Report on visit to Maddhapara Granite Mine

& Boropukuria Coal Mine.

Submitted by: MD. FAISAL KARIM

Student ID : 201634004

Department : Petroleum and Mining Engineering.

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM AND MINING

ENGINEERING (PME),
MIST
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 Acknowledgements

Col. Nasir Uddin Ahmed.

Prof. Chowdhury Quamruzzaman.
Prof. Mohammad Amirul Alam
Lec. Daiyan Ahmed.
Lec. Jumman Al Jawad
All the respected officers of MGMCL
All the respected officers of BCMCL

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 Abstract
Petroleum & Mining engineering department of Military Institute of Science and
Technology organized a study tour to visit mine. On the 26th we commenced from
kamlapur rail station to our destination Dinajpur where both the mines are located.
It was a single day tour but it was a very informative visit. We learned about the
various equipment, safety procedures used in a mine and its production facilities,
demands of coal and granite in the market etc even though we were only able to visit
the surface not the underground. Overall the whole trip was a necessary action for
our study as a mining engineer.

Objectives:

To have a visual demonstration of how mine works.

To learn about different mining equipment.

To learn various safety procedures.

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 CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 8

CHAPTER 2 MADDHAPARA GRANITE MINE 9-15

2.1 Description of the Mine 9
2.2 Geology 9-11
2.3 Resources in Place 11
2.4 Mining Method and Operations 12-13
2.5 Management 13
2.6 Products 14
2.7 Uses of Products 14
2.8 Health, Safety and Environment 15

CHAPTER 3 BARAPUKURIA COAL MINE

3.1 Description of the Mine 16
3.2 Geology 17-18
3.3 Resources in Place 19
3.4 Mining Method and Operations 20-21
3.5 Utilities 22
3.6 Management 23
3.7 Products 23
3.8 Uses of Products 24-25
3.9 Health, Safety and Environment 25-26

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 Page
CHAPTER 4 RESULTS 25
CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 25
CHAPTER 6 REFERENCES/ BIBLIOGRAPHY 26

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 List of Tables
List of Tables
Table Title page

1 Management of MGMCL 14

2 Production of MGMCL 15

3 Management of BCMCL 24

4 Coal Quality of BCMCL 25

5 Production of BCMCL since last years 26

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 List of Figures
Figures Title Page

1 Cross sectional View 10

2 Hydrogeological formation of MGMCL 11

3 Underground Mining Model of MGMCL 13

4 Geology of BCMCL 18

5 Resource in BCMCL 19

6 Equipment of BCMCL 22

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Introduction
Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL) a company of
Petrobangla under the Ministry of Power, Energy & Mineral Resources, and
Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. Maddhapara Granite mining
company was first discovered by Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) in 1974-
1976. Its average depth was 128 meters. Its feasibility test was done by SNC,
Canada. Its Hydrological study was done by Australian Groundwater Company and
the Market study was done by Nippon koi of japan. Currently it is under control of
Petrobangla and under Ministry of Energy, Power and mineral Resources.

Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited is the biggest mining field of

Bangladesh. Most of its coal products are used for power production purposes. In
1985 Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) discovered high quality bituminous
coal spread over an area of 6.68 Square Kilometers at a depth ranging from 118 to
509 meters in Barapukuria under Parbatipur upazilla in the district of Dinajpur.
During 1987-1991 a UK based company M/S Wardell Armstrong carried out the
Techno-Economic Feasibility study on this coal resume under ODA financial
support. Based upon the Wardell Armstrong report, Petrobangla undertook
Barapukuria Coal Mine Project Development project and the PP was approved by
ECNEC.

