Sustainable mining metrics en route a coal mine case study

Abstract

Coal production in India is around 700 Mt and is mostly done by Opencast method. Uses of coal have issues galore on carbon footprints and climate change however, plethora of concerns are also being raised on counts of ecological and social footprints to companies engaged in coal production. The very production of coal by opencast method in India is certainly anything but clean and responsible. This paper presents a case of an opencast coal mine “Parsa East Kanta Basan” (PEKB) operated by M/s Adani Enterprises Ltd. Looking into its voluntary exhibits towards environmental concerns, the mine qualifies to be an ideal case to apply and institutionalize a holistic concept of sustainability framework therein to make it a model sustainable mine. The sustainability framework suggested herein necessarily covers ecological, economical, societal dimensions with inputs of Carrying Capacity (CC), Accountability (A) Conservation (C) as its first layer treatment coupled with Gender Equity (GE), Diversity (DI) and Democratic (D) as its final touch of metrics detailed in the paper. This would render Sustainability Index of the mine and help develop sustainable mining practices. • A Sustainable Framework to usher mine operators’ adapting to sustainable mining. • The Framework dwells upon Ecology, Economy and Societal concerns with sub-metrics. • An index as a measure of sustainability practices in the mine has been evolved.