Dighipara Coal Mine

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Dighipara Coal Mine is a proposed coal mine in Dinajpur, Rangpur, Bangladesh.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Dighipara Coal Mine	Dinajpur, Rangpur, Bangladesh	25.416667, 89.083333 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the coal mine:

Loading map...

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Opening Year	Closing Year
Proposed	Exploration	New	2032 (planned)	–

Table 3: Operation details

Note: The asterisk (*) signifies that the value is a GEM estimated figure.

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
3	–	–	Surface	Open Pit	5.03	60*	*

Table 4: Coal resources and destination

Total Reserves (Mt)	Year of Total Reserves Recorded	Total Resources (Mt)	Coalfield	Coal Type	Coal Grade	Primary Consumer/ Destination
150	–	–	Dinajpur	Bituminous	Thermal	–

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Petrobangla	Petrobangla	Bangladesh

Note: The above section was automatically generated and is based on data from the GEM April 2024 Global Coal Mine Tracker dataset.

Background

The Dighipara coal mine was a proposed by Barapakuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL) to produce 3 million tonnes per annum in Rangpur, Bangladesh. 

The mine was expected to source coal for the proposed Dighipara power station, which was projected to be commissioned between 2025 and 2032. But, as of 2022, the plant and mine appeared to be shelved or abandoned. In 1995, the Geological Survey of Bangladesh discovered a coal deposit in Dinajpur spanning 24 square kilometres area, which it said had a potential reserve of 865 million tonnes of coal. In 2015, the government leased out the Dighipara deposit to the Barapukuria mining company for development. In September 2016, the coal mining company received proposals for a feasibility study of the mine, which was agreed to in May 2017.

Related plant proposals

Plans for the Dighipara coal mine included discussion of a mine-mouth coal plant of 660 MW developed by PowerChina in 2016, of a 500 MW coal plant, sponsor unknown, proposed in 2017, and of a 1,000 MW ultra-supercritical plant by North-West Power Generation Company Limited (NWPGCL) starting in 2015.

Based on the government plan released in November 2018, the only remaining plan appeared to be the 1,000 MW coal plant by NorthWest Power Generation, planned for commissioning in 2032. Additional information is available at the Dighipara power station wiki.

Feasibility study

Starting in 2017, a consortium conducted a feasibility study to assess the economic viability of the coal field.

According to March 2020 reporting, the feasibility study – jointly conducted by German based MIBRAG Consulting International GmbH, FUGRO Consult GmbH, and Runge Pincook Minaroo Limited of Australia – found that Dighipara has "a high quality coal resource of 70.60 crore tonnes"; "the energy content of the coal is high and the ash content is low"; and the coal is "overlain by a very think sequence of semi-consolidated material that host large volume aquifers."

In addition, the government was expected to create a joint venture between state-owned Barapukuria Coal Mine Company Limited (BCMCL) and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to extract coal. The coal mine was estimated to produce 90 million tonnes of coal in its 30-year tenure and to require a US$2789 million investment to develop.

In Feburary 2021, the "Bangladesh Mining Platform" published a detailed video on YouTube titled "Dighipara Coal Project in Bangladesh" (in Bengali). The video depicted potential coal transport via rail and the Brahmaputra River.

• Sponsor: Barapakuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL)
• Parent company: Barapakuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL), Fugro Consult GmbH and Mibrag Consulting International GmbH
• Location: Dinajpur Dist, Rangpur, Bangladesh
• Coordinates: 25.416667, 89.083333 (exact)
• Status: Shelved
• Production: 3 million tonnes per annum
• Reserve: 150 million tonnes
• Start Year: 2032 (projected)
• Coal Type: Bituminous
• Consumer: Dighipara power station, Bangladesh
• Source of financing:

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Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of world coal mines, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Mine Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.