Sign at Moonidih colliery, India
Mining continues in the Dhansar pit in spite of coal fires burning through the seams. These fires have been burning for nearly a century following ignition by poor mining practices, releasing vast quantities of CO2 and other gasses into the atmosphere.
A truck accidentally loaded with burning coal from the seam dumps its deadly load in a hurry. The sudden explosion is caused by oxygen reaching coal which before mining had been burning anaerobically underground.
A truck accidentally loaded with buring coal from the seam dumps its deadly load in a hurry. The sudden explosion is caused by oxygen reaching coal which before mining had been burining slowly underground.
Heavy equipment at the Dhansar open cast mine near Dhanbad, India.
Removing overburden at the open cast pit at Lodna, near Dhanbad, India
Bore holes are drilled for explosives at a coal mine near Dhanbad, India.
Smoke and steam rise from coking pits at an opencast mine near Dhanbad, India's coal capital.
Water is poured onto coal to to stop its slow buring during the coking process and reduce the amount of dust released into the atmosphere.
Dumper trucks at the Dhansar open cast mine near Dhanbad, India.
Helmets on miner's bikes at a pit near Dhanbad, India.
Miner in the lamp room at a pit near Dhanbad, India. Although underground work is well paid, the lack of safety equipment and old technology make it a dangerous job.
Miner at pit near Dhanbad, India. Although underground work is well paid, the lack of safety equipment and old technology make it a dangerous job.
Miner at pit near Dhanbad, India. Although underground work is well paid, the lack of safety equipment and old technology make it a dangerous job.
Miner at pit near Dhanbad, India.
An injured miner is placed in the ambulance after a trolley fell on his legs in a pit near Dhanbad, India.
Coal is coked in a coking plant at Lodna, near Dhanbad, India.
Trees killed by the heat of uncontrollable seam fires burning beneath the village of Nayadih Kusunda near Dhanbad, India. The village was deserted in 1997 after 10 people died in a subsidence related landslide.
Gasses billow out of a crack in the floor of an abadoned temple at Nayadih Kusunda village near Dhanbad, India. It was deserted in 1997 after 10 people died in a landslide caused by subsidence from the underground fires.
A man cokes coal in Jharkhand, India.
lllegal miners scour the overburden tip for coal near Dhanbad, India's coal mining capital. For a bribe of around £8 per load, dumper drivers will deposit pit spoils for locals to scavenge.
lllegal miners scour the overburden tip for coal near Dhanbad, India's coal mining capital.
lllegal miners scour the overburden tip for coal near Dhanbad, India's coal mining capital. For a bribe of around £8 per load, dumper drivers will deposit pit spoils for locals to scavenge.
A young boy scavenges for leftover coal on a disused open cast pit near Dhanbad, India's coal mining capital. Although technically illegal, with no land to farm, coal scavenging is the only option for many poor families.
Three boys dig for coal in the disused Lodna open cast pit, Dhanbad, India
Women carry illegally mined coal at the disused Lodna open cast pit. Crippled by poverty and with no land to farm, illegal coal scavenging is the only option for many families.
A woman walks down train lines carrying a collection of illegally mined coal. With only state registered companies allowed to mine legally, most residents of the Dhanbad area collect coal outside the law.
The open cast pit at Lodna, near Dhanbad, India

 

Coal releases twice the carbon dioxide of gas when producing electricity, yet it remains the most popular fuel for power generation across the world. And as economies across Asia increase their demands for energy, coal use is on the up. It may be dirty, but its low cost and relative abundance have made it the fastest growing fuel source on earth.

India has long been a major player in the global coal economy, ranking third for both production and consumption. It has some 120 billion tonnes of proven reserves which are used to generate nearly 70% of its electricity. However, if India continues to rely on coal to fuel its development, by 2015 it will trail only China and the US as the world’s largest emitter of CO2.

While this is bad news for the world’s warming atmosphere, it is no better news for the regions in which India’s deposits lie. Jharkhand, home to the country’s largest coal seams, has for decades been subjected to enormous opencast mining projects. Satellite images show swathes of black, pitted land around the country’s coal capital of Dhanbad, and views across the region are restricted by high levels of carcinogenic dust in the air. Across the state, water is polluted and land made barren and uninhabitable by toxic contamination.

In the townships surrounding Dhanbad, residents have a further challenge in the massive subterranean coal fires burning beneath their homes. Started nearly a century ago by the poor mining practices of the British, these now uncontrollable fires release vast quantities of CO2 and cause massive subsidence as seams collapse into ash. Over 400 lives have been lost to related landslides since 1965.

Nearly a century of mining may have already extracted a heavy toll on the landscape and people of Jharkhand, but projections for skyrocketing demand over the next two decades mean more mines, more fires and ever increasing emissions. But India needs development, and development requires fuel.

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that with two hundred years of economically viable reserves just beneath its surface, India’s fuel of choice will be anything but coal.

India's Coal Addiction