Chirimiri Coal Mine

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Chirimiri Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Chirimiri, Korea, Chhattisgarh, India.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Chirimiri Coal Mine	Chirimiri, Korea, Chhattisgarh, India	23.183958, 82.336684 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	–	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
2	1.65	2022	Underground & Surface	Mixed	24	74	580*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
48	2022	362	Chirimiri	Subbituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
South Eastern Coalfields Ltd	Coal India Ltd [100.0%]	India

Table 6: Historical production (unit: million tonnes per annum)

ROM or Saleable	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
ROM	1	1	1	0	0	1	0

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the Global Coal Mine Tracker April 2024 release and the September supplement.

Background on Mines

The Chirimiri coal mines are a network of mines on the Chirimiri coalfield located in village Chirimiri, Tehsil Khadgaon, District Korea, State Chhattisgarh, India. The Chirimiri colliery was opened in 1930 (production started in 1932), New Chirimiri colliery came up in 1942, Pure Chirimiri colliery in 1945, and North Chirimiri colliery in 1946. Subsequently, New Chirimiri Pondi Hills, West Chirimiri, Duman Hill and Korea collieries started operating. Coal production rose from 264,000 tonnes in 1933 to 3,162,500 tonnes in 1980. However, today not all the associated coal mines are in operation and are at different stages of operations. Some of them are pending clearances for their expansion in capacity.

Chirimiri Underground Coal Mining Project has a capacity of 1.40 MTPA with a mine lease area of 686.29 ha of M/s South Eastern Coalfields Limited located in village Chirimiri, Tehsil Khadgaon, District Korea (Chhattisgarh), was earlier granted environmental clearance by the MoEF&CC India, on 9 May, 2006, but it lapsed over the time and now requires fresh appraisal/approval for their present mining operations. The Public Hearing was conducted on 14th June, 2004 by the State Pollution Control Board for the project, however, the final EC has not been granted by the MoEF&CC India.

North Chirimiri Underground Coal Mining Project has a capacity of 0.50 MTPA in mine lease area of 510.667 ha of M/s South Eastern Coalfields Limited located in village Chirimiri, Tehsil Khadgaon, District Korea (Chhattisgarh), was earlier granted environmental clearance by the MoEF&CC India, on 9 May, 2006 but it lapsed over the time and now requires fresh appraisal/approval for their present mining operations. Public Hearing was conducted on 14th June, 2004 by the State Pollution Control Board for the project, however, the final EC has not been granted by the MoEF&CC India.

Chirimiri open cast Mine is an ongoing coal mining project with a lease area of 1286.18 ha, in village Chirimiri, Bhandardei, Bhukbhuki in Tehsil Manendragarh, District Korea, Chhattisgarh State. The project was formulated in 1976 by CMPDI Nagpur, sanctioned by Govt. of India on 24 October 1978 and production in the mine started in the year 1979. The present production capacity is 1.0 MTY and it is proposed to increase the capacity to 2.0 MTY (Normative) & 2.7 MTY (Peak) to meet the demand of superior grade coal from SECL. Environmental Clearance for a production capacity of 1.0 MTY was awarded by MoEF, New Delhi vide letter No. J-11015/6/92-IA.II(M) on 31 January 1995 Form-1 for an enhanced capacity of 2.7 MTY was submitted on 11.11.2009 and considered by EAC on 25.11.2009. MoEF advised for re-submission of the project report vide their letter no. J- 11015/331/2009-IA.II(M) dated 02.12.2009. The project was modified and resubmitted. The presentation was done on 24.01.2011. The TOR was received in May 2011 and forest clearance in 2015. The current status of the project is not known.

West Chirimiri Coal Mine an opencast mine part of the Chirimiri block operated by SECL located at Latitude 23.226480, Longitude 82.359964 in Koriya district, Chhatisgarh. This is a very old mine, which used to be operated earlier by Indra Singh & Sons (Private) Limited, 7, Wellesly Place, Calcutta-1 as an underground mine and was witness to a deadly accident on 11 April 1968 claiming 14 lives. The mine was later nationalised by the government of India and operated by South Eastern Coalfields Limited

Impacts

With the expansion to coal mining in the area in the last 6-7 decades, there is a threat to the existing springs. 20 springs out of 300 have died every 10 years or so. Now, the number of springs in Chirimiri has reduced to 30", says Girish Kumar, senior researcher and resident of Chirimiri. These 30 springs still cater to the drinking water needs of 70-80 percent of Chirimiri's population and are still the first choice of the people but if they die, then it will lead to acute water crises as well as destroy livelihoods.

The demand for spring water in Chirimiri has increased in the last one decade as the people prefer it over the water supplied by the Chirimiri Municipal Corporation. While the spring water is free, most residents don't want to take the pain of walking to a hilly area to bring water back. Instead, they pay people who can do this for them. Thus, the spring water provides a livelihood to more than 100 families.

The film titled The Dying Springs of Chirimiri focuses on the devastation of natural resources and its impact on community life in Chirimiri.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.