View source for Bengal: Mines and minerals, c. A.D. 1900

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This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
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[[Category:India|B]]
[[Category:Economy-Industry-Resources|B]]
''' Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value. '''
==Mines and minerals==
Coal is the chief mining industry. The Bengal mines furnish more 
than 83 per cent, of the total output of coal in India, and nearly the 
whole of the coke. With the exception of a narrow 
unworked field of crushed anthracitic coal of Gond- minerals 
wana (upper palaeozoic) age in Darjeeling District 
near the Nepal frontier, the coal seams lie mainly in the valleys of two 
rivers, the Barakar and the Damodar. The principal fields at present 
worked are at GirTdIh, or Karharbari, in the valley of the Barakar, and 
at Jherria and Raniganj in the valley of the Damodar. These fields 
are estimated to be capable of yielding 14,000,000,000 tons of coal, 
excluding 67,000,000 tons already extracted. They all lie within 200 
miles of Calcutta and have been made accessible by rail. The Raj- 
niahal fields give a small output, and Daltonganj, which has recently 
been connected by rail with Barun, is being developed. Of the un- 
worked fields, Karanpura with nearly 9,000,000,000 tons of coal is 
perhaps the most important. The Auranga, Bokaro, Hutar, and Ram- 
garh fields are also of value, but they have not yet been opened out by 
the construction of railways. These fields contain fair steam coals ; 
some are very good, but they all contain a rather high percentage of 
ash. Many of them yield a good firm coke suitable for furnaces. 

The maximum thickness of the seams is 95 feet, and the portions 
worked vary in thickness from 2 1/2 to 45 feet. As a rule, a quarry is 
commenced at the outcrop ; and as it pays to remove a large over- 
burden from thick seams, a number of huge open excavations are 
formed. When the cover overlying a seam is too thick to be econo- 
mically removed, or when the seam is thin, galleries from 8 to 12 feet 
wide are driven, both on the dip and along the strike of the seam, 
leaving pillars of coal the size of which varies according to the method 
of working and the thickness of the seams cover. A system which 
provides for 12 feet galleries and 12 feet pillars yields at once three- 
quarters of the coal ; but the remaining quarter, which is left in pillars, 
can seldom be won. A system allowing 12 feet galleries and 60 feet 
pillars yields 30 per cent, of coal in the first working, and 70 per cent, 
is left in pillars ; but unless the seam be more than 20 feet thick, a large 
proportion of the latter can be obtained in the second, or pillar, work- 
ing. Pillar working is mainly confined to European-managed mines, 
as there is always danger of a fire breaking out in large areas of pillars. 
In driving galleries it is usual to start from the top of the seam with 

' The  corresponding  figures for ilengal as now constituted are: receipts, 8-6 lakhs; 
expenditure, 5-45 lakhs; and net surplus, 3-15 lakhs. 
a heiglit of 6 feet, and, after this drive has advanced some distance, to 
deepen it to the full height of the seam by cutting out the remainder 
of the coal in successive steps. In a few mines the galleries are 
commenced in the lower portion of the seam, and are heightened by 
dropping the coal left above. In the East Indian Railway collieries in 
the Girldih coal-field the coal is extracted by a combination of the pillar 
and long wall methods. The lower portion of the seam is cut up into 
pillars 6 feet in height, and the latter are thinned down till they are 
only just able to carry the weight of the overlying coal. These thinned 
pillars are then blown down by dynamite, and the top coal (17 feet 
thick), which comes away readily from a strong sandstone roof, falls on 
the floor. When a large area of coal has been extracted, a rib of coal 
is left against the worked-out portion, or goaf, and a new set of workings 
is started. 

The methods of raising the coal to the surface vary from the primi- 
tive means of baskets carried on the heads of cooly women to hauling 
sets of 5 or 10 tubs on inclines provided with rails, or hoisting in 
well-fitted shafts up to 640 feet in depth by direct-acting engines. All 
three methods are in vogue in the chief coal-fields. The coal is cut with 
picks of English pattern and make by natives of many castes, including 
the aboriginal Santals, Mundas, and Oraons, and the semi-Hinduized 
Musahars, Bauris, Bagdis, Ghatwals, Mahlis, Turis, Chamars, Telis, 
and Pasls. The majority are recruited from the villages surrounding 
the coal-fields, and from the adjoining parts of Bankura, Manbhum, 
Blrbhilm, and the Santal Parganas. 

