Dust control practices in the Indian mining industry

Mining is a dust prone occupation and almost every major process in mining contributes to the atmospheric load of suspended particulate matter. Prolonged exposure of this dust is known to cause various respiratory diseases including deadly pneumoconiosis among the miners. The Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad has contributed significantly in the area of dust assessment and control. It has developed a few simple yet effective techniques for controlling dust in drilling, crusher houses, transfer points, and haul roads. These techniques of dust control are gaining industry interest in recent years mainly for two reasons: (a) dust generation has increased significantly due to higher mechanisation and the introduction of mass production technologies to meet our growing production needs making application of dust control mechanism inevitable, (b) growing consciousness of environment and stricter environmental compliance mechanisms has put constant pressure on the mining industry for regular use of dust control practices. The present paper briefly describes the techniques/methodologies for controlling dust during different drilling practices and at crusher house and conveyor transfer points and haul roads in the mining industry.