Deposits of coal are found in Tosh, Siuja, Azimara and Abidhara in Dang, and a few other places in Sallyan, Rolpa, Pyuthan and Palpa districts of Nepal. The total estimated deposits are about 5 million tons. Due to the low volume of deposits, mining is done by traditional methods. The mines have been exploited since the early 1960s; however due to lack of proper markets, they are not exploited to their full capacity.
Deposits
Geologically, the main coal deposits can be categorized into:
- Quaternary Lignite deposits of Kathmandu Valley
- Siwalik coal found in the Sub-Himalayas
- Cretaceous-Eocene coal and Gondwana coal found in the Lesser Himalayas
The coal in the Sub-Himalaya (Siwalik/Churia) has some radioactive minerals mixed in the coal.
Production
There are 11 small scale coal mines that are in operation scattered throughout Nepal. Some additional licenses are issued by the government for exploration. The annual production is shown in table below.
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
| Year | Production (metric tons) |
|---|---|
| 2009/10 | 7,867 |
| 2010/11 | 9,935 |
| 2011/12 | 10,499 |
| 2012/13 | 13,838 |
| 2013/14 | 8,151 |
| 2014/15 | 6,754 |
| 2015/16 | 2,900 |
| 2016/17 | 7,025 |
| 2018 | 11,522 |
Environmental concerns
Some lands have started to cave-in and some landslides have been triggered near the mining area. Also, the ground water has dried up. This has caused conflict between locals and mine operators.
See also
References
- FNCCI. "Minerals & Mining - Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FNCCI]". Archived from the original on 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
- Sah, Ram Bahadur; Paudyal, Kabi Raj (2019). "Geological control of mineral deposits in Nepal". Journal of Nepal Geological Society. 58: 189–197. doi:10.3126/jngs.v58i0.24604. ISSN 2676-1378. S2CID 200082300.
- ^ Kumar, Shiv. "COAL RESOURCES AND THEIR STATUS IN NEPAL": 19.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Paudel, Devi Prasad (2019). "Present Status and Utilization of the Mineral Resources in Nepal". The Third Pole: Journal of Geography Education: 85–96. doi:10.3126/ttp.v18i0.28009. ISSN 2392-4322. S2CID 226774126.
- ^ "Palpa folk concerned about adverse effects of coal mining". Archived from the original on 2021-06-09. Retrieved 2021-06-09.
- "Mineral Resources of Nepal and their present status – Nepal Geological Society". Archived from the original on 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-06-09.