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Sunday, October 3, 2010

RANIGANJ COALFIELDS

Raniganj Coalfield, is the birth place of coal mining in the country. In 1774, first mining operation in the country was started in this Coalfield by Sumner & Healy. In 1820, first Coal Company- M/s. Alexander & Company was established. In 1835, first Indian Enterprise i.e. M/s. Carr & Tagore Company was formed. In 1843, the first joint stock Coal Company i.e. M/s. Bengal Coal Company was formed. Since then, underground coal mining operation had been continuing in Raniganj Coalfield by numerous small owners.

In 1973, all Non-Coking Coal Mines were nationalized and brought under Eastern Division of Coal Mines Authority Limited. In 1975, Eastern Coalfields Limited, a Subsidiary of Coal India Limited (C.I.L.), was formed and inherited all the private sector coal mines of Raniganj Coalfield.Area of Raniganj Coalfield is 1530 Sq.Kms spreading over Burdwan, Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia Districts in West Bengal and Dhanbad District in Jharkhand. Heart of Raniganj Coalfield is, however, in Burdwan District bounded by Ajoy River in North and Damodar River in South. Kasta Coalfied is located on the North of Adjoy while Mejia and Parbelia are on South of Damodar River.

At present E.C.L. has 107 operating mines out of which 89 are underground mines and remaining 18 are opencast mines.
Total Coal Reserve upto 600 m depth is 23 billion tonnes in West Bengal. Out of this, proven extractable reserve is 6 billion tonnes in West Bengal.

Raniganj Coalfield of E.C.L. has special characteristic containing the best type of non-coking coal reserves in the country. All the heat intensive industries like Glass, Ceramic, Refractories, Forging etc. are exclusively dependent on Raniganj Coal. Other industries also prefer Raniganj Coal. The entire Export of Coal from the country is being done from Raniganj Coalfield.
Raniganj coalfield also contains large reserves of iron ore occurring chiefly as nodules. Good quality fire clay occurs in the Barakar stage of the Raniganj coalfield. Besides, the fire clays, various other types of useful clays occur at several places in the Raniganj coalfield belt, of which, the pottery clays of the Ronei and the light coloured brick clays of Durgapur deserved special mention.

Other Mines

Raniganj coalfield also contains large reserves of iron ore. Good quality fire clay occurs in the Barakar stage of the Raniganj coalfield. The fire clays, various other types of useful clays occur at several places in the Raniganj coalfield belt, of which, the pottery clays of the Ronei and the light coloured brick clays of Durgapur deserved special mentionBeside this the important minerals found in the district are , calcium carbonate, Manganese, Bauxite and laterite etc.

Source : Barddhaman District Gazetteers

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