Ib Valley Coalfield is located in

Jharsuguda district Jharsuguda is a district in Odisha, India with Jharsuguda town as its headquarters. This region is rich in coal and other mineral reserves. Of late, many small and medium scale iron and steel units have been set up in the vicinity of Jharsugud ...

in the Indian state of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, in the valley of the

Ib River Ib river is tributary of Mahanadi river in North-Eastern Central India. It joins Mahanadi river flowing directly into the Hirakud Reservoir. The river originates in hills near Pandrapet at an elevation of . It passes through Raigarh district ...

, a tributary of the

Mahanadi The Mahanadi is a major river in East Central India. It drains an area of around and has a total length of . Mahanadi is also known for the Hirakud Dam. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Odisha and finally merged with Bay o ...

. ′

History

In 1900, when

Bengal Nagpur Railway The Bengal Nagpur Railway was one of the companies which pioneered development of the railways in eastern and central India. It was succeeded first by Eastern Railway and subsequently by South Eastern Railway. History The opening of the ...

was building a bridge across the Ib River, coal was accidentally discovered. The first coalmine in the Ib Valley Coalfield was established by Himgir Rampur Coal Company in 1909. Other underground collieries were opened by private operators till nationalization of the coal industry in 1973, when it was placed under

Western Coalfields Limited Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) is one of the eight Subsidiary Companies of Coal India Limited (CIL) which is under administrative control of Ministry of Coal. The Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 has its registered office at C ...

. In 1986, it came under

South Eastern Coalfields Limited South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) is the largest coal producing company of India. It is a "Miniratna" Company, and one of eight fully owned subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. The company has its headquarter at Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, Indi ...

and in 1992 under

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) is one of the major coal producing company of India. It is one of the eight subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was carved out of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in 1992 with its he ...

. With nationalization came the age of open cast mines. Ib Valley Coalfield operates three major open cast mines – Lajkura Opencast Mine, Samleswari Opencast Mine and Lilari Opencast Mine. Production of the field has risen sharply from 0.55 million tonnes in 1972–73 to 15.51 million tonnes in 2002–2003.

The coalfield

Ib Valley Coalfield lies between latitudes 21° 41′N and 22° 06′N and longitudes 83° 30′E and 84° 08′E . It covers an area of . According to

Geological Survey of India The Geological Survey of India (GSI) is a scientific agency of India. It was founded in 1851, as a Government of India organization under the Ministry of Mines, one of the oldest of such organisations in the world and the second oldest survey ...

, the

Talcher Coalfield Talcher Coalfield is located in Angul district in the Indian state of Odisha, in the valley of the Brahmani. The coalfield According to Geological Survey of India, the Talcher Coalfield has reserves of 38.65 billion tonnes, the highest in Indi ...

has reserves of 38.65 billion tonnes, the highest in India. Ib Valley Coalfield has reserves of 22.3 billion tonnes, the third highest in India. This coalfield forms part of the large Gondwana basin that extends across several districts in adjoining

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prade ...

Transport

Ib Valley Coalfield is served by

South East Central Railway The South East Central Railway (abbreviated SECR) is one of the 19 Railway Zones in India. The Zone Office is headquartered at Bilaspur and comprises the Bilaspur, Nagpur and Raipur Division. History This Zone was formerly part of the South ...

. The main railway station for passenger traffic is Brajrajnagar on the

Tatanagar–Bilaspur section The Tatanagar–Bilaspur section is part of the Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line and connects in the Indian state of Jharkhand and in Chhattisgarh. Part of one of the major trunk lines in the country, it passes through an industrial-mining area ...

Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line The Howrah–Nagpur–Mumbai line (also known as Mumbai–Kolkata line) is a railway line in India connecting Kolkata and Mumbai via Nagpur. The railway line was opened to traffic in 1900. Sections The trunk line has been treated in more deta ...

. The area links to NH 200. Construction of the -long Jharsuguda–Barpalli rail line is essential for transportation of coal from the Ib Valley Coalfield with a potential of 90 million tonnes per annum.

will fund this project.

References

{{Coalfields Coalfields of India Energy in Odisha Jharsuguda district Mining in Odisha