Insights from the Sustainable and Responsible Mining through Best Mine Closure Practices

On the 4th of July at Hyderabad, the Indian National Committee World Mining Congress (INC-WMC) organized the International Conference on “Sustainable and Responsible Mining through Best Mine Closure Practices” This high-level event, supported by the Coal India (Ministry of Coal, Government of India), convened approximately 350 delegates, comprising policymakers, industry leaders, environmental experts, academics, and stakeholders from both India and abroad. The primary objective of the conference was to facilitate in-depth deliberations on sustainable mine closure solutions and to foster the exchange of global best practices in this field.

High Level Conference

The Honourable Gangapuram Kishan Reddy, Union Minister for Coal and Mines and Patron of INC-WMC graced the conference. Other distinguished dignitaries in attendance included Shri V. L. Kantha Rao, Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Co-Chair of INC-WMC; Shri P. M. Prasad, Chairman, Coal India Ltd. and MS, INC-WMC; and Ms. Rupinder Brar Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal and Chairperson, Executive Committee INC-WMC, among others.

Key Speakers

The event featured keynote addresses by eminent professionals such as Shri Sajeesh Kumar N. (Coal Controller), Shri Achyut Ghatak (Coal India Limited), Shri Anurag Dixit and Shri Devasamudra Vijayendra (Tata Steel), Prof. Arvind Mishra (CSIR CIMFR), Shri N. Balram (The Singareni Collieries Company Ltd), Shri Prasanna Kumar Motupalli (NLC India Limited), Shri Peeyush Narayan Sharma (IBM), Shri B Prabhakaran (Lloyds Metals & Energy Ltd.), Ms. Leena Verenkar (Vedanta Group.), Shri Bijesh Jha (Hindalco Industries Limited.), Shri M. Jayapal Reddy (NMDC Limited), Prof. Biswajit Paul (Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Mr. Michael Stanley, Ph.D. (The World Bank Group), Mr. Chandra Bhushan and Ms. Srestha Banerjee (International Forum for Environment, Sustainability & Technology (iFOREST)), Shri Abhinav Jain (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH), Prof. Dr. Carsten Drebenstedt (TU Bergakademie Freiberg ), Prof. Yoginder Chugh (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale), and Dr. Brenda Schladweiler (BKS Environmental Associates, Inc.).

Industrial support

A pivotal component of the conference was the Panel Discussion on the Growth of the Mining Sector, during which expert insights were shared by representatives from key industry stakeholders, including Coal India Limited, Aditya Birla Group, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, Northern Coalfields Limited, NLC India Limited, NTPC Mining Ltd., Reliance, SCCL, SECL, Adani, Central Coalfields Limited., Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, GAAR Energy, Jindal Power, JSW, NMDC, and Tata Steel.

Open dialogue

The event fostered productive dialogue on the pressing need for environmentally responsible mine closures, aiming to align the Indian mining sector with international sustainability standards and ensure long-term socio-environmental stewardship.