Ib Valley Coalfield is located in Jharsuguda district

Jharsuguda District

Jharsuguda is a district in Orissa, India with Jharsuguda town as its headquarters. The district once had an airport during World War II. This region is rich in coal and other mineral reserves...

 in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of Orissa

Orissa

Orissa , officially Odisha since Nov 2011, is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of the ancient nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Maurya Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC. The modern state of Orissa was established on 1 April...

, in the valley of the Ib River

Ib River

Ib River is a tributary of Mahanadi river, located in central and north eastern India. It joins Mahanadi river flowing directly into the Hirakud dam. The river originates in hills near Pandrapet at an elevation of 762 m. It passes through Raigarh district and Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh and...

, a tributary of the Mahanadi

Mahanadi River

The Mahanadi in East Central India. It drains an area of around 141,600 km2 and has a total course of 858 km. The river flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Orissa.-Source:...

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History

In 1900, when Bengal Nagpur Railway was building a bridge across the Ib River, coal was accidentally discovered. The first coalmine in the Ib Valley Coalfield was established by Himgir Rampur Coal Company in 1909. Other underground collieries were opened by private operators till nationalization of the coal industry in 1973, when it was placed under Western Coalfields Limited

Western Coalfields Limited

Western Coalfields Limited is one of the largest coal producing company of India. It is one of the eight fully owned subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. The company came in to existence in 1975 after nationalization of coal mines in India. It inherited all the private sector coal mines of the...

. In 1986, it came under South Eastern Coalfields Limited

South Eastern Coalfields Limited

South Eastern Coalfields Limited is the largest coal producing company of India. It is one of the eight fully owned subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. The company has its head office at Bilaspur and mines spread over Chhattisgarh & Madhya Pradesh. It has total 92 Mines. Total Underground Mines...

 and in 1992 under Mahanadi Coalfields Limited

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited is one of the major coal producing company of India. It is one of the eight subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited was carved out of South Eastern Coalfields Limited in 1992 with its headquarter at Sambalpur...

. With nationalization came the age of open cast mines. Ib Valley Coalfield operates three major open cast mines - Lajkura Opencast Mine, Samleswari Opencast Mine and Lilari Opencast Mine. Production of the field has risen sharply from 0.55 million tonnes in 1972-73 to 15.51 million tonnes in 2002-2003.

The coalfield

Ib Valley Coalfield lies between latitudes 21⁰ 41^’N and 22⁰ 06^’N and longitudes 83⁰ 30^’E and 84⁰ 08^’E . It covers an area of 1375 square kilometres (530.9 sq mi).

Ib Valley Coalfield has reserves of 22.3 billion tonnes and that makes it the third largest coalfield in the country (in terms of reserves.

This coalfield forms part of the large Gondwana basin that extends across several districts in adjoining Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh is a state in Central India, formed when the 16 Chhattisgarhi-speaking South-Eastern districts of Madhya Pradesh gained separate statehood on 1 November 2000....

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Transport

Ib Valley Coalfield is served by South East Central Railway. The main railway station for passenger traffic is Brajrajnagar on the Howrah-Mumbai main line. The area links to NH 200

National Highway 200 (India)

National Highway 200 is a National highway in India that connects Raipur, the state capital of Chhattisgarh to Chandikhole in Orissa. It covers a distance of 740 km.-Chhattisgarh:* Raipur* Dharsinwa* Simga* Nandghat* Baitalpur* Bilaspur...

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