Coal Ministry Transforms Mining Waste into ₹1000-Crore Construction Material Opportunity

Union Minister of Coal & Mines, G. Kishan Reddy, released a report for recovering value from mining waste. The HPEC Report on the profitable employment of the OB in the coal sector was revealed in the Half-Yearly Review meeting of the coal sector held at Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New Delhi. The initiative represents a radical departure from previous practices in India regarding mining waste disposal and environmental impact.

Transforming Mining Waste into Economic Value

Coal companies have formulated a framework by the HPEC with the help of five central ministries NITI Aayog, the soil rock and minerals that are otherwise being dumped as overburden during operation. To tackle the issue of OB as a waste-disposal concern, the ‘Whole Mining’ approach of the committee presents OB as an economic resource and brings it into the new loop of the economic value chain through value-added processing.

Captured from OB through an operations lens, the report details the process of transforming OB into M-Sand suitable for construction tasks, while combating issues such as waste management and the utilization of river sand. Out of the 4 OB processing plants and 5 OB-To-M-Sand pilot plants required, Coal/Lignite PSUs have already commissioned 4 and installed 6 more facilities in different phases of installation.

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Environmental and Economic Benefits for Mining Communities

It holds out significant value additions to coal mining regions – through revenues from the sale of M-Sand and the generation of employment opportunities in OB processing plants. The approach allows for the reclamation of OB stockpiles, and productive land use such as agriculture and infrastructure development, and avoids the negative effects on the rivers and riverine ecosystems due to sand mining.

There are clear advances in the field of sustainable resource management and successful pilot plants are already in place. These facilities have the added benefits of environmental conservation and community as well as economic development especially in the mining areas hence complimenting India’s overall vision of efficient use of resources and environmental protection.