Mining operations generates substantial quantities of airborne respirable dust, which leads to the development of lung disease in mine workers. Coal worker's pneumoconiosis and silicosis are lung diseases that have adversely impacted the health of thousands of mine workers. The increasing trend of opencast mining leads to release of huge amount of dust. These air borne dust particles, generally below 100 micron in size, are environmentally nuisance and cause health hazards as an ill effect of mining activities. Opencast extraction activities like drilling, blasting, material handling and transport are a potential source of air pollution. Therefore, a detailed study on emission sources and quantification of pollutant concentration by means of dispersion modeling is required to access the environmental impact of a opencast mine. On the basis of the predicted increments to air pollutant concentrations, an effective mitigation and environmental plan can be devised for sensitive areas.
In the present study, Air quality modeling has been attempted using AERMOD. Line source & Volume source modeling has been carried out for haul road and open pit respectively. From the modeling exercise, dust concentrations at certain receptor locations have been predicted and it was found that the resultant SPM level at these locations will remain within the NAAQS norms
