Date | Jul 28, 2016:

Australian scientist Baotang Shen is felicitated by CIMFR director Pradeep Singh in Dhanbad on Wednesday. Picture by Gautam Dey

A group of Indian and Australian mining scientists on Wednesday shared their knowledge and experience on different aspects of highwall mining technique at Dhanbad-based Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), the premiere laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The occasion was a daylong Indo-Australian joint workshop on Recent Development on Highwall Mining in India organised as part of the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), a platform for bilateral collaboration in science, jointly managed and funded by the governments of Australia and India.

Four Australian scientists, including senior principal research scientist of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Baotang Shen, Marc Zhiting Han from University of Queensland and Sungsoon Mo, University of New South Wales shared their experience on highwall mining with their Indian counterparts.

Highwall mining technique enables to mine blocked or battered coal in the mines, which are otherwise considered lost by miners. The technology is not only eco-friendly and safe for coal extraction but also the most efficient method of natural resources utilisation. It does not require human presence underground, thus ensuring safety.

Speaking on the occasion, senior scientist of CIMFR Pijush Pal Roy, who is also coordinator of the workshop, said, "In India, we have been able to extract 31.64 lakh tonnes of coal, worth Rs 550 crore, since September, 2010 when the first project to extract lost coal using this mining technique began in Ramagundam area of Telangana after which it was adopted by several other collieries, including west Bokaro mine of Tata Steel.

"More than 500 million tonnes of locked coal is still lying in various collieries," said Pal Roy and added that Indian and Australian mining conditions are very different as Indian mines have sharp ends while Australia ones have flat ends.

Baotang Shen talked about the lessons he learnt from his past failures in using highwall mining in Australia.

"For conducting highwall mining in Indian conditions both CSIRO and CIMFR have worked jointly for the last four years under the AISRF and our project is supported by both the governments," said Shen.

Australian Marc Elmouttie delivered his lecture on mine site characterisation and imaging, while Mo presented his paper on pillar design consideration in highwall mining.

Principal scientist at Nagpur regional centre of CIMFR John L. Porathur talked on highwall mining in India, design methodology and its guidelines.

(Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/)