Open-pit mining from Barapukuria mine\\\'s northern part planned

The government plan to extract coal through open-pit mining from northern flank of Barapukuria mine to fuel power plants seems a forlorn possibility as even necessary feasibility study has not yet been done, industry-insiders said.
"To initiate open-pit coalmining we require conducting a detailed feasibility study," a senior official of the state-run Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) told the FE Wednesday.
"But we haven't carried out any such study yet," he said.
"We have sought government nod from the energy and mineral resources division (EMRD) under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources to carry out a feasibility study on extracting coal through open-pit mining from the northern part of the Barapukuria coalmine," the official added.
Despite having no feasibility study done, Finance Minister AMA Muhith, however, announced a plan in his budget speech for fiscal year (FY) 2016 for extracting coal from the north side of the mine by using open method.
The plan on budget papers also carries a set target of extracting around 110 million tonnes of coal over the next 25 years, with an estimated haul of 4.0-5.0 million tonnes per annum.
Mr Muhith also spotted coal as main source of fuel and elaborated on a government plan to generate 10,051 megawatts of electricity through building a number of coal-fired power plants.
The planned coal-based power projects include the setting up of a 1,320 megawatt (MW) plant at Rampal by Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company, a 1,200MW plant at Matarbari with assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), four units of 1,200MW plants having the total generation capacity of 4,800 MWs at Moheshkhali and a 1,320MW plant at Paira of Patuakhali with the financial assistance from China, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore.
Agreements have also been signed to establish coal-fired power plants to generate 1,411MW power under public-private partnership.  
Officials said the government has so far obtained a report on water modelling and hydro-geological survey on the Barapukuria coal mine, which states that open-pit mining there is possible subject to carrying out a mandatory geo-technical feasibility study.
The Institute of Water Modelling, a state-owned entity under the Ministry of Water Resources, suggested that around 344 million cubic metres of water would have to be pumped out for its successful management.
The mine was discovered in 1985 and coal extraction from under the ground through mineshaft began in 2005, getting over some hurdles and humdrums.
Some 390 million tonnes of coal reserves in the Barapukuria coalmine were found spread over an area of 668 hectares within the depth of 118-503 metres.
The BCMCL found the coal reserves on the northern side of Barapukuria to be 135 million tonnes.
The government has planned to extend the open-pit mining-aimed at maximising the output-- on 627 acres of land on the northern side of the mine.
Currently, a 250-megawatt coal-fired power plant is operational at the mine-mouth of Barapukuria coalmine.
The government has a plan to generate about 20,000MW electricity by 2030, and 53 per cent of the amount would come from coal-fired plants.
mazizur.rahman@outlook.com