Which is the deepest mine in India?

                    Mining is all about who well you can dig and how deep you can dig to get the desired mineral. In the process, India have also evolved to innovate methods to dig deep and have constructed one of the world's deepest mines.

Deepest mine in India (Non functional):

Kolar Gold Fields

Owned by Bharat Gold Mines Limited BGML (now closed) 

Depth - 3200 meters (10500 feet)

Mineral - Gold 

Currently not operating

Will be resuming the operations in near future. 

Initially extracted as Open Pit Mines and later developed into underground mines and has been one of the deepest mines in the world. 

Deepest Mine in India (Operational): 

Jaduguda Uranium Mine

Owned by Uranium Corporation India Limited (UCIL)

Depth - 914.4 m (3000 feet)

Mineral - Uranium 

One of the oldest uranium mine. 

Richest grade of uranium is found in Jaduguda

Horizontal Cut and fill mining Method with backfill  

IN FUTURE,

Deepest mines in India:

Sindesar Khurd Mine

Owned by Hindustan Zinc Limited (Subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc.)

Depth - 1050 m (3450 feet)

Mineral - Zinc and lead concentrates 

By product - Silver

Currently not yet producing at that depth, shift sinking in process.

Blast Hole Open Stoping with paste fill

Rampura Agucha Mine

Owned by Hindustan Zinc Limited (Subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc.)

Depth - 950 m (3120 feet)

Mineral - Zinc and lead concentrates 

Simultaneous Open cast and Underground mining operations

Underground operations are still in development stage

Long hole open stoping with pastefill

Deepest Underground Coal Mine:

Chinakuri Coal Mine

Owned by Eastern Coalfield Limited (Subsidiary of Coal India Limited)

Depth - 700 m (2300 feet)

First coal mine in India 

Non Functional (Stopped after an explosion)

Bord and Pillar Mining Method

Surface and Underground Mining Methods

In different parts of the world, people have their own style of eating such as Chinese eat with chopsticks, Indians eat with their hands, western people eat with spoon, fork and knife. While God knows how these people manage with three; rather than eating focusing on spoons for eating. While this goes true for mining too. Different parts of the world has different types of conditions in which a mineral is found and which led to adopting of different types of mining methods.

These mining methods can be broadly divided into two: 

1. Surface mining methods
2. Underground mining methods 

Child digs a pit to hide his belongings, so does the mining engineer digs a pit to extract the coal out of the mother earth. Extracting the coal from surface by removal of overburden are known as surface mining methods. Mining methods are specifically dependent on the type of the mineral to be extracted which can be classified into soft rocks and hard rocks. The soft rocks include coal, limestone, oilshale and other sedimentary rocks while the hard rocks include gold, silver, iron, copper, zinc, lead, tin and other igneous rocks. Following are the surface mining methods which are commonly used in extraction of a mineral are:

1. Strip mining
2. Open pit mining
3. Open cast mining
4. Mountain removal technique
5. Quarries
6. Highwall mining (Auger mining)
7. Placer mining
8. Solution mining

The minerals which are deep inside the mother earth are not feasible to be extracted by surface mining methods. There are numrerous underground mining methods which can be broadly divide into underground mining in soft rock and Underground mining in hard rock.

Following are the commonly used mining methods in soft rock mines:

1. Room/Bord and Pillar Mining
2. Longwall Mining
3. Shortwall Mining

There exist special type of mining methods depending on the specifications of the site which are:

1. Plowing mining in thin seams.
2. High pressure water jet mining.
3. Blasting gallery method for thick seams.
4. Longwall top coal caving method in thick seams.
5. Multislicing mining method in thick seams.
6. Cut and fill mining method in steep seams.
7. Sublevel caving method in steep seams.
8. Scraper assisted chamber method for moderately dipping seams. 
9. Short longwall method for extraction of standing pillars. 

The underground mining methods in the hard rock mines include:

1. Room and Pillar Mining
2. Post Room and Pillar Mining
3. Step Room and Pillar Mining
4. Shrinkage stoping
5. Sublevel Open stopping
6. Bighole Open stopping
7. Vertical Crater Retreat mining
8. Cut and fill mining (overhand/underhand)
9. Longwall mining
10. Sublevel caving 
11. Block caving
12. Vein Mining (Resuing)

These are the mining methods which are widely used throughout the world. Hope to describe these methods one by one in the upcoming posts. Good luck.

Should you opt M.S or M.Eng in Mining?

                  In the mindset of the every student, there exists a very bold aspiration, to pursue masters in the international universities. However, every student doesn't have a clear understanding between M.Sc. and M.Eng. While I have a little knowledge about how this influences in other streams of engineering but I can assure it matters a lot in mining stream.

             You can think what's a big deal if a student applies for M.Eng. or M.Sc. as they both represent the masters degree. The master's degree you choose has a totally different influence in your career and on your mindset. Then what is the difference between them?? 

By definition:

Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) can be either an academic and professional master's degree in the field of engineering. 

Master of Science (M.S. or M.Sc.) is granted for studies in engineering focused on the growth and improvement of the subject.

                  The students are not fond of definitions which make them more confused towards these things. Let me help you to describe a little more about these in a non professional way.

                  Master of Engineering is a degree for those who are interested to increase their knowledge in technical aspects of the subject and will be joining the industry after their graduation. In this program, the time of graduation can go from one and half year to that of two years depends on completion of the technical courses. In some universities, there is a clause to completion of program which include to present a technical paper. While in some other universities, student should undertake internship and present a technical report about the internship for graduation. This program is totally oriented towards preparing a graduate towards a professional career path i.e. towards an industry. 

               Master of Science is a degree for those who are interested in research. Research means performing experiments to develop something new such that it helps the industry in one form or the other. In this program, you will be allocated a project to develop the experiments and perform it under the guidance of a professor and complete a thesis on the performed experiments and findings. The time frame of the graduation depends on the completion of  the thesis which may take up to two to three years. Especially, this program is for those who are interested in pursuing Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) while the M.Eng. students cannot pursue PhD. The career options for this program can lead to industrial jobs especially in Research and Development (R&D) sector of the industry / Scientist / Professor. 

                   Opting a degree, can make you focus towards your future aspirations. Both the degrees are focused towards the professional career path in their respective manner, now it depends on the students whether they want to pursue masters by research i.e. M.Sc. or M.Eng. which is professional masters degree.

               There is a saying "No pain No gain". The real deal in the M.Sc. program is to find something new and presenting the findings in the form of publications and to find the right career forward. While that in M.Eng. program is to create a network inside the industries to obtain a position in the industry. 

                           

                       Hoping the prospective students will choose their degree wisely and wishing the students all the very best for their future.  

Picture Sources:

theprideconsultants.com

cornell.edu