SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 7: Tata Steel Jharia Division has set up a state-of-art geo-technical laboratory at Jamadoba for mines safety in its collieries. The official said this lab will help ensure the safety of underground mines and other opencast mines by measuring different physico-mechanical properties of rocks and soils.
DB Sundara Ramam, vice president (Raw Materials), Tata Steel was the chief guest on the occasion and inaugurated the state-of-the-art geo-technical laboratory along with Sanjay Rajoria, (general manager, Jharia Division) and Piyush Srivastava, Chief (Natural Resource Division).
On the occasion, Jharia division officials said that there are 13 scientific instruments in the lab which will measure the critical strength of rocks and soils on various parameters. These parameters in turn will be analyzed by a software based numerical model thereby helping in better mine planning and creation of a safe working environment for all.
“It will be beneficial for strata control in underground mines (roof support/stability), slope stability studies in opencast mines, across various raw material locations, and dump monitoring,” the official pointed out.
The sources in district mining sector said that there are four coal companies Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), Eastern Coalfield Limited (ECL) and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Chasnala and Tata Steel but Jharia Division (Tata Steel) is first one that has set up geo-technical laboratory in coal belt.
