rocess in 
b-aquatic 
asset for 
: Landsat 
tographs 
IRS IC 
collected 
Survey of 
details of 
nce the 
Il these 
" visual 
t ground 
ting the 
with its 
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rs along 
ain over 
ectively. 
of beach 
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ature by 
1 occurs 
two sets 
NW-SE 
longs to 
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d 6 & 7. 
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II MSS 
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1974-75 
ron ore 
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ace data 
ls have 
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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, "Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India,2002 
have metamorphic origin (Majumdar, 1965). The country rock for 
iron ore mineralization has suffered four episodes of folding 
(Gokul, 1972). The iron ore is replaced deposit as residue due to its 
  
  
  
  
  
Table 4 Mine plan by DMCL for Bicholim iron ore mining area 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
softness. The iron ore has strike length of 7 km and average dip of | Name of 
45-60 degree in NE direction at Bicholim mining area. The mining mining Marked year for Quarry activity Remarks 
lease area is 479. 3014 Hectares under altitude variation of 150 — zone 
130 MSL. The mining lease area has been spread in 5 contiguous Presently 
localities and described in Table 3. under 
1 Top Pit 1: 1996 — 2004 working 
Table 3. Details of mining lease area under DMCL at Bicholim condition 
CUR enun Pit close to vip Tog colony 2004- Immediate 
S.No. NA T area in General remarks 2105 Pit close to Lamgao village 2003-2008 mu 
y Hectare Pit close to Lamgao lake 2008-2009 pian 
Individual lease area 3 top No activity 
Mar Pema 99.50 less than 100 hectare ái Pit close to old office 1999-2002 
2 Totichomor 99.7325 Geologic reserve op Pit close to SE of Mulgaon lake 2002- Immediate 
Dongar : with 30 MT 1 2003 future 
; Quariable reserve is Pit close to NW of Mulgaon village 2002- plan 
5 Ghartior 96.1389 20 MT bottom 2008 
Annual production i 
4 Lamgao 89.9200 RP C Ion is 5 Top Pit along western side 2006-2007 RT 
; = $ 
5 Vagachi per 99.9600 Fe content = 62-65% No activi 
y 
Total 479.3014 Bero 
There are five horizons of quariable ore with lateritic overburden of Drainage 
20 - 25 m. The ore is underlying by shale, phyllitic clay. The 
footwall is very weak with tendency to plastic failure. It is prone to 
slope failure during rainy season along bench, overburden dump ad 
mine waste dump (Mahajan, 1988). It is associated with quariable- 
based landuse features like overburden dump waste, afforestation, 
pit sump and quarry. 
Mining 
Goan iron ore is of friable to powdery in nature. It does not require 
any drilling and blasting. The good grade of ore is confined to crest 
and slope of ridge and rarely extends along valley. The maximum 
depth of ore body is upto 150 m. These conditions favour only 
opencast mining, which are seasonal due to heavy rain during June 
to September. The mine machineries mostly used are power shovel, 
hydraulic, excavator, Poclain, Tracks excavator besides heavy to 
large size dumper. The non-availability of spare parts for mine 
machinery sometimes creates problems to fulfil commitment timely 
for export assignment. All the waste rock is dumped at double rate 
of ore quantity produced nearby pit. The pitching is practised 
commonly for stabilization of slope along overburden and waste 
dump. The ROM is transported to beneficiation plant for washing 
drying and screening with generation of slime waste. The slime 
waste is produced about 10 % of ROM and collected in settling 
pond water related landuse feature. The sediment of these ponds are 
removed with passage of time and reused. 
There are five mining zone at Bicholim. The mine plan for each 
mining zone as per DMCL is summarized in Table 4, which 
provides an idea for forthcoming land use pattern associated with 
quarrying activity in and around Bicholim. DMCL has beneficiation 
plant at Surla about 20 km away from Bicholim along Mandavi 
River. The beneficiation plant uses its 8596 water requirement 
through recycling of waste water (Tambot, 1987). 
The river morphology plays key role in localization of Goan iron 
ore mineralization as well as ROM transportation due to its 
navigability on account of good rainfall. Bicholim River close to 
Bicholim mining area is sub-tributary of Madai River — a tributary 
of Mandavi River. The drainage morphology of Mandavi River has 
been deciphered through Landsat imagery. The landuse features 
Table 5 Dