The Kotre Basantpur Pachmo coal mine is an open-cast coal mining project being developed in Jharkhand, India. The project is owned by Central Coalfields (CCL), a subsidiary of state-owned Coal India (CIL).
KBP Mining, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) comprising Power Mech Projects (74%) and AMR India (26%), is responsible to develop and operate the mine under a 25-year concession that includes a two-year development period.
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The open-cast coal project is estimated to produce 105 million tonnes (Mt) of coking coal with an annual output of up to 5Mt during the initial 25-year mine life. The mine life is expected to be further extended by ten years.
A pre-feasibility study (PFS) report of the project was released in January 2019. It was based on the geological reports prepared by CIL’s subsidiary Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) on the Kotre-Basantpur and Pachmo coal blocks in 1997 and 1998, respectively.
Location and geology
The Kotre Basantpur Pachmo open-cast coal project comprises two coal blocks located in the northern part of the West Bokaro Coalfield (WBCF) in Jharkhand, India, approximately 95km away from Ranchi.
The Kotre-Basantpur block occupies a surface area of 3.75km2 in the Ramgarh district of Jharkhand, while the adjacent Pachmo coal block spans 2.7km2 in the Bokaro district of Jharkhand.
The project targets the coal seams of the Barakar and Karharbari Formations.
Coal reserves at Kotre Basantpur Pachmo
The Kotre Basantpur Pachmo project is estimated to hold 153.63Mt of mineable coal reserves with a corresponding overburden volume of 734.53 million cubic metres (Mcm).
The total geological reserves at the Kotre-Basantpur and Pachmo blocks are estimated to be 250Mt, which includes 222Mt of proved and 28Mt of indicated coal reserves.
Mining and coal handling
Open-cast coal mining method using hydraulic excavators and rear dumpers will be deployed to extract overburden and coal from the Kotre-Basantpur and Pachmo deposits. The stripping ratio for the project is estimated to be 4.78 cubic metres per tonne (cum/t).
The extracted coal will be crushed in the pit and conveyed to the surface via high-angle conveyors (HAC). Further, the coal will be sent for processing at an onsite coal handling plant.
Infrastructure facilities
Other infrastructure facilities for the project include a haul road, an approach road to the project site, a water supply system, office buildings, field workshops, an electrical substation, and accommodation buildings.
Contractors involved in the Indian coal mining project
A consortium of Power Mech Projects and AMR India was awarded a 25-year mine development and operation (MDO) contract worth Rs92.94bn ($1.25bn) for the project by CCL in June 2021.
The contractual scope includes mine infrastructure development, overburden removal, coal extraction, crushing, processing, and transportation to CCIL’s coking coal washery in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
The concession agreement also includes an option to extend the contract for additional ten years.
India’s National Coal Development Corporation (NCDC), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and CMPDI were engaged to perform drilling of 172 boreholes at the project site.
