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Download PDF Due to a series of fresh hydro-geological problems, Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Ltd (BCMCL) officially re-launches production today cutting down daily production to 1,500 tonnes from the original target of 2,700 tonnes.
This means the two units of the 250 megawatt coal-fired power plant at the mine site will be compelled to depend on 500 tonnes of imported coal daily. The plant needs 2,000 tonnes of coal a day for its full operation.
Sources said Power Development Board (PDB) that owns the coal-fired power plant will have no choice but to use import coal at a rate of 500 tonnes a day and blend that with the mine’s supplies. The stock of coal at the mine site has been exhausted.
“If the power plant must operate to its capacity, there will be no alternative to import of coal till July. And we can’t say for sure how much coal we will be able to produce after July because we will have to estimate it on the basis of the actual situation in the mine,” said a highly placed source.
The 250-million dollar mine’s operations remained suspended since October last year when its Chinese developer and operator CMC stopped work demanding various payments. The suspension also affected power production at the highly faulty and excessively costly coal-fired power plant.
The PDB has meanwhile floated two rounds of tenders to import coal– the first round drew Indian coal price offer at 60 dollars per tonne and the second round 125 dollars. Till now, no coal has been imported.
The government ended the stalemate last month by clearing most part of the CMC’s payments against Chinese Supplier’s Credit and supply of various mining equipment without any contract. The CMC mobilised its manpower and equipment and started mining again.
But fresh problems started surfacing one after another, making the prospect of the already troubled mine bleaker than ever before.
“From an unknown location, hot water with temperature as high as 48 degrees Celsius is gushing into the mine at high speed,” said a top BCMCL official. ” In addition to inundating the mining area, this has pushed the mine’s temperature to an unhealthy level. It has now become impossible to work there on a six-hour shift at a stretch.”
While the inundation problem has been addressed by installing submerged pump to pump out water constantly, the mine experienced several rounds of roof collapse with heavy rocks falling at strategic points.
But the added problem in such a situation is an unstable hydro support at the south zone of the mine where present production is in progress. This support is established by erecting 70 to 75 columns from the floor to the roof. As the coal seam — 600 metres long and 100 metres wide — is inclined by 23 degrees, the alignments of these columns have become irregular.
“However, the inclination of the coal seam has gradually become close to normal further ahead. We hope we will not face a stiffer situation as we progress ahead,” noted the official.
Activities at the mine are now going on in full swing. As the government ardently requested China to sincerely work at the mine, there are presently more than 200 Chinese workers and experts at the site.
A Chinese team of experts with special tools have also arrived to recover valuable mining equipment that had to be abandoned at a depth of 1,100 feet in September 2005 when there was an alarming rise of deadly carbon monoxide.
The mine has been producing 1,100 tonnes to 1,500 tonnes of coal on trial basis from last month, and addressing various technical and adverse natural problems.
Barapukuria project was approved in March 1992 with the target of completing it on July 31, 2001 at a cost of Tk 887 crore. But the project was suspended when sub-soil waters started gushing in at a rate of 700 cubic metres from April 5, 1998 at a depth of 1,100 feet. This happened because of design flaws, according to official sources.
Through repeated rescheduling of deadlines, cost escalations and various types of irrational contractual extensions, the contractor was given seven years’ extra time to finish the job. The contractor has been even given a five-year maintenance job from June 2005.
The mine’s original daily production target of 2,700 tonnes was cut to 2,000 tonnes after the 1998 disaster. Experts fault the mine’s design while most international miners argue that underground mining in Bangladesh itself is a disastrous idea.
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