4th October 2019
Mortuza Ahmad Faruque

There were allegations of huge coal missing and theft from Barapukuria coal yard during end of July last year. Several inquiry committees were trying to investigate into the issue. How it can take place?The people were totally confused and surprised. The government has declared its zero tolerance about it. The State Minister of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources commented that the most of the Barapukuria mine officials are involved in this corruption which was very much unfortunate. Before any investigation, this kind of comment was not expected.

 

Petrobangla formed a seven-member committee of experts on 28 August 2018 and assigned to find out the reasons and amount of system loss of coal from production to marketing. The committee has identified various reasons of system loss which are very much pragmatic, scientific as well as internationally well accepted practices. The committee didn`t accuse any of the officials of Barapukria rather suggested taking some mitigation measures in the future to minimise the system losses.

 

A total of about one crore tonnes of coal were extracted from the mine between 2005 and June last year. Of the volume, 66.8 lakh tonnes were supplied to the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) for generating power since 2006. Besides, 33.2 lakh tonnes were sold to different organizations and brick kilns. Barapukuria gets around US$ 130 per tonne for selling of coal to BPDB but for the other industries it was around US$ 190. Due to shortage of coal and to meet up demand of the power plant, the coal selling into the open market had to be stopped since end of July last year. The practices for coal selling by the mine authorities were first to provide the power plant and to keep coal reserve for 15 to 20 days ready for them. Only after that, Barapukuria usually sold their coal to the other industries.

 

Missing out of coal from Barapukuria had created huge hue and cry in the country and leading to suspension of many senior officials. The mining company filed a police case against 19 officials including seven former MD`s of the company on July 24 at Parbatipur police station and accused that about 1.44 lakh tonnes of coal were theft between September 2005 and July 2018.

 

Before carrying out any investigation, how Barapukuria filed cases against the officials? 

After the enquiry and investigation carried out by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the charge sheet has been placed against 23 officials and stated that they misappropriated coal worth Tk 243 crore. The ACC committee totally ignored the issue of system loss. Will it be acceptable? I do not think so. It was just a matter of technical or system loss. The coal was lying out in the open yard for many years. The system losses of coal was not measured at specific intervals since it`s production began in 2005. It was one of the great mistake by the authority as they did not record and adjust it in the line with international standard practices. According to the mine authority, the amount of disappeared coal is equal to 1.4% of the total production. It is well understood that the missing coal from Barapukuria yard was an accumulated loss.

 

Reasons Behind Losses of Coal

The main reasons behind system losses are coal dust washing out by rain water, dust losses due to wind, decreases of moisture content, spontaneous combustion, carpet loss, using different weighing scale, and the extracted coal was left in the yard for many years. As per international practices, there is an acceptable percentage of system loss which ranges between 2% and 5% but sometimes it could be more than that which depends on so many other conditions and factors.

 

The security system in the coal yard is quite good. There are 17 acres of land for coal yard having only one entry and exit gate. The yard is surrounded by boundary wall. There are numbers of security guards watching the yard 24 hours. The numbers of closed-circuit TV camera`s have been installed for surveillance. So, it is not easy for pilfering huge amount of coal from the yard.

 

The system loss of coal is well accepted all over the coal producing countries in the world. It is well acknowledged that if coal is stockpiled under open sky day after day, small particles of coal would be blown away by wind or storm. A certain percentage of the coal will be lost due to hot and dry weather. The losses from coal handling, transportation and decreasing of moisture content are also reasons behind it. Apart from that when coal is being stored in the just open yard, some of the coal also sinking down into the ground. Some details are given below: 

 

  1. Spontaneous Combustion

Spontaneous combustion of coal is the process of self-heating resulting eventually in its ignition without the application of external heat. Coal when exposed to air absorbs oxygen at the uncovered surface. Some fraction of the exposed coal substance absorbs oxygen at a faster rate than others and the oxidation results in the formation of gases. If the rate of dissipation of heat is slow with respect to the evolution of heat by oxidation, there is a gradual build up of heat and temperature reaches the ignition point of coal thereby causing fire.

 

There are number of factors which contribute to the process of spontaneous combustion of coal. The most important parameters involved in the process are size of the coal particles, surface area, moisture content, coal composition, quality and rank of the coal, heat conductivity, degree of compaction, temperature, oxygen concentration, dimensions and shape of stockpile etc.

 

When the coal is not being used, it should be monitored for measuring temperature and gas levels. Spontaneous oxidation may cause of decrease in calorific value. Losses in mass due to spontaneous combustion may be ranges between 0.5% and 2%, but this depends on the conditions of storage, access to air flow and storing time of the coal stock.

