A year after landslides brought mining activities to a complete halt at Tadkeshwar lignite mines in south Gujarat, the state PSU Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (GMDC) has restarted operations at the mine which is estimated to have a life of seven more years.

“Lignite dispatch is expected to commence from Tadkeshwar from January. The work of earth removal caused by the landslide has been completed and mining operations have begun from November. This will have a positive impact on our lignite production during the last quarter,” Roopwant Singh, Managing Director of GMDC, told businessline.

Largest producers

GMDC is one of the largest producers of lignite in the country. In the first six months of the current financial year, GMDC’s lignite production fell 25 per cent to 27.43 lakh tonnes compared to the same period last year. 

Tadkeshwar is an open cast lignite mine in Surat district which was commissioned in 2003-04. High water-table in the area have caused landslides, disrupting the mining process. “The mine was struggling for the last two years. There were issues regarding stability (of the soil) and so finally we had to temporarily close it,” Singh added.

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Tadkeshwar is a very crucial mine for GMDC which has a number of lignite customers in the industrial belt in Bharuch and Surat. After the mine was closed, lignite was being supplied from mines in Bhavnagar districts which increased the transportation costs. “The reserves at Tadkeshwar will last another seven years,” the official added. GMDC is, however, planning to develop a new mine at Ghala closer to the Tadkeshwar mine.

In February 2022, the company received clearance from the Union Environment Ministry to mine lignite up to 135 meters from the earlier permitted depth of 94 meters at Tadkeshwar. GMDC currently has lignite mines at Tadkeshwar, Mata no Madh, Umarsar, Rajpardi and Bhavnagar. While Panandhro mines in Kutch have been exhausted, the company plans to develop six new lignite mines with reserves close to 400 million tonnes. 

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