Chirimiri Coalfield is located in manendragarh-chirmiri-bharatpur district in the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

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 ...

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 Prad ...

in the valley of the Hasdeo River, 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 ...

Other coalfields

There are several other coalfields in the region. Kotma sub-basin of

Sohagpur Coalfield Sohagpur Coalfield is located in Shahdol district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in the basin of the Son River. It is the biggest coalfield in the state of Madhya Pradesh. History Coal was discovered in this region, first in Sohagpur Co ...

is from Chirimiri Coalfield. Jhilimili Coalfield is north of Chirimiri railway station. Sonhat Colliery lies north-east of Chirimiri.Shri Kamal Sharma, Resource Development in Tribal India, p. 165, 1989, Northern Book Centre, 4221/1 Ansari Road, New Delhi,

History

Tata Iron and Steel Company initiated prospecting of coal but no mining was carried out by them. The Chirimiri colliery was opened in 1930 (production started in 1932), New Chirimiri colliery came up in 1942, Pure Chirimiri colliery in 1945, and North Chirimiri colliery in 1946. Subsequently, New Chirimiri Pondi Hills, West Chirimiri, Duman Hill and Korea collieries started operating. Coal production rose from 264,000 tonnes in 1933 to 3,162,500 tonnes in 1980. The collieries in Chirimiri Coalfield were owned by several companies and owners such as Chirimiri Colliery Company Pvt. Ltd., Dababhoy's New Chirimiri Ponri Hill Company (Private) Limited, United Collieries Limited, K.N. Dhady and Indra Singh & Sons (Private) Limited. These were nationalized in 1973.

The Coalfield

Chirimiri Coalfield is a part of Central India Coalfields. The latter is spread over the districts of

Surguja Surguja district is a district of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. The district is one of the oldest districts of Chhattisgarh. The headquarters of the district is Ambikapur. The district lies in its eponymous Surguja dialectal region (where ...

Koriya Korea State, currently spelled as Koriya, was a princely state of the British Empire of India. After Indian independence in 1947, the ruler of Koreaccededto the Union of India on 1 January 1948, and Koriya was made part of Surguja District of ...

(both in Chhattisgarh),

Shahdol Shahdol is a city in Shahdol district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Shahdol district Shahdol District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in east central India. It old name was Matsy ...

and

Umaria Umaria is a municipality city in the Umaria district of the Shahdol Division of Madhya Pradesh, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second ...

(both in Madhya Pradesh). There are fourteen coalfields in this group, namely Korar, Umaria, Johilla, Sohagpur, Sonhat, Jhilimili, Chirimiri, Sendurgarh, Koreagarh, Damhamunda, Panchbahini, Hasdeo-Arand, Lakhanpur and Bishrampur. The group covers an area of about with estimated reserves of 15,613.98 million tonnes. The deposits are at a depth of 0–1200 meters. Therefore, extraction is mainly amenable to underground mining except a few blocks in eastern part of these coalfields which have opencast potential. Chirimiri coalfield is spread over of hilly country and includes both the sections – Kurasia and Chirimiri. Total reserves in Chirimiri coalfield have been estimated to be around 312.11 million tonnes. 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 ...

reserves of non-coking coal up to a depth of 300 m in Chirimiri Coalfield was 362.16 million tonnes.

Transport

Chirimiri is connected to Anuppur by the Annupur-Chirimiri branch line in 1939. From Bilaspur, it is 180 by road, and 237 km by train.

References

{{Coalfields Coalfields of India Energy in Chhattisgarh Koriya district Mining in Chhattisgarh