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MADDHAPARA GRANITE MINE

Description of the Mine

Maddhapara Granite Mining Company Limited (MGMCL) a company of
Petrobangla under the Ministry of Power, Energy & Mineral Resources, and
Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh was incorporated on August
04, 1998 with a paid up Capital of Taka 350 Crore under Company Act. Of 1994.
The main objective of the Project is to set up an underground hard rock mine at
Maddhapara Dinajpur. The mine is designed to produce 1.65 million M. tons of hard
rock per annum to meet the requirement of flood control, construction of coastal and
town protection embankment, construction and maintenance of bridges, roads &
highways, embankment, river training, railway ballast, high rise buildings decorated
tiles and other heavy construction works.

Maddhapara Granite mining company was first discovered by Geological Survey of

Bangladesh (GSB) in 1974-1976. Its average depth was 128 meters. Its feasibility
test was done by SNC, Canada. Its Hydrological study was done by Australian
Groundwater Company and the Market study was done by Nippon koi of japan.

Geology
Based on geological framework, Bangladesh is divided into two main divisions
(Bakhtin 1966,Guha 1978,Raimann 1933 and1996), namely

1) The Precambrian Indian platform and

2) The basin or geosyncline.

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Aligned from north-east to south-west, a narrow zone between the above a
mentioned divisions is called the Hinge zone. Further the Precambrian Indian
platform is subdivided into 1) Rangpur Saddle, and 2) Bogra shelf; whereas the basin
or geosyncline is into 1) Bengal fordeep, and 2) Folded Belt.

Maddhapara hardrock mine area is located in Rangpur Saddle. The main

characteristics of the Saddle are that the sedimentary cover is very thin and basement
lies at shallow depth in this region. It is actually the connecting part of India Shield
of Bihar in the west to shilliong shield of Meghaloy if the east. This is why it is
calledsthe Garo-Rajmahal gap. Basement found in Maddhapara is probably
formed in the Precambrian Era. Maddhapara hardrock mine area is limited to the
east by the NW-SE Major fault and to the north by a steep slope of basement. It is
on the Dinajpur platform. It has Horst & graven type structure. Limited to the North-
West & South-East Fault, Intrusive Igneous Rock, Age: 173 Crore Years.

Fig: Cross sectional view of northern part of Bangladesh.

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 Fig: Hydrogeological formation of MGMCL.

Resources in Place
Present Mining are is 1.2 sq Km. Present rock reserve is 174 Million MT.

Its Mine life is 50 years. But its expected to increase upto 70 years.

Initial Developed Stopes: 5

No. of Stopes in present Mine Life: 125

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Mining Method and Operations
Room and Pillar method is used in production of MGMCL.

The mining is done by drilling and blasting method. Explosives are pushed is the
borehole which is previously done in the location of interest. When blasting takes
place the Rock of the room are fragmented into different size. Then these are brought
on the surface using the railway. If the Grain size is too big, then it is again forced
by secondary drilling and breaks down into pieces. If it is extracted for the tiles
industry, the rock is cut down with cutter machine which is usually hand driven and
done by the workers under the surface.

Mine workers does these all works. They push the explosives in the boreholes, they
drill the huge size rocks into smaller pieces and all other works involve with the
extraction of ore According to the instructions of the Engineers.

(Picture is attached to next page)

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 Fig: Underground Mining Model of MGMCL

Management

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Products
MGMCL Produces hard rock by drilling and blasting method, so during blasting the
rocks are fragmented into different grain size. Mainly they produce rocks of 6
different grain size. These are shown in the following chart.

Fig: product type and grain size

Uses of Products
River Training

Roads

Railways

Bridge & Heavy Construction

Ingredient of Cement

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Health, Safety and Environment:
The miners must have to wear

Mine suit

Gloves

Boot shoe

Helmet (with torch)

MGMCL looks after the workers very carefully. There is a 24/7 medical service
provided by a Doctor for the underground mine workers in the underground. So that
even in Emergencies, miners get immediate medical Services. Miners work for a
shift and they come up on the surface. Then the other group of miners and local
workers goes underground for working. Their schedule is done checked by doctors
so that a miner dont have spent more time in the underground than his body can
sustain.

