The Jhanjra project, owned by Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL), concluded its first annual production period in January 2009, achieving a record raw coal output of 631,770 t. The previous record of 463,297 t was achieved in May 2004 by Anjan Hill mine, in the Chirimiri Area of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. In each case, the equipment consisted of a continuous miner, shuttle cars, quad bolter, feeder-breaker and load centre supplied by Joy Mining Machinery.

Safety and maintenance are key areas of focus, with Joy providing experts at the mine site who can undertake and advise upon safe systems of working, equipment operation, equipment maintenance and training of customer personnel. Joy India co-ordinates the supply of spare parts and operates a component exchange program to help ensure high machine availability. The goal of this intensive care model is to transfer modern techniques for room and pillar mining to the mine owner over a span of five years.

The Jhanjra Continuous Miner project was jointly commissioned and established as a project of excellence by P&H Joy Mining Equipment India Ltd and Joy Mining Machinery – UK in September 2007, with the active support of ECL and Jhanjra Area. Joy says “this project is setting the pace for the Indian underground coal mining industry, which is intensely seeking modern technology to meet the ambitious growth targets of coal production for the power plants. Jhanjra is now considered to be a project of reference and has spurred the Indian mining industry to look at large scale introduction of continuous miner technology in the coming years.”