated cost of the project is about Tk36 crore.
Barapukuria coal mine corers an area of 6.65 square kilometres. The coal-bearing zone is underlined by about 107-metre thick water-bearing zone known as ‘Tila Formation.’
The coal reserve at the mine seems to be at a depth between 118 meters and 509 metres with an average thickness of 36 metres.The present underground mining area is covering an area of three square kilometers in the centre out of 6.68 square kilometres total reserve area, officials said.
But no coal extraction has been done in the north covering 2.81 square kilometres area, which has a reserve of 135 million tonnes of coal, they said.  
In the northern side, lower Dupi Tila Clay layer is missing and hence underground mining is very difficult, they said, adding, as the depth is minimum in the northern side, open cut mining method may be feasible to extract coal from the northern side. But proper environmental management is required for open pit mining, as there will be huge dewatering, an official said. Groundwater will be lowered due to dewatering in the lean period.
The management of Ashuganj Power Station Company Limited (APSCL), however, said they had by the time got coal supply assurance from Barapukuria Coal Mine Company to implement a coal-fired power project having capacity to generate 1200MW of electricity. The APSCL is now conducting feasibility study at three separate sites in the Barguna district to implement the power project, APSCL Managing Director Engr. Md Nurul Alam said.