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Barapukuria rejoinder, our reply
The Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Ltd (BCMCL) in a rejoinder to The Daily Star report headlined, “Coal Mining, Power Project: Sheer neglect led to Barapukuria disaster”, published Tuesday, differed with some of the report's points.
The rejoinder disagrees with the report's assertion that a part of the mine is unlikely to return to production within a year, saying, “There is no data to suggest that recovery of the affected area will be delayed for one year. Present indications from data measurements suggest that the area has been stabilised… No mining expert can predict within days of this occurrence when the area will be accessed.”
The rejoinder disagrees with the report on the question of the risks of leaving coal pits exposed to air for more than 24 hours, saying, “There is no rule that coal pits should not be exposed to air for more than 24 hours as this is totally impossible in a fully mechanised underground mining situation. Coal developments and production roadways must be left open and exposed to air for periods of months and/or years to facilitate production…”
“No coal in the world is subject to spontaneous combustion following a 24 hour period. Typically the incubation period for coal is six to 12 weeks and spontaneous combustion only occurs in very specific conditions…”
“Investigation is ongoing to determine the causes of what would appear to be a localised anomaly.”
BCMCL also ruled out the possibility of fire in the coal layer, saying the contractor has taken prompt technical measures and the mine was not saturated by carbon monoxide because the mine ventilation system diluted the gas.
BCMCL pointed out that the contractor was not supposed to use yellow mud to cover exposed coal pits. The mud is used during the second slice mining.
It added that keeping the mine temperature below 32 degrees Celsius has no relation to spontane-
ous combustion events.
The Chinese contractor CMC has provided mine staffs with selfrescuers, which convert carbon monoxide to harmless carbon dioxide, the rejoinder pointed out.
OUR REPLY
The report did not say that the spontaneous combustion of coal pits happened within 24 hours of the coal's exposure to airit said that the coal was left exposed from May, which is operational negligence.
According to mining experts, carbon monoxide occurs as a result of a chemical reaction of the coal's carbon with insufficient oxygen. Such an incident can be triggered by neglect of different kinds. Crumbled soft coal may spontaneously combust at temperatures as low as 40 degrees Celsius.
A mine fire is a fire that starts in a coal mine and burns underground. Mine fires can burn for months or years, until the seam in which they smoulder is exhausted. Because they are underground, they are virtually impossible to reach and extremely difficult and costly to put out.
Globally, thousands of inextinguishable mine fires are burning, especially in China and India, where poverty, lack of government regulations and runaway development combine to create an environmental disaster. China is the world leader in coal mining, and fire accidents in the mines there are also the highest.
China's coal fires burn 20 30 million tons of coal a year. In 2004, official estimates calculated around 6,000 fatalities in China.
These facts only prove that BCMCL can not fully depend on the wisdom of a Chinese contractor. Keeping the Barapukuria coal, which is highly inflammable, for months is not a natural practice in the developed nations and such unsafe practices can not be passed as a mining rule.
International experts say that a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius is sufficient for self-combustion of soft coal, while Petrobangla in various meetings urged the contractor to keep the temperature below 32 degrees. BCMCL itself explains how yellow mud is effective in elimination of self-combustion. These are issues related to modern safety procedures practiced in Europe and USA.
The draft-mining rule framed by the project's consultant, IMCL, also stresses importance on the use of yellow mud and temperature control for mine safety.
BCMCL's claim that the saturation of gas appears to be a 'localised anomaly' is confusing. If carbon monoxide has occurred naturally, it would not have saturated the mine in the way it did.
Whether it was the result of a localised anomaly or hidden coal fire, experts assume that BCMCL will not tap this part of the mine unless it is safe. To make it safe, venting out the carbon monoxide concentration alone will not help. They say the miners will have to eliminate the possibility of fire and excessive heat by cooling it. To cool it, the miners will have to pump in water, allow the water to set in and later pump it out. This process can take up to one year.