Rat-hole mining

Topic: Mineral Resources of India: Distribution and Conservation · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Minerals and Energy Resources"

Meaning

Rat-hole mining is a crude, unscientific way of digging coal through long, narrow tunnels that are just wide enough for one person to crawl through. Families do this work, often including children. It is practised in Meghalaya, where minerals belong to individuals or communities rather than the state. It matters because it shows how mining can harm both people and nature. It has killed miners, turned rivers acidic, and was banned by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 17 April 2014 [2]. Courts still treat it as illegal.

Explanation

Why it exists: who owns the minerals

• Most of India: minerals are nationalised, which means they belong to the state. Only someone holding a lease from the government can mine them.
• Tribal north-east: in Meghalaya, minerals are owned by individuals or communities.
• A family can dig coal from its own land without a state lease.

• So mining grew in small, scattered pits with no planning, no safety rules and no government check.

• Meghalaya's coal is Tertiary coal (younger coal, found mainly in the north-east). It is high in sulphur.

How it works

• Digging: miners cut a long, narrow tunnel, a "rat-hole", just wide enough for one person, and follow the coal seam with it.
• Labour: families do the work, often including children, using hand tools.
• Conditions: there are no roof supports, no proper ventilation and no plan to keep water out.
• Why it is called unscientific: it does not follow the Mines Act, 1952 (India's main mine-safety law), and the mines have no lease and no closure plan.

What it causes: hazards to miners

• Inundation (flooding of a mine):
• Water from a nearby river or from old water-filled tunnels breaks into the mine.

• The narrow tunnel leaves no room to escape, so miners are trapped.

• Roof collapse: the unsupported rock ceiling can fall in and bury workers.

• Child labour: children work in the tunnels because they fit into the narrow space.

What it causes: hazards to land and water

• Acid mine drainage (AMD):
• Cause: Meghalaya's coal is high in sulphur and contains pyrite (iron sulphide).
• Process: rain and air react with the exposed pyrite and form sulphuric acid. The acid dissolves iron and other metals.

• Result: rivers turn acidic and rust-orange, and fish and other water life die.

• General pollution: the NGT recorded serious air, water and environmental pollution from this unregulated mining [2].

• Abandoned pits: there is no mine closure plan (a plan to refill, level and replant the land after mining). So holes and waste are simply left behind.

Where it occurs

• Meghalaya, India, where it is mainly practised:
• Jowai, in the Jaintia Hills

• Cherrapunji, in the East Khasi Hills

• Rivers hit by acid mine drainage:

• Kopili, which flows from Meghalaya into Assam

• Lukha, in East Jaintia Hills

• Ksan mine disaster (December 2018), East Jaintia Hills:

• An illegal rat-hole mine flooded from a nearby river and trapped 15 miners.

• It happened while the NGT ban was in force.

• The legal timeline:

• NGT, 17 April 2014: it ordered rat-hole and illegal mining to stop at once throughout Meghalaya and called the practice illegal and unsafe [2].
• Supreme Court, 3 July 2019 (State of Meghalaya v. All Dimasa Students Union): mining is allowed only as scientific mining under proper leases, and the Mines Act, 1952 must be followed before any mine is worked [2]. The ban on rat-hole mining continues [2].

• Effect of the ban: the Coal Controller Organisation reported no coal production from Meghalaya for the four years up to 2022 [3].

• Silkyara tunnel, Uttarakhand (November 2023): rat-hole miners dug by hand through the debris to help rescue 41 workers trapped in the tunnel. The same skill that is banned in mining proved useful in a rescue.

Don't confuse with

• Nationalised mineral ownership: in most of India, minerals belong to the state. In tribal Meghalaya, they belong to individuals or communities. This difference is why rat-hole mining spread without leases.
• Jharia coal fires (Jharkhand): Jharia's main problem is underground coal fires and land subsidence (the ground sinking) in the Damodar valley. Meghalaya's main problem is acid mine drainage and flooded tunnels.
• Scientific mining under a lease: this is the only kind of mining the Supreme Court allowed in 2019 [2]. It follows the Mines Act, 1952. Rat-hole mining has no lease, no safety plan and no closure plan.
• Inundation vs roof collapse: both are accidents in coal mines. Inundation is water flooding the mine, as at Ksan, 2018. Roof collapse is the rock ceiling falling in.

Prelims Hooks

• Rat-hole mining is done at Jowai (Jaintia Hills) and Cherrapunji (East Khasi Hills), both in Meghalaya.
• The NGT banned rat-hole mining across Meghalaya on 17 April 2014 [2].
• Trap: minerals in tribal Meghalaya are owned by individuals or communities, not the state.
• Acid mine drainage forms when pyrite in high-sulphur coal reacts with rain and air to make sulphuric acid. Rivers hit by it include the Kopili (Meghalaya into Assam) and the Lukha (East Jaintia Hills).
• Supreme Court, 3 July 2019 (State of Meghalaya v. All Dimasa Students Union): only scientific mining under proper leases is allowed, the Mines Act, 1952 applies, and the rat-hole ban continues [2].
• Ksan (December 2018), East Jaintia Hills: 15 miners were trapped by flooding. Silkyara (November 2023), Uttarakhand: rat-hole miners helped rescue 41 workers.

Mains Points

• Community ownership has two sides:
• In Meghalaya, ownership by individuals and communities kept the state out of mining. This led to unregulated rat-hole mining, child labour and disasters like Ksan (2018).
• The ban stopped reported production, with no coal output for the four years up to 2022 [3]. But without other jobs for local people, some mining went underground and stayed illegal.

• A lasting fix needs legal, scientific mining combined with new ways for local people to earn a living.

• Environmental damage (GS-III):

• Acid mine drainage has made the Kopili and Lukha acidic and killed water life. The NGT recorded serious air, water and environmental pollution [2].

• Policy responses include scientific mining under proper leases and following the Mines Act, 1952 (Supreme Court, 2019) [2], along with mine closure plans to restore abandoned pits.

• Worker safety and regulation:

• Rat-hole mines carry the classic coal-mine dangers of inundation and roof collapse, made worse by tunnels too narrow to escape from.
• The Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS), which works under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, enforces safety [4]. But many mine operators do not even tell it that their mine has opened [4].
• Better reporting of mines, regular inspections and an end to child labour are the key steps.

Related concepts

• Hazards of mining
• District Mineral Foundation

Read more

• Hazards of mining and mining communities