Sohagpur Coalfield is located in

Shahdol district Shahdol District () is a district of Madhya Pradesh States and territories of India, state in east central India. Its old name was Matsya raj or Virat kingdom in the name of great king Maharaja Virata. With a total area of and a population of 10 ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

in the basin of the

Son River Sone River, also spelt Son River, is a perennial river located in central India. It originates near Amarkantak Hill in Pendra (Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district), Chhattisgarh and finally merges with the Ganges river near Maner in Patna, Biha ...

. It is the biggest coalfield in the state of

History

Coal was discovered in this region, first in Sohagpur Coalfield by a British geologist named Franklin in 1830.Sri Kamal Sharma, Resource Development in Tribal India: an Example of the Baghelkhand Plateau, p. 161, 164, Northern Book Center, After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the first attempts at coal mining failed, but around 1926 Burhar and Dhanpuri collieries were started. The Anuppur-Chirimiri line was opened in 1939 and mining operations were extended subsequently. Sohagpur Coalfield is a remnant in the

Son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current ...

basin of Gondwana deposition.

The coalfield

Sohagpur Coalfield is a part of Central India Coalfields. The latter is spread over the districts of Surguja,

Koriya Korea State, currently spelt as Koriya, was a Rajput princely state in the Empire of India. After Indian independence in 1947, the ruler of Korea acceded to the Union of India on 1 January 1948, and Koriya was made part of Surguja Distric ...

(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, The total geographical area of the district is . Geography Shahdol is Located on . It has an average eleva ...

and Umaria (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. Sohagpur Coalfield is spread over an area of about and has an estimated reserve of 4,064 million tonnes. There are four coal seams, about 1–4 m in thickness spread across three sub-basins: Burhar-Amlai sub-basin located in the western part of the coalfield, Kotma sub-basin, located on the Anuppur-Chirimiri branch line, 40 miles east of Burhar and the Jhagrakhand-Bijuri sub-basin in the easternmost part of the coalfield. In general the coal is of low rank, high moisture, high volatiles and non-coking type. Sohagpur Coalfield is divided in two parts by the east-west running Barmni-Chilpa fault. Coal found on the north of this fault is characteristically different from the coal occurring south of the fault. Coking coal has been found in the north of the fault. Sharda Opencast Mine is being expanded from 0.50 million tonnes per annum to 0.85 million tonnes per annum and the mining area from 242.847 ha to 871.205 ha. Highwall mining has been introduced here. Normal open cast methods cannot be used as it is uneconomical to develop the coal seam by such methods in a small, confined area. By using this successful technology for the first time in India, the abandoned Sharda opencast mine has been a landmark in the Indian mining industry.

Coalbed Methane

Sohagpur Coalfield has ample scope of

Coalbed methane ''Coalbed methane'' (CBM or coal-bed methane), coalbed gas, or coal seam gas (CSG) is a form of natural gas extracted from coal beds. In recent decades it has become an important source of energy in United States, Canada, Australia, and other co ...

exploration.

References

{{Coalfields Coalfields of India Energy in Madhya Pradesh Shahdol district Mining in Madhya Pradesh