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BARAPUKURIA COAL MINING

Description
In 1985 Geological Survey of Bangladesh (GSB) discovered high quality bituminous
coal spread over an area of 6.68 Square Kilometers at a depth ranging from 118 to
509 meters in Barapukuria under Parbatipur upazilla in the district of Dinajpur.
During 1987-1991 a UK based company M/S Wardell Armstrong carried out the
Techno-Economic Feasibility study on this coal resume under ODA financial
support. Based upon the Wardell Armstrong report, Petrobangla undertook
Barapukuria Coal Mine Project Development project and the PP was approved by
ECNEC.

After the approval of the project, a construction contract under a suppliers credit of
US$194.91 Million (Suppliers credit US$109.235 Million + ADP Fund US$85.675
Million) was signed between China National Machinery Import & Export
Corporation (CMC) and Petrobangla with a view to develop an underground mine
having a capacity of 1.00 Million Metric Tons of coal per annum. After substantial
completion of the project the mine was conditionally certificate. It is to be mentioned
here that the company has successfully completed all payment of suppliers credit,
which is a commendable achievement of the company.

To ensure proper implementation of the project and smooth functioning of the mine
operation, Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited was formed and registered
as a company on August 04, 1998 under the companies Act 1994.

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Geology
Tectonic elements play the vital role in the geological development of a region and
for evaluating the economic resources of Bangladesh. It is essential to have a clear
conception about the major tectonic zonation of the country.

The geotectonic of Bangladesh has been suffering both from oversimplification and
over-complication i.e. the geology of Bangladesh is a complex one and also of the
study area. A series of articles worked out concerning the tectonic framework of
Bengal Basin and its adjoining areas by several workers regarded in the course of
Morgan and mclnter, 1966; and follow the same way in a very recent time by Islam,
2002.

Bangladesh constitutes the major part of the Bengal Basin where immense thickness
of sedimentary formations rest on the ancient igneous and metamorphic pre-
Cambrian Archaen Basement. These formations range in age from Permo-
Carboniferous, through Jurassic and Cretaceous, to Tertiary and Quaternary and are
up to 20 km thick in the vicinity of Dhaka. In the north-western part of the country
(outside of the Bengal Basin) the basement is present at much shallower depth where
Archean rocks are covered directly by late-Tertiary sediments, as little as 128 m
thick at Madhyapara Hardrock Mine area. Within the basement, it has been
postulated from regional geophysical surveys that a number of small basins occur -
probably faulted or half-faulted grabens - where sediments of the coal bearing
Gondwana Formation is present, concealed by the ubiquitous cover of Tertiary
sediments. These mostly continental Gondwana sediments were deposited within the
ancient southern super-continent of Gondwanaland when the Indian sub-plate was
directly attached to Southern Africa, Antarctica and Australia.

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The ancient Gondwanaland mass was broken up in Cretaceous time when the Indian
sub-plate commenced its global wandering from near the South Pole to where it is
today, colliding in Tertiary time with the relatively stable landmass of Eurasia, the
northern super-continent, leading to the creation of the massive crustal upheaval
which formed the regional tectonic setting.

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Resource in Place

Fig: Details of mining resource

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Mining Method and Operations:
Longwall mining is a form of underground coal mining where a long wall of coal is
mined in a single slice (typically 0.6 1.0 m thick). The longwall panel (the block
of coal that is being mined) is typically 3 4 km long and 250 400 m wide. It is
used in barapukuria as well.

Water Drainage:

Barapukuria Coal mine is situated under the water bearing layer (aquifer). The
average thickness of the water bearing Dupi-Tila formation is around 107m and
situated above the coal bearing Gondwana layer. Dupi-Tila formation is fully
saturated by water. Besides this enough water is available in the coal bearing
Gondwana formation also. The mine water mainly coming from those above layers
during development and production period through of the mine by different fracture,
fissure, faults, Dykes and damaged Gob area. At present, the total water discharging
from Barapukuria coal mine is around 2367m3/hr

There are two sumps and pump station in underground of the Barapukuria coal mine,
One is at -260m level and another at -430m level. The water bearing capacity of -
260m level sump is 5000m3 and capacity of -430m level is 7000m3. The mine water
accumulated into the sumps during production and development period and after that
mine water discharged on the surface by planned management of 13 no. of pump.

