Talcher Coalfield is located in Angul district 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

Brahmani Brahmani (Sanskrit: ब्रह्माणी, IAST: Brahmāṇī) or Brahmi (Sanskrit: ब्राह्मी, IAST: Brāhmī), is one of the seven Hindu mother goddesses known as Sapta Matrikas. She is a form of Saraswati and is considered ...

The coalfield

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 has reserves of 38.65 billion tonnes, the highest in India. Talcher Coalfield covers an area of . The coal is of lower grade containing only about 35 per cent of fixed carbon, 70 per cent volatile matter and 25 per cent ash content. As of 2011, nearly one hundred thousand tonnes of coal is dispatched daily to power stations in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

and other parts of India.

History

Coal was discovered in the Talcher Coalfields at Gopalprasad in 1837. Handidhua Colliery was opened by M/s Villiers in 1921. NCDC opened several mines – at South Balanda in 1960, Nandira in 1962 and Jagannath in 1972. Production rose from 0.91 million tonnes in 1972-73 to 33.10 million tonnes in 2001-02. Talcher Coalfield is subdivided into five production/ administrative areas: Talcher, Jagannath, Kalinga, Lingaraj and Hingula.

Transport

Talcher Coalfield was linked by a rail line taking off from Nergundi on the east coast in 1922.

References

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