The department of mining engineering of IIT(ISM), Dhanbad has developed a technology that can address the issues plaguing the mining industry, including illegal mining, land subsidence and increasing cost of sand for filling up mines.

The technology, developed as part of a PhD research project of assistant professor Kashinath Pal under the guidance of senior professor of the department U.K. Singh and associate professor Dhiraj Kumar as co-ordinator, will also help in the extraction of coal from thick seams in mines such as Chasnala besides allowing safe mining in areas near the railway tracks.

The technology was demonstrated at the Rock Excavation Lab of the institute on Friday in the presence of stakeholders such as Singreni Collieries Company Ltd, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Coal Mine Planning and Design Institute, Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, Central Coalfields and Eastern Coalfields.

The developers explained the benefits of the new dry filling machine and its advantages over conventional hydraulic filling with sand.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the demonstration, Singh said, "The dry compact fill technology uses waste material such as mines overburden, ashes from thermal power plant and slag from steel plants to fill up the vacuum after the extraction of ores from mines."

He said the use of mines overburden could be a viable alternative at a time sand was becoming scarce. "The new technology allows maximum extraction of ore from mines and minimises the risk of illegal mining," Singh said.

"The machine developed at a cost of around Rs 8 lakh throws mines overburden at a high speed on the surface, which in turn allows self-compaction of the filling material that can be used to fill up the mines," he added.

Singh said the dry compact fill technology would need less water. "It will make mining safer in areas near the railway lines as high compaction of the filling material will minimise the vibration at the upper surface of mines."

We will conduct the field trial of the technology at Singreni Collieries Company Ltd.