The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : RK New Tech coal mine to be reopened

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

RK New Tech coal mine to be reopened

D. Chandra Bhaskar Rao

The agencies that probed the fire in the mine term it man-made

On the production side, the loss because of the blaze was minimal
The 20-year-old mine yields over half a million tonnes of coal a year

KOTHAGUDEM: The Ramakrishnapur New Tech (RK NT) mine in Srirampur area of Adilabad district, which was closed in the wake of an underground blaze on July 13 last, will be reopened for resuming normal mining operations on Wednesday. The Director-General of Mines Safety (DGMS) and the Internal Safety Organization (ISO) of the SCCL had given clearance for reopening the 20-year-old mine that yields over half a million tonnes of coal a year.

The agencies that probed the fire termed it “man-made”. It was attributed to the welding work that was undertaken in the mine as part of the regular maintenance activity. A senior officer of the SCCL said welding work should have been undertaken after carpeting the particular spot within the mine with the fire-proof “brattish cloth” and watering the surroundings sufficiently.

Apparently there were lapses and it resulted in the accident.

It is certainly not because of the natural combustion of coal as it was the case with mines with deposits or collection of loose coal.

Higher risk

The company had suspended five personnel – welder, mechanical supervisor, mining supervisor, mechanical engineer and mining engineer in connection with the fire.

It also decided to update its code of precautions and protocols pertaining to mines safety from time to time.

The SCCL official said some 17 per cent of the coal fires in a developed country like the US would take place because of welding and flame cutting activity. It was relatively less in Singareni Collieries.

Fortunately “all our mines were not that gassy”.

The risk is more with older underground mines like Padmavathi Khani Shaft 5 where 75 per cent of the mine area form the old workings calling for more attention on safety.

Operation cost

The fire in the (RK NT) mine could be put out in less than one month as against the usual duration of six months. The operations involved in extinguishing the blaze might cost about Rs 1 crore. But precious coal was saved. On the production side also, the loss was minimal as some 1300 of the coal miners working in the underground mine availed themselves of the VRS benefit just 10 days before the incident and relocation of miners from surplus mines in the area was due.

The SCCL official said the reopening of the mine was expected to be free from any other operational problem as sufficient precautions were taken.

SCCL Director ( Planning and Projects) DLRK Prasad and Deputy Director-General of Mines Safety Satish Puri will reach Srirampur on Wednesday to monitor the resumption of operations in the mine.

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