Production resumes after toxic gas glitch
Production at Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) of Dinajpur resumed Wednesday night. Production was halted Tuesday afternoon when carbon monoxide (CO) gas was found emitting from phase-1110 of the coalmine.
Following large-scale CO emission from phase-1110, the authorities of BCMCL sealed off that mining area on Wednesday. They pulled out miners from phase-1109 on Tuesday to monitor the mine's condition, sources said.
Sources said temperature, moisture and methane gas levels went beyond standard levels on Tuesday at phase-1110. To avert any untoward incidents or casualties the authorities suspended mining Tuesday and moved all miners leaving the mining equipment there.
Coal production at phase-1110 had restarted on August 23 this year. It had been sealed off, with mining equipment worth $5.5 million inside, since early October 2005 following toxic gas emissions.
According to coalmine officials, the BCMCL extracted 800-1000 tonnes of coal from the only operation phase-1109 yesterday. The daily coal production target of the mine was 2400-3000 tonnes.
When contacted, Managing Director of BCMCL MA Aziz said phase-1110 was sealed off successfully on Wednesday and production restarted at the phase-1109 the same day. "We are waiting for the Chinese experts who are due to arrive at the mine in a few days. After that we will decide the next course of action," he told The Daily Star.
In a major operational breakthrough, the troubled Barapukuria coalmine resumed nearly full production after two years when phase-1110 resumed production. Sealing off this phase of the mine denied the BCMCL access to 2.30 lakh tonnes of coal with a production value of at least $100,000.
Barapukuria coalmine has a reserve of 390 million tonnes of coal, 60 percent of which is extractable, according to the first project proposal. But the extractable amount has dropped to 20 percent, according to BCMCL sources.
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