THIMMAPPANAGUDI IRON ORE MINE

THIMMAPPANAGUDI IRON ORE MINE

Thimmappanagudi Iron Ore Mine (TIOM) owned by M/s. Mysore Minerals Ltd (A govt. of Karnataka U/T) is being operated by Vijaynagar Mineral Pvt. Ltd. (A joint venture of Mysore Minerals Ltd and JSW steel). It is a captive mine for JSW steel plant.

M/s. Mysore Minerals have been granted a mining lease over an extent of 621.59 Ha (1536 Acres) in Thimmappanagudi village, in NE Block of sandur range forest for mining of iron ore and manganese ores vide Govt. Notification No. CI 25 EMI 76 Dated 23.08.1976 and it was executed under mining lease No. 2002 during the year 1985 for a period of 20 years. Further the lease has been renewed upto 26.12.2025 vide notification no. CI.14: MMM: 2006 dated 17.02.2007

LOCATION

The mining lease area is situated in Thimmappanagudi hill, NEB range forest of Sandur reserved forest, Bellary Dist., The area is bounded by 15°11’00″; to 15°13’00″; N Latitude and 76°31’00″ to 76°35’00″ E Longitude in Topo sheet No. 57 A/12.

PHYSIOGRAPHY

Thimappanagudi mine comprises hills spread in an encephalon pattern and forms part of the north-western limb of horse-shoe shaped hill range of Hospet-sandur. The highest and lowest elevations are to be retained as mining area are 1001 m above msl and 160m above msl respectively. The hill slopes are 1 in 2.5. The subject mining covers the narrow plateau on the hill top areas. Most part of the mining area is in very hard exposures. The vegetation around the area is mixed open jungle.

COMMUNICATION

This mine could be approached from sandur through two hilly fair weathered roads. One leading through A-Block and other leading through E-Block. The mine could be reached from Bellary and sandur towns through the district high way joining Bellary and Kudligi. TIOM is 12 Kms away from Sandur. This can be reached by road from sandur using district high way of 4 Kms length and by taking a diversion from NMDC cross. The nearest railway station is at Toranagallu which is about 30 Kms from mines site office.

CLIMATE

Sandur region has severe summer during the months of March to May. The maximum temperature rises to 43° C during peak summer. During the winter season the night temperature falls to 10° C. The rainy season is mainly due to southwest monsoon. Bellary district occasionally experiences monsoon condition and receives rains due to depression in the Bay of Bengal. The average rainfall is around 720mm. This area is generally dry in climate and humidity is very low. The wind blows towards east during the monsoon season and the direction changes towards SE and during winter the wind blow towards NW direction.

GEOLOGY

REGIONAL GEOLOGY

Sandur schist belt, represented by low grade metamorphic complex, falls in transitional zone of green stone belts of Dharwar and known as younger green stone belt, which lies between eastern block of Hutti, Kolar Hundgund & Ramgiri belts and western block of Bababudan, Western ghat, Shimoga -Goa and Chitradurga belts.

The rocks of Sandur schist belt are volcanics, Volcano clastic, Sediments and exhalation over peninsular Gneissic Complex. These are intruded by Younger clospet Granites in the Schist, represented by low grade metamorphic complex. It is bounded to the East and to the west by Peninsular Gneisses and to North and south by younger granites. The Iron are deposits in this Sandur Schist belt with the host rock Banded Hematite Quartzite (BHQ), Banded Hematite Chert (BHC) and Banded Hematite Jasper (BHJ) is located to part of Kumarswamy -Deogiri and, the Ramandurga – Vysanakere range.

LOCAL GEOLOGY

Within the lease area there are two parallel hill ranges, which are divided into the five different blocks, namely A, B, C, D and E. The major rock type in this area is at lower level mainly meta basalts and the banded hematite jasper, where as at higher elevation above 720 to 800 meters RL it is mainly iron are, ferruginous phyllites, clay, unlatched BHJ etc., and the laterites blanketing the all. The BHJ is the host rock of iron are. The iron are is formed due to intense leaching of the silica from BHJ due to the process of metamorphism and action of weathering agents.

The highest and lowest elevations of the area to be retained as mining lease are 1001 m and 800 m above MSL respectively. The hill slopes are 1 in 2.5. Most part of the mining lease area is abound with very hard Banded Hematite Jasper (BHJ) exposures and are thus erosion resistant. Seasonal drains take the rain water into the Narihalla reservoir which is also seasonal and is situated at one kilometre distance from the mining lease area. The drainage pattern in the area is dendritic. Within the lease area, there are two parallel hill ranges where the BIF rocks have enriched to give rise to good quality iron ore reefs. These iron ore occurrences have been divided into five blocks, namely A, B, C, D & E.

It is found, invariably, the iron ore formations have a capping of 3 to 10m thick late rite. Also the iron ore has intercalated waste bands of shale!phylite in addition to the shale! phylltes forming hanging wall and footwall. While all the blocks have been opened and worked during the current of the lease period blocks. The overall strike length of the ore body in the lease is 6500 mts, width 100-125 mts and depth around 40-75 mts. Blocks A and E have been worked extensively exposing entire strike and width of the ore body. The strike length of the ore body in E-block is 1600 mts. The average width around 60-70 mts and depth about 28-30 mts. The dip of the ore body varies from 65 to 75 towards NE. The strike of the ore bodies is NNE-SSW in E Block. The exposed iron ore bodies are mostly in the form of fines suitable for pelletisation. Only a small quantity of lumpy ore shall be available at the top level in D block. The grade varies from 58% to 67% Fe.

SCIENTIFIC MINING PRACTICE & MINERAL CONSERVATION

Blending of iron ore is effectively implemented at Thimmappanagudi Iron Ore Mine to utilize maximum low -grade ore and conserve the mineral. To control the quality and utilize low- grade ore the sampling and quick analyses is given due importance. Apart from regular face samples, samples are also drawn during drilling. This gives fairly good idea about the quality of ore after blast. The final product is stacked in different piles and sampled by pipe sampling method. M/s. Vijayanagar minerals Private Limited is only company in the sector to utilize pipe -sampling method. These methods give better representation and also,collect sample from deeper zone compare to other methods.

The required grade of ore by the customer is achieved by blending of ore in the different piles with the proportion based on their chemistry.

MINERAL BENEFICIATION

At mines sizing of the are is carried out by screening to meet the buyer’s specification of calibrated are, lumps and fines etc. The average grade of dispatch after blending will be 58 to 62% Fe. JSW use it for pelletization and sintering after washing.

The washing plant of 10000-mUday capacity is installed at JSW steel Ltd, where the low-grade are is upgraded. The are is upgraded to the extent of 1.5% to 3.0 % in Fe after washing. The alumina is reduced by 0.50% to 0.80% and Silica by 1.5% to 3.0%.

The follow ing machineries are deployed in the mine:-

Sl.No.	Equipment	Total No.	Capacity
1	Excavator	10	0.9- 1.6 m 3
2	Wheel Loader	5	1.6- 2.6 m 3
3	Drilling Unit	1	30-50 m/h
4	Motor Grader	1	16′ blade
5	Tippers	50	25T
6	Water Tankers	4	10,000 Ltrs 20,000 Ltrs
7	Vibrating Screening plant	1	250 TPH
8	Crushing Plant	1	100 TPH
9	Mobile Screen Plant	1	200 TPH
10	Mobile Crushing Plant	1	100 TPH
11	Dozer	1	183 Hp