COAL 



Indian Mines 



THE INDIAN COAL INDUSTRY 



Warora. 



Spontaneous 

 Combustion. 



Mohpani. 4. Mohpani in the Narsinghpur District of the Central Provinces* 



This colliery has been worked since 1862 by the Nerbudda Coal and 

 Iron Company. It has made little progress, but a new area some two 

 miles farther west has been discovered and operations commenced. 

 Medlicott published in 1872 a paper entitled Notes on the Satpura Coal- 

 basin that should be consulted regarding the coal of this area. More 

 recently Mr. C. J. Dalby of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway submitted in 

 1892 a report on the Ranipur Coalfield. Also Mr. G. F. Reader, Mining 

 Specialist, published (Mem. Geol. Surv. Ind., 1901, xxxii.) a more 

 detailed account of these fields. 



5. Warora in the Chanda District of the Central Provinces, and 

 about 62 miles south of Nagpur, has been worked since 1871 by the State. 

 About half the coal raised is taken by the G.I. P. Railway, the rest going 

 to the cotton-mills and factories of the Central Provinces. This coal is 

 liable to spontaneous combustion, and a large part of the field has been 

 lost through fire. " The Warora colliery has been worked under dis- 

 tinctly greater natural difficulties than those usually met with in Bengal."' 

 " The returns for labour at Warora, notwithstanding the difficulties arising 

 from water and liability to spontaneous combustion, show that the system 

 of mining adopted permits of a satisfactory output per person employed, 

 whilst the deaths due to accidents have been reduced to a low rate." 

 " Another three or four years will probably see the end of the Warora. 



Future Mines. colliery, but, with the extension of the Wardha Valley line southwards, 

 the extensive deposits near Bellarpur will be opened up." Prospecting 

 operations have recently commenced on the known thick coal-seams in 

 the Wun district, Berar. These coal-fields are fully described bv Hughes, 

 [Cf. Mem. Geol, I.e. xiii., 1.] 



Singareni. 6. Singareni in the Nizam's Dominions. " The great belt of Gond- 



wana rocks near the north-west end of which Warora is situated stretches 

 down the Godavari valley as far as Rajamundry, and at one or two places 

 the equivalents of the coal-bearing Damuda series in Bengal are found 

 cropping up from below the Upper Gondwana rocks. One of these 

 occurrences near Yellandu in the Nizam's Dominions forms the coal-field 

 well known by the name of Singareni. The principal seam of coal, some 

 5 to 6 feet thick, being worked at the Singareni colliery was discovered 

 by the late Dr. W. King of the Geological Survey in 1872, but mining 

 operations were not commenced until 1886." "Coal-mining at Singareni 

 has been accompanied by a heavier loss of life by accidents than in the 

 general run of Gondwana fields." The opinion seems upheld that for 

 steam purposes Singareni coal is considerably inferior to Bengal coal and 

 is not a coking coal. These circumstances would seem largely to account 

 for the slow progress made with this coal in South India. The Reports 

 of the Hyderabad (Deccan) Company, Ltd., afford useful particulars 

 regarding the mine. 



Umaria. 7. Umaria, Rewah State, Central India The Bilaspur-Katni 



Branch of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway passes through this small coalfield. 

 " The quantity of workable coal in this field is estimated at about 24 

 million tons." " The four coal-seams being worked vary from 3 to 12 

 feet in thickness and dip about 4 to the north-east. The mines were 

 opened in 1882 under the direction of Mr. T. W. H. Hughes of the Geo- 

 logical Survey and were controlled by Government until the 1 st of January, 

 1900, when they were handed over to the Rewah State." Most of the 



336 



Heavy Loss of 

 Life. 



