Deposits of
coal are found in Tosh, Siuja, Azimara and Abidhara in Dang, and a few other places in Sallyan, Rolpa, Pyuthan and Palpa districts of Nepal. The total estimated deposits are about 5 million tons. Due to the low volume of deposits, mining is done by traditional methods. The mines have been exploited since the early 1960s; however due to lack of proper markets, they are not exploited to their full capacity.
Deposits
Geologically, the main coal deposits can be categorized into:
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Quaternary Lignite deposits of
Kathmandu Valley
The Kathmandu Valley ( ne, काठमाडौं उपत्यका; also known as the Nepal Valley or Nepa Valley ( ne, नेपाः उपत्यका, Nepal Bhasa: 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑑅 𑐐𑐵𑑅, नेपाः गाः)), ...
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Siwalik coal found in the
Sub-Himalayas
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Cretaceous-
Eocene coal and
Gondwana
Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
coal found in the
Lesser Himalayas
The geology of Nepal is dominated by the Himalaya, the highest, youngest and a very highly active mountain range. Himalaya is a type locality for the study of on-going continent-continent collision tectonics. The Himalayan arc extends about
fro ...
The coal in the Sub-Himalaya (Siwalik/Churia) has some radioactive minerals mixed in the coal.
Production
There are 11 small scale coal mines that are in operation scattered throughout Nepal.
Some additional licenses are issued by the government for exploration.
The annual production is shown in table below.
Environmental concerns
Some lands have started to cave-in and some landslides have been triggered near the mining area. Also, the ground water has dried up. This has caused conflict between locals and mine operators.
See also
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Mineral resources of Nepal Nepal has been mining in small scale for iron, copper, lead, zinc, cobalt, nickel and gold. Old mine pits, adits
An adit (from Latin ''aditus'', entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by whic ...
References
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Mining in Nepal