The present scenario of the mine water inflow is given below-

Period Average Water Discharge(m3/hr)

May to December 2014 2,009

January to December 2015 2,103

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January to December 2016 2,284

January to July 2017 2,281

Power Supply:

Generator Installation and Commissioning

Under the scope of work of MPM&P contract consortium has been installed one
diesel-generator which rating is 3.50MW and 6000 volt in May 2014. Out of two
first one has been installed, commissioned and in operation now. The rest one has
been installed, commissioned and in operation.

Uninterrupted Power Supply

For the purpose of obtaining power from two different sources as a single user to
maintain an uninterrupted supply of electricity, a separate dedicated power-line has
been constructed by PDB by replacing the shared line being used currently; this is
in addition to a 33 KV dedicated line installed previously. The new 33 KV dedicated
line which is now under construction will supply electricity straightway from the
national grid to the coal mine through a 132/33 KV transformer being constructed
in the nearby PGCB area.

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Utilities
Longwall machines Underground Rail

Continuous miners Ventilation fans

Roofbolters Rock dusters

Shuttle cars Scoops

Fig: Coal mine equipments

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Management

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Products:
Coal Characteristics: Barapukuria's coal is mainly homogeneous but having dirt
band, vitreous to sub-vitreous luster weakly coking coal. Cleasts are present but
filling with pyrites or chalcopyrites.Rank of Barapukuria Coal: In accordance with
USA Ranking System (ASTM Method) Barapukuria Coal is High Volatile
Bituminous Coal. So, this is an Industrial Standard Coal.

Gross Calorific Value: 25.68MJ/Kg or 11,040 Btu/lb or 6,072 kcal/kg.

Fig: Coal quality

Uses of Products
Products of Barapukuria Coal Mine is mainly supplied to the power stations for
producing electricity. The amount of coal it produces every year is not sufficient, so
rest of the required coal is imported from abroad. The Amount of production is given
in the following chart.

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 Fig: production amount since the past years

Health, Safety and environment

Appropriate steps have been taken by the company to preserve environment. As part
of this, 40,000 saplings of various species have been planted on 113 acre of acquired
and leased land. Saplings of various species were planted this year. The mine water
released on the surface is treated through water treatment plant using requisite
amount of chemical substances. Chemical and bacterial test of the mine water is
done every month to ascertain whether it contains any hazardous substances. Water
flows at a quantity of 2,300 cubic metre/hour through an 8 kilo meter long canal to
Fulbari and Nwabganj Upazila. During dry season, this water is used for irrigation
over an adjacent area of nearly 30 thousand acres. Owing to existence of trees and
plants and prevalence of favorable environment in the mine area, seasonal birds

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throng here to build nestles and expand their species; this has created a pleasing
environment in the area.

The miners safety is considered with special care. The miners are to well-dressed
before they enter the mine. They have to use these

Mine suit

Gloves

Boot shoe

Helmet (with torch).

Result
We observed various mining machineries and came to know about the process. We
Observed things such as skip shaft, cage shaft, mine ventilation system, power
station, miners safety, transportation. We also got idea about, Drilling and Blasting
system, Room and Pillar Method, transportation from the underground etc.
Moreover we now know how a mine works.

Summary and Conclusion

The trip was very effective for us. Initially we had idea about mine only through
theory. It will be very effective in our near future. But we didnt have the opportunity
to visit the underground. So hopefully next time we will be able to visit it.

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Reference
www.bcmcl.org.bd

www.mgmcl.org.bd

www.wikipedia.com
www.google.com

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