Wardha Valley Coalfield is located mainly in

Chandrapur district Chandrapur district (Marathi pronunciation: ͡ʃən̪d̪ɾəpuːɾ (earlier known as ''Chanda district'') is a district in the Nagpur Division in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Chandrapur was the largest district in India until the Gadchir ...

in the

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...

region of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Maharashtra.

The coalfield

Wardha Valley Coalfied covers an area of about 4,130 km² in the valley of the

Wardha Wardha is a city and a municipal council in Wardha district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Wardha district. Wardha gets its name from the Wardha River which flows at the north, west and south bounda ...

, a river in the

Godavari basin The Godavari ( IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakesh ...

. It extends in a North West – South East direction for about 115 km. Wardha Valley Coalfield is spread across Bhandar, new majri, Rajur-wani, Chandrapur, Balalarpur and Wamanpalli.

Challenges

Wardha Valley Coalfield mines coal in a large measure by open cast mining. However, the availability of coal comparatively near to the surface is fast depleting. As a result, either the open cast mines have to be deepened or the costlier underground mining process resorted to.

Reserves

Coal-bearing areas in India are divided into two groups – Gondwana measures and tertiary measures. Gondwana coals occur in valleys of rivers such as Damodar,

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 ...

Godavari The Godavari (IAST: ''Godāvarī'' �od̪aːʋəɾiː is India's second longest river after the Ganga river and drains into the third largest basin in India, covering about 10% of India's total geographical area. Its source is in Trimbakeshwa ...

and

. Tertiary coals are found in Assam and the lignite occurring areas. According to the

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 ...

, Wardha Valley Coalfield has total reserves of 5,343.60 million tonnes of non-coking coal, up to a depth of 1,200 m, out of which 2,783.51 million tonnes are proved reserves and the rest being indicated or inferred. Bulk of the coal lies up to a depth of 300 m.

References

{{Godavari basin Coalfields of India Energy in Maharashtra Chandrapur district Mining in Maharashtra