Surface Miners have been deployed for coal production at Gevra Expn, Dipka OC Expn, Kusmunda OC Expn & Chhal OC Project of Raigarh Area. The total coal production from surface miners during FY 12-13 was 71.116 MT.

This technology is suitable for thin (minimum 0.9m) and moderate coal seams where neither opencast nor the conventional underground mining methodology is possible to exploit the coal seams economically. It enables recovery of coal from surface pits that have reached the final high wall position due to uneconomic stripping