Techno-Economic Feasibility of the Longwall Top Coal Caving Method Based on the FTCD Index: A Parametric Case Study in India

Nasina Balasubrahmanyam and Gnananandh Budi
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Nasina Balasubrahmanyam: Directorate General of Mines Safety, GoI, CGO Towers, Hyderabad 500080, India
Gnananandh Budi: Indian Institute of Technology, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad 828201, India

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-18

Abstract: An extraction method for deep-seated thick seam deposits by underground mining with high resource recovery has remained a great challenge for Indian mining engineers, whereas the longwall top coal caving (LTCC) method has evolved as an effective method for various geo mining conditions in China and other counties. The percentage of top coal recovery (TCR) plays a predominant role in determining the feasibility of LTCC, which relies on the First Top Coal Caving Distance (FTCD). In this paper, the critical geotechnical parameters are identified, numerically simulated, and statistically analyzed, and the FTCD for Indian geo-mining conditions is developed and validated. A financial assessment is conducted, considering 70% top coal recovery at 85% performance level, cost of production escalated by 20% and fall in coal grade by two grades. The internal rate of return (IRR) for LTCC is 30.24% as per the sensitivity analysis where it is only 18% in single pass longwall method. This study contributes to evaluating both the technical and economic feasibility of introducing LTCC in Indian geo-mining conditions.

Keywords: thick seam; longwall top coal caving (LTCC); Godavari Valley Coalfield (GVCF); first top coal caving distance (FTCD); numerical analysis; finite difference method; internal rate of return (IRR); sensitivity analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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