 

  1.  Storage of Coal in the Open Yard

Conical heaps of coal should be avoided. It increases the exposed area and promotes fresh air into the heap. The height of the heap should not be more than 3.0 m and to avoid storing coal for a longer period of time especially during summer season. It is generally seen that in a particular heap, the coal is ignited inside the heap, and burns without flames turning into ash, but the outside of the heap is cooler and not burning. Heat dissipation in smaller heaps is faster and hence a number of smaller heaps would be preferred instead of a one large heap.

 

By spraying watertothe stockpilefor suppressingthedust will be very useful.Lotof waterisbeingpouredforextinguishing the fireduetospontaneouscombustioninthestockpile.Duringrainyseason,rainwaterfallingontheopencoalstockpilewilladdmorewater andhandlingofthecoalbecomesdifficult. The storage period after mining should not be more than six months and to followthe practice of ‘first in, first out’.It is necessary to check the stock piles temperature on a regular basis. Self-ignition is usually predominant in the fresh coal.

 

  1.  Carpet Loss

It is the loss of material stored on the unprepared ground. The soil and clay matter mix up with coal and some quantity of coal might be sunk down into the ground. This results in the mixing of the ground clay and soil with the bottom most layer of the coal. Storage ground should be paved to solve this kind of particular problem.

 

  1.  Coal Dust

Dust is fine coal which is less than 0.5 mm in size. The coal particles falling and tumbling on each other which occurs during transportation and storage. Some dust is caused by the breakage of large coal particles. Thedustparticleis carriedbywindandcausessome pollution.Thiswouldpollutetheplantareas and intheneighboringvillages. Usefulcoalislostduetowindandthequantityofsuchlosswoulddependonthelocationofthestockpileandweatherconditions.Intheportareawherestrongwinds are experiencedfor majorityof the time and losses willbe definitely high. To minimize dust generation due to loss of moisture from large coal particle, their surface moisture level should be maintained. Water spraying on the stockpile is required to prevent its generation and control fugitive dust arising from wind. It is recommended that coal dust should be separated, removed and could be disposed off as soon as possible. The losses of coal dust could be 0.5% to 1.0%.

 

  1. Moisture Loss

The weight of coal decreases with time due to reduction in moisture. When coal extracted from the mine, the moisture content of Barapukuria coal is about 10.0% but when it is keeping in the stock yard, the moisture content will be reduced substantially due to heat and temperature. In this process, the loss will be 0.5% to 1.0%.

 

f)Coal Losses From Conveyor Belts

 

The fine airborne particle is also a reason of coal losses. The conveyorbelts are used in the coal chain and when coal is carried out through the conveyer belts from the yard to the power plants, some coal gets ground up when the belt vibrates.

 

g)Coal Losses Due to Weighing Scale

 

Barapukuria started commercial coal production since September 2005 but there was no weighing scale for measurement of coal till mid 2008. During this period, amount of coal production was considered by volume only and accordingly recorded. Definitely, there should be a certain difference when it is measured by weighing scale. After installation of digital weighing scale at different places such as near skip shaft, conveyor belt and selling point, there should be some losses which may account up to 0.5%.

 

Alternatives of Storing Coal

Inviewoftheproblemsfacingintheopenyardstockpile,severalalternativemethods arealso used forstoringcoal.  There are varioustypesofcoal storage system such as to build longitudinalcoveredshedfor storing coal, to construct wall and to create wind  barriers  around the stockpiles, to construct large capacity of concrete silos etc. Thewindbarrierscouldbeconstructedaroundthestockpiletoavoidthewindblowingonthestockpile.

 

Largecapacitysilosarealso usedforstoringofcoal at the premises of power plant.Withthis,itispossibletoreducetheproblemsfacedduetowindandrain.Thesilosystemhasmanyadvantageswherethereisaconstraintofland.Thefillingofcoalwouldbemoreuniforminthesiloand accessibilityofoxygenisverylimitedby whichspontaneouscombustionandheatingofcoalwill be greatlyreduced.

 

Importing of Coal for Power Plant

BPDB tried to import coal to run the Barapukuria Power Plant when major supply has been disrupted from the Barapukuria Coal Mine. For importing coal from India, Indonesia and Australia were initially being considered by them. They were trying for importing coal as an alternative to run the 3 units of thermal power plants having total capacity of 525MW which are running by coal supplied from Barapukuria. The plants were shut down from 22 July last year for several months due to lack of coal supply from the mine, causing a severe power crisis in the northern districts.