The underground work is performed at a fixed price per tub of coal 
by families, or gangs of men, women, and children, who choose their 
own hours of labour. The men cut the coal, and the women and 
children carry it to the tubs. As a rule, they also push the tubs to the 
shaft or incline, but at one colliery no horses and ponies are employed 
to ' lead ' the coal underground. A man can cut about 2\ tubs (i-^ tons) 
of coal per day of eight hours; but he seldom works more than five days 
in the week, and strictly observes all high-days and holidays. The 
number of working days per year varies from 200 to 300. The total 
value of coal at the pit's mouth in 1901 was 1-54 lakhs; and as there 
were 79,652 persons employed, the value of each person's out-turn for 
the year was Rs. 191. Of this sum, the colliery owner's profit, the 
landowner's rent or royalty, the cost of stores, tools and equipment, and 
the superior establishment take about Rs. 98, leaving about Rs. 93 
a year as the earnings of each person, or about Rs. 15-8 a month 
per family. 

In 1774 Mr. S. G. Heatly (the reputed discoverer of Bengal coal) and 
Mr. J. Summer applied to Government for the right of working coal at 
RanTganj. In 1777 six mines were worked and 90 tons of coal were 
jl)tainecl. Nothing further was done till about 181 5, when a Mr. Jones 
mined coal from pits and was the first to sell it in the general market. 
The industry progressed slowly till 1840, when the imports to Calcutta 
from RanTganj reached 36,200 tons. From 1840 to 1845 there was 
a constant increase in output, which in 1845 amounted to 62,400 tons. 
The East Indian Railway tapped the fields in 1854, and in 1858 
the out-turn had increased to 220,000 tons. In 1903 the out-turn 
exceeded 3,000,000 tons, obtained from 142 mines employing 34,000 
persons daily. The RanTganj field contains two valuable coal series, 
which are separated by ironstone shales 1,000 feet thick. The Giridih 
field was worked from 1857 to 1861, when it was closed for a time; 
it was reopened and worked systematically in 187 1, and in 1903 its 
yield was 767,000 tons, from nine mines employing 10,700 persons. 
It possesses two valuable seams in the lower coal series, and one of the 
shafts has a depth of 640 feet. Jherria was opened in 1894, but its 
output in 1903 had already risen to 2,746,000 tons, from 115 mines 
employing 28,000 persons. As at RanTganj, two coal series exist, the 
lower one containing eighteen, and the upper one two, valuable seams. 

Of these seams, twelve are being worked. The East Indian Railway 
Company at GTrTdTh, and the Bengal Coal Company in the Daltonganj, 
GTrTdTh, and RanTganj coal-fields, each raise more than 600,000 tons 
yearly ; and the output of the Equitable, New Birbhum, and the 
Barakar Coal Companies exceeds 300,000 tons each. The European- 
owned collieries raise between them more than 4,000,000 tons, and 
those owned by natives have an output exceeding i\ million tons. 
The capital invested in joint-stock companies is about 115 lakhs, and 
there is also a large but unknown investment by private owners. The 
total output of the Province in 1881 was 930,000 tons. In 1891 it had 
risen to 1,747,000, in 1901 to 5,704,000, and in 1903 to 6,566,000 tons. 

The railways consume one-third of the total output. The imports 
of foreign coal into Calcutta, the only important distributing port, which 
were 70,000 tons in 1880, had dwindled to 2,000 tons in 1901. The 
exports to foreign ports amounted to 8 tons in 1880, 26,000 tons in 
1890, a quarter of a million tons in 1897, and more than half a million 
in 1 90 1. In Bombay English coal still competes with Indian, for 
although the latter can be bought in Calcutta for Rs. 7 per ton, the 
steamer freight and other charges raise its price to Rs. 15 at Bombay, 
which is only Rs. 2 less than the cost of English coal of better quality. 
Indian coal reaches Suez on the west and Singapore on the east ; at the 
latter port it competes with the supply from the Japanese mines. 

About 1,700 persons are employed in iron-mining, and practically all 
the mineral won is dispatched to the works at Barakar, near Asansol, 
where pig-iron, pipes, and various kinds of castings are turned out. 
The ore is found in thin alluvial deposits at a number of places, as 
masses of hematite and magnetite in metamorphic rocks at Kalimati 
and in the ironstone shales of the RanTganj coal-field. The alluvial 
deposits were at one time worked by natives. The Kalimati quarries 
are shallow, and were opened in 1901, when they produced 7,800 tons 
of ore, rising in the following year to 10,382 tons. The Ranlganj ore 
is in the form of carbonate below ground, but it readily weathers, and 
at the surface consists of hematite and limonite. The beds vary from 
2 to 8 inches in thickness and form one-seventeenth of the whole series, 
which is 1,000 feet thick. About 50,000 tons of ore were won in 1901 
from shallow trenches and pits. The output of the Province rose from 
20,000 tons in 1891 to 58,000 tons in 1901 and to 72,000 tons in 1902. 
The success of the industry depends in a great measure on the coking 
qualities of the Bengal coal. Attempts at steel-making have proved 
unremunerative. 

