Rat-hole mining, of two types, is so named as it involves digging tunnels 3-4 feet deep, barely allowing workers to crawl in and out. They have to squat while extracting coal with pickaxes.

In the other type of rat-hole mining, called box-cutting, a rectangular opening is made, varying from 10 to 100 sqm, and through that a vertical pit is dug, 100 to 400 feet deep. Once the coal ...

New Delhi: Rescue teams are trying to trace 15 workers trapped in a rat-hole mine in Meghalaya for 18 days. Over the years, indiscriminate mining of coal, especially in the state, has taken a toll ...

The miners have specialized skills in tunneling and are not claustrophobic. 'Rat-hole' mining, a method of extracting coal in narrow tunnels, is predominantly practiced in Meghalaya despite being ...

Rat-hole mining is broadly of two types – side-cutting and box-cutting. Although the coal is of bad quality, people see it as a treasure-chest. In backward regions, where there is loss of ...

The heroic rescue of 41 workers from the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand brought attention to rat-hole mining, a lesser-known skill mostly associated with coal thieves. Rat-hole mining, once the ...

Rat-hole mining, once widely used for coal extraction, was banned in India in 2014. More from News A team of "rat miners" successfully rescued the 41 men who had been stranded in a highway tunnel ...

Rat hole Mining: Rescuers at the Silkyara tunnel have made progress, reaching the 50-meter mark in their efforts to save 41 workers Rat-Hole Mining Impacts: After repeated hindrances, the ...

The Army too assisted this special team. “Manual drilling and excavation using rat-hole mining method began on Monday”, a person familiar with the matter said, adding that “six rat-hole ...

To dig up the remaining portion manually, rat-hole mining by rat miners was initiated and in almost 24 hours, they were able to dig up the remaining part. Efforts to create escape tunnel is in ...

The term is derived from its likeness to rats burrowing through narrow holes. Rat-hole mining was banned in 2014 by the ...

In 2021, a group of miners were trapped inside a similar "rat hole" mine in Meghalaya, after the mine was flooded following a dynamite explosion. Despite the dangers of illegal mining, the ...