BPDB has taken initiative for importing coal but couldn’t finalise it due to high price of coal into the international market as well as high transportation cost from port to power plant. They should think it earlier regarding importing of coal for running their 3rd unit of power plant having capacity of 275 MW. The requirement of coal for 3 units is about 1.3 million tonnes per year but highest capacity of coal production from the mine is about 1.1 million tonnes. In the last 12 years, average annual production of coal was around 8 million tonnes. So, knowing all the facts and production capacity of Barapukuria Coal Mine, BPDB supposed to be done all the necessary arrangements for importing coal prior to setting up 3rd unit having capacity of 275 MW. But it was not done and coal crisis created just after few months of running 3rd unit in operation and at the same time coal production had to be shut down due to development of new faces in the mine.

Did Barapukuria authority ensure supplying coal to BPDB for their 3rd unit and to meet up their total demand of 1.3 million tonnes per year? We know, it was not but BPDB constructed 3rd unit without keeping provision of coal import and only dependent upon Barapukuria coal. Is it pragmatic and justified? But the non-availability of getting coal by the power plant, the key officials of coal mining company treating as thief and the image of Barapukuria was severely damaged to the eyes of the people as a highly corrupted organization. It is really very much unfortunate for the mining sector. Underground coal mining operation is a very difficult job all over the world. Possibly, we forget that it is our first underground coal mining which is being running and developing most of the time without any mining professional.

 

Setting up ‘The Chief Inspectorate of Mines’

The government couldn’t able to set up yet ‘The Chief Inspectorate of Mines’ which is mandatory for any mine operation especially very much essential for underground mining. It is important to create ‘The Chief Inspectorate of Mines’ to look after and ensuring safety and occupational health hazard to the miner`s. It`s a government responsibility for ensuring compliance to be delegated to the government agencies. Mining activity being hazardous in nature, persons working in this industry are always exposed to risk of health and safety. Every accident whether fatal, serious or leading to permanent disability causes suffering to the victims and their family members. The Chief Inspectorate of Mines shall be accountable for ensuring whether health and safety risks are properly managed in the mines & miner`s and the property is protected. They are responsible for the enforcement of safe and healthy operating practices, proper management of the use of explosives, assurance of efficient use of mineral resources, proper recording of production volumes etc.

 

Crisis in Mine Management

The two underground mines in the country are being running with many problems since its inception in the areas of mine management, non-availability of mining engineers, professional’s and local experts, facing local problems regarding compensation of lands due to subsidence at Barapukuria, engagement of local manpower, inadequate training and mining education, irregular supply of coal to the power plant of BPDB, selling of coal to the local industries, to meet up requirement of coal by BPDB after construction of 3rd unit of power plant etc.

 

Petrobangla is responsible for looking into it and should provide proper guidance to the mining companies as well as mining projects. But how Petrobangla can do it without any proper hand? When there was no underground mine, Bangladesh Mineral Exploration and Development Corporation (BMEDC) looked into mine exploration and development activities. BMEDC was formed in 1972 and tried their best to develop underground Limestone Mine at Joypurhat and Hardrock Mine at  Maddhapara, but could not successful due to various reasons. They did some surface construction works over there such as office and residential buildings, rest house, internal roads, land acquisition and carried out some feasibility studies. However, they developed and run a surface mine at Takerghat, Sunamganj and extracted limestone’s from late sixties and it was shut down in 1993 due to depletion of reserve. A total of 6.12 lakh tonnes of lime stone has been extracted during the period from 1972 to 1993.

 

BMEDC was merged with Petrobangla in 1985 and the government had created Directorate of Mines and Minerals in Petrobangla to look after new mining projects and its activity when there was no mining operation in the country. Unfortunately this Directorate of Petrobangla had been abolished in 2007 when there were two underground mines in operation and production by Barapukura Coal Mining Company and Maddhapara Granite Mining Company. Why the then government did it? I didn`t find any good reason behind it. These companies were established during 1998. In the last twenty years, a total of 20 senior officials of Petrobangla have been appointed time to time as Managing Director of Maddhapara and 14 senior officials as Managing Director of Barapukuria for mine management. How funny? Is it a good example of mine management? Needless to say that Petrobangla and government never pay their proper attention on it. The existence of this Directorate is very much essential for proper monitoring, coordination and supervision of the ongoing mining activities and to take initiative for development of new mine in Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the government should create again Mining Directorate at Petrobangla without any further delay. The coalfields discovered so far have not been developed yet except Barapukuria. The time has already come to re-think about creating an organization like BMEDC.

 

Mortuza Ahmad Faruque;

Energy Specialist and Former Managing Director of BAPEX


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