Coal mining in India first started in the
Raniganj Coalfield. In 1774, John Sumner and
Suetonius Grant Heatly of the
British East India Company found coal near
Ethora, presently in
Salanpur community development block. The early exploration and mining operations were carried out in a haphazard manner. Regular mining started in 1820, led by an agency house, Alexander & Co. In 1835,
Prince Dwarkanath Tagore bought over the collieries and
Carr, Tagore and Company led the field. For the entire 19th century and a major part of the 20th century, Ranigunj coalfields was the major producer of coal in the country. In 2016–17, CIL produced 554.14 million tonnes of coal. It is the single-largest coal producer in the world. Eastern Coalfields Ltd. is one of the 7 wholly owned producing subsidiaries of CIL At the time of nationalisation, 414 coal mines, almost wholly in the Raniganj Coalfield, came under the jurisdiction of ECL. The mines were regrouped to around 123 mines. Production from these mines in 1973-74 was 21 million tonnes, of which 20.744 million tonnes were from underground mines and the rest from manual quarries. The percentage of production from the underground mines has declined from 98.49% at the time of nationalisation to 18.23% in 2014–15. The focus is on technological upgradation of underground mines. In 2014–15, the technology-wise production from the underground mines (in million tonnes) was: conventional bord and pillar – 0.539, mechanised bord and pillar – 5.335, mechanised longwall (including road header) – 0.025, continuous miner – 1.397, Total – 7.296. ==Geography==