3. LOCATION
It’s in Putimara union under
Nawabganj Upazila of Dinajpur
district.
The area is mainly covered with
cultivable land of low elevation
and there are four villages within
the mine area. Tulsi Ganga and
Karotoya River both flowing from
north to south mainly drain the
study area.
4. GEOLOGY OF DIGHIPARA COAL FIELD
The coal field is discovered by
Geological Survey of
Bangladesh (GSB) in 1995.
The Geological Survey of
Bangladesh (GSB) has drilled
five holes in the Dighipara
naming GDH-49 (1995), GDH58
(2001), GDH-60 (2003), GDH-
61 (2004), GDH-62 (2004) to
explore the extent, geology and
other aspects of the basin.
5. LITHOSTRATIGRAPHIC SUCCESSION
Lithological description and
corresponding stratigraphic
positions of the geological
formations are similar to those
of Barapukuria.
However, the formations
identified in the Dighipara are
somewhat deeper than
Barapukuria.
In the Gondwana Group of the
Dighipara basin, the coal
bearing sequences range from
323.09 m (GDH-61) to 446.26
m (GDH-62).
6. SEAM THICKNESS AND AVERAGE DEPTH
IN ALL FIVE DRILL HOLES
Thicknes
s (m)
Drill
hole
GDH-
49
GDH-
58
GDH-60 GDH-61 GDH-
62
Avera
ge
Average
depth (m)
Seam I 17.07 16.98 9.91 19.81 5.79 13.91 355.53
Seam II 33.83 35.30 33.99 36.58 30.48 34.04 373.63
Seam III 7.01 1.22 0.52 6.71 1.21 3.33 410.40
Seam
IV
2.44 10.27 2.90 3.35 3.81 4.55 417.74
Seam V 1.6 …… ….. 0.91 3.05 1.85 417.19
Seam
VI
0.3 ……. ….. 0.81 3.05 1.39 422.97
Seam
VII
…… …….. ……. 2.9 1.22 2.06 434.94
7. SEAM WISE TOTAL IN-SITU RESERVES OF
DIGHIPARA COAL FIELD
Seam
No
Average
thickness
of seam
(m)
Proved
Area(sq.k
m)
Probable
Area(sq.
km)
Proved
reserves
(million
tons)
Probable
Reserves
(million
tons)
I 13.91 30.12 158.66
II 34.04 73.68 388.17
III 3.33 7.22 38.02
IV 4.55 1.64 8.64 9.86 51.94
V 1.85 4.01 21.14
VI 1.39 3.00 15.81
VII 2.06 4.46 23.49
TOTAL 132.35 697.24
8. PROVED AND PROBABLE AREA OF DIGHIPARA
COAL FIELD
Proved area of this coal field is
1.64 square kilometer.
Probable area is 8.64 square
kilometer.
From those table it is shown that
seam II constitute the lion’s share
(about 56%) of the resource at the
Dighipara coal basin, about 56%.
For greater recovery rate our
main interest is in seam II though
other seams will also be
extracted. So it will be very much
professional to target the seam-II
for mining.
9. MINING METHOD WOULD BE
The mining method for Dighipara
coal field would be longwall multi-
slice method. But this method have
a drawback for thick seams and
that’s why the top coal caving
method is incorporated with this
method. The benefit of top coal
caving with longwall mining is
twofold. First, top coal caving is
economically beneficial as much of
the coal will be extracted using
caving. The second benefit is we
usually can’t extract such ultra-thick
coal seam using ordinary longwall
mining. So ultimately the mining
method would be multi-slice
longwall top coal caving.
Fig: Conceptual model of longwall multi-slice top coal
caving for Dighipara coal field
10. SEAM WISE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF COAL AT
DIGHIPARA BASIN
Seam
no.
Moistur
e
(avg)%
Volatile
Matter
(avg)%
Ash
(avg)%
Fixed
Carbon
(avg)%
Total
Sulfur(a
vg)%
Calorifi
c value
BTU/lb
I 3.2 30.89 9.18 56.29 0.65 12836
II 2.67 32.08 8.17 57.13 0.67 12983
III 2.71 28.46 12.50 56.33 0.58 12497
IV 1.88 25.42 20.62 52.38 0.56 10650
V 1.74 27.64 22.47 50.08 0.86 10480
VI 1.58 32.94 14.71 50.77 0.89 12170
VII 3.15 27.57 9.66 59.62 0.50 13200
So by chemical analysis the bituminous coal found in Dhighipara
coal field.
11. USAGE OF DIGHIPARA’S COAL
The government gave its nod to a proposal of
Chinese state-run POWERCHINA Resources Ltd to
set up a 660MW power plant which would run on
coal from the Dighipara deposit in Dinajpur.
The proposed power plant will require 1.55 million
tones of coal a year, according to the proposal.
Dighipara will be the second mine to be developed
for coal extraction after the Barapukuria mine.
12. REFERENCE
1. Imam, B., (2005). Energy Resources of Bangladesh,
University Grant Commission of Bangladesh
2. International Journal of Emerging Technology and
Advanced Engineering Website: www.ijetae.com
3. Coal resources of Bangladesh www.scribd.com
4. Wikipedia coal mining in bd www.wikipedia.org
