SUVIKALP- Mine Repurposing Tool; Transforming Closed and Abandoned Mines into Productive Assets

Key Highlights:

• SUVIKALP, a Mine Repurposing Tool, has been developed by the Coal Controller Organisation (CCO) under the Ministry of Coal.
• It is a digital decision-support platform aimed at transforming closed and abandoned mines into productive assets.
• The tool establishes a scientific, transparent, and standardized framework for identifying suitable post-mining land-use opportunities.
• It employs Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methodology, specifically TOPSIS, for objective evaluation and ranking of repurposing options.
• SUVIKALP integrates RECLAIM (Community Engagement and Development Framework) to incorporate local priorities and features PRISM (Post-Mining Repurposing Implementation Strategic Model) for guiding project implementation.

Detailed Insights:

• Mine closure is an integral part of the mining lifecycle, requiring a structured approach for post-mining land utilization and socio-economic development.
• SUVIKALP addresses challenges of fragmented assessments and limited integration of community priorities in conventional mine repurposing decisions.
• The platform unifies geo-mining characteristics, environmental conditions, infrastructure, financial, and socio-economic factors for comprehensive site profiling.
• RECLAIM ensures proposed redevelopment initiatives align with local development needs, employment generation, and livelihood opportunities.
• PRISM provides a structured approach for implementation, including project vision, investment dynamics, and monitoring, supported by an integrated knowledge repository.
• Future phases will focus on wider adoption across closed and abandoned coal and lignite mines, converting recommendations into feasibility studies, and mobilizing investment.
• The long-term vision is to evolve SUVIKALP into a scalable national knowledge and decision-support ecosystem for sustainable post-mining land-use planning.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Mine Repurposing: The process of transforming closed or abandoned mining sites into new, productive land uses.
• Coal Controller Organisation (CCO): A subordinate office under the Ministry of Coal, responsible for various aspects of coal statistics and regulation.
• Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM): A field of operations research that evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision-making.
• TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution): A multi-criteria decision analysis method for identifying the best alternative from a finite set of alternatives.