Details of Output and Labour for each 
Coal-field in 1903 

 [[File: gazetteer59.png||frame|500px]]   

Mica is found over a large area in Gaya, Hazaribagh, and Monghyr 
Districts. It occurs in dikes and masses of pegmatite, as more or less 
defined shoots and patches which, in many cases, are found at the 
surface during the rains and are worked in the cold and hot seasons. 
In 1903 there were 251 mines and quarries, employing about 6,500 
labourers daily. With the exception of Bendi, all the quarries and 
mines are worked by primitive native methods. Haulage and pumping 
are done by women, who are seated on ladders and pass up, from hand 
to hand to the surface, earthen pots filled with water or baskets with 
mica. The output in 1901 was 914 tons, valued at \\ lakhs, or seven 
times the quantity obtained ten years previously. Of this amount, 
628 tons were obtained by a European firm, which owns a large 
area of land outside the Kodarma Government forests, where most 
of the other mines are situated. In 1903 the output had fallen to 
692 tons. 

Recent gold-bearing sands are widely distributed, and yield poor 
wages to a few Jhoras working with wooden dishes. Numerous veins 
of vitreous white quartz and grey quartzites occur in Singhbhum District, 
and in 1895 several small shafts were sunk. Assays give results varying 
from I to 7 dwts. per ton. A small amount of prospecting work was 
done in 1901. Copper pyrites are found at Baraganda, in a band 
of mica and talcose schists varying from 12 to 40 feet in thickness. 
The only mine hitherto worked was closed in 1891. The rock contains 
3 per cent, of copper, which was increased by concentration to 12 per 
cent, and the concentrates were carted to Girldih and smelted. In all, 
1,100 tons of copper were obtained. At Rajdoha also copper has been 
worked in small quantities. Alluvial tin is reported from Hazaribagh, 
but it has not yet been found in paying quantities. 

The saltpetre of Indian commerce is obtained mainly from the Patna 
Division and Monghyr. It occurs as a natural efflorescence on the 
surface of the ground, and its manufacture affords employment to 
a large number of people belonging to the caste (Nunia) named after 
it. The quantity produced in 1900 is estimated at 160,000 cwt., 
valued at 12 lakhs, or rather less than the out-turn in 189 1. In 1903 
the out-turn was 382,000 cwt., of a total value of 22-33 l!il<hs. 

Slate has been quarried in Monghyr for many years, and is now 
mined. The industry gives employment to nearly 400 persons, and 
1,600 tons were produced in 1903. There are two beds of slate on 
edge, 13 and 9 feet thick respectively. Owing to ' creep ' in the hill-side, 
quarrying has been given up and underground chambers are now cut, 
from 15 to 25 feet in height, leaving a minimum cover of 30 feet. The 
slates are thicker than Welsh slates, but are strong and suitable for 
the flat roofs of Indian bungalows. The castes employed are chiefly 
Koras, Musahars, Beldars, Gonrs, Nunias, Chamars, and Goalas. 

Limestone is widely distributed in the nodular form known as kankar, 
except in the deltaic tract east of the Bhaglrathi. In 1900 the out-turn 
was 100,000 tons, valued at three-quarters of a lakh. Sandstone, suit- 
able for building and road-making, is found in the coal-fields. An 
output of 40,000 tons, valued at a quarter of a lakh, was reported in 
1900. Laterite is found in Bihar and Orissa ; 100,000 tons, valued at 
half a lakh, were raised in 1900. Granite and other igneous rocks are 
used in Gaya and Hazaribagh for road-metal. Soapstone occurs in 
Manbhum, and is made into cups and images, but the industry is small.
=See also=
For a large number of articles about Bengal, extracted from the Gazetteer of 1908 (as well as other articles on Bengal) please either click the 'India' link (below, left) and go to Bengal (under B) or enter 'Bengal' in the 'Search' box (top, right).
[[Bengal, 1908]]
[[Bengal: A history, by British Raj writers ]]
[[Bengal: Agriculture in A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Arts and manufactures, 1908 ]]
[[Bengal: Commerce and trade, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Famines, 1769-1899 ]]
[[Bengal: Forests, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Mines and minerals, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Physical aspects, c. A.D. 1900 ]]
[[Bengal: Population, A.D. 1901]]