The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Rain hits coal production in collieries

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Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Rain hits coal production in collieries

Staff Reporter

The total coal production from 37 underground mines and 14 opencast mines comes down from 1.25 lakh tonnes to 78,738 tonnes a day.

KOTHAGUDEM: Heavy rain affected the mining operations in the opencast mines of the Singareni Collieries in a big way. Some quarries were under a sheet of water and efforts were on for draining them on war footing.

The 14 opencast mines of the company which accounted for 70 per cent of its total production witnessed serious drop. The production loss in the opencast mines because of heavy rains was put at 19,507 tonnes worth Rs 1.95 crores yesterday.

The total coal production from 37 underground mines and 14 opencast mines was in the order of 1.25 lakh tonnes a day. It had come down to 78,738 tonnes.

The slushy conditions in open cast mines hampered the operation of shovels and dumpers.

The Prakasham Khani opencast in Manuguru, one of the major projects of the company, fulfilling the highest target the 18000 tons a day, could yield only 9693 tons on Monday. The Ramagundam Opencast III in Karimnagar district, which had a target of 12,800 tonnes, accounted for a production of 6,502 tonnes, which is the lowest ever in the season.

The Goutam Khani opencast mine at Kothagudem had a production of 4071 tonnes on Monday against a daily target of 8,280 tonnes.

The quarry was filled with water and the operation of heavy earthmoving machinery like 35 tonne dumpers, shovel and dozers proved to be difficult on the haul roads.

The coal output at the Jalagam Vengala Rao Opencast mine at Sathupalli was also affected severely.

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