Tipong Colliery is located a remote area in Assam, very near the border with Arunachal Pradesh. It is operated by the North Eastern Coalfields division of Coal India Ltd, and is one of several operational underground and opencast collieries in the Makum coalfield, which was first commercialised by the Assam Railways and Trading Company in the 1880s. The coal mines were nationalised in 1973.
The area is hilly and wooded with a river running at the bottom of a steep valley. Tipong has two irregular, tilted seams and utilises mainly underground working to a depth of about 350m, but there is also an opencast area. Coal is brought to the surface via inclines and is transported approximately 2.5km down the valley on a 2' gauge tramway to an underground conveyor belt and thence to a loading dock. The colliery has its own community with hillside housing, school, Hindu temples, mosque, shop, post office etc.
This mine can only be visited by prior arrangement with Coal India's office at Margherita, Assam.
References
There is mention of the colliery here: [url]http://fossil.energy.gov/international/Publications/cwg_april06_ss_neccil.pdf[/url] />A sketch map of the colliery area can be found at [url]http://www.farrail.net/maps/tipong-colliery-india.gif[/url] />Pretty pictures can be found in: Michael Palin: Himalaya, BBC (DVD set and book)
Underground work was suspended in November 2008 following two fatal explosions at a nearby colliery.