Nigahi Coal Mine

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Nigahi Coal Mine is an operating coal mine in Nigahi, Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Mine Name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Nigahi Coal Mine	Nigahi, Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, India	24.135, 82.599444 (exact)

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

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Project Details

Table 2: Project status

Status	Status Detail	Opening Year	Closing Year
Operating	–	1985	–

Table 3: Operation details

Capacity (Mtpa)	Production (Mtpa)	Year of Production	Mine Type	Mining Method	Mine Size (km2)	Mine Depth (m)	Workforce Size
–	22.5	2022	Surface	Open Pit	30.18	250	2238

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
162.83	2022	–	Singrauli	Subbituminous	Thermal	Vindhyachal power station

Table 5: Ownership and parent company

Owner	Parent Company	Headquarters
Northern Coalfields Ltd	Coal India	India

Expansion/Extension

Table 6: Project status

* Added capacity of a coal mine refers to the enhancement in the mine's production capabilities beyond its initial production capacity.

Status	Status Detail	Project Type	Project Phase	Added Capacity (Mtpa)*	Start Year
Proposed	Pre-Permit	Expansion	–	2.5	–

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

Background on Mine

The Nigahi Opencast Coal Mine is operated by Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited. The mine lies on the western side of the existing Jayant Opencast Mine and on the eastern side of Amlohri Opencast Mine. The mine is linked to 4,760MW Vindhyachal power station of NTPC.

The Nigahi Coal Mine falls in the corridor of Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary, Chandraprabha Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh, Sanjay Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary, Sanjay National Park in Madhya Pradesh and Tamoripingla Wildlife Sanctuary, Semarsot Wildlife Sanctuary, and Palamau Wildlife Sanctuary in Chhattisgarh.

As per the Central Pollution Control Board's Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI), the Singrauli Area (including Sonebhadra area) is classified as a Critically Polluted Area.

Expansion

In October 2019, NCL submitted a proposal to expand the mine's profor the expansion to 21 million ton-per-annum in the mine lease area of 3018.40ha. The expansion, which was deemed necessary in order to meet the growing energy demand of coal in the country and in order to cope with the fluctuation in production of other NCL mines, was eventually given environment clearance in February 2020.

In July 2022, a proposal to increase the mine's production capacity from 21 to 22.5 MTPA over the existing mining lease area was granted environmental clearance (EC). The approval was a part of a special dispensation in which India's Ministry Of Coal requested the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to consider skipping the public consultation stage of the approval process and granting immediate ECs to coal mining projects requesting expansions up to 50% of their operating capacity within their existing mine lease area. The move is a part of India's push to enhance coal production in order to meet the country’s energy requirement.

As of August 2022, the Nigahi mine has yet another active proposal to increase capacity from 22.5 to 25 MTPA and expand the existing mine lease area from 3018.4 to 3582.723 hectares.

Court Case

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 11th October 2019, ordered coal mines as well as coal-based thermal power stations operating in the critically polluted Singrauli area of Madhya Pradesh and Sonebhadra area of Uttar Pradesh to pay a fine of Rs 79 crore. The order came in response to a petition filed by Anjani Jaiswal against the polluting units for causing damage to the environment. The NGT directed the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) and the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) to recover environmental compensation from the polluting thermal power plants (TPP) and Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) mining projects of Singrauli and Sonebhadra area. The fine will be collected as part of the environmental compensation fund by the pollution control boards (60 percent to the CPCB and 40 percent to the state pollution boards) and will be used largely for restoration studies.

For social workers and people, the penalty is less than one percent of the profit made by giant operators in the area — NTPC and NCL. Priyavrat Bhati, an advisor with Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment or CSE, felt the penalty was grossly inadequate. “The legal provisions to assess penalty — Rs 30,000 per day for environmental damage — are grossly inadequate. The plants have been asked to pay only Rs 79 crore for enormous damage to air and water bodies over a period of two decades,” he said. According to Section 15(1) of the Environment Protection Act, 1972, a maximum fine up to Rs 100,000 a day can be charged for non-compliance.

“We will challenge the report of the committee. We are looking into the possibility of filing an appeal petition at NGT or a higher court. They have ignored the pollution from private industries in the area. The compensation is not sufficient to restore the environment in the area,” said Abhishek Chaubey, lawyer of the petitioner Jaiswal, who is an advocate at the Allahabad High Court.

Project Expansion Details

• Status: Proposed
• Capacity: 2.5 MTPA (from 22.5 MTPA to 25 MTPA)
• Mineable Reserves:
• Start Year:
• Source of Financing:

Articles and Resources

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.