India Staring At Energy Crisis

The hitch is that India is running out of cheap open-cast coal from existing mines. Unless it starts investing now in underground mines, within a decade it will face a huge leap in energy import costs that could derail industrial projects, crimp economic growth and drive up inflation.

"With the ballooning demand for coal in India, open-cast mining has become the easy option, albeit at a great cost to the environment and society. This easy option is likely to be exhausted within the next 10-12 years when the shallow seams amenable to open-cast mining dwindle."

Going underground: India needs to dig deep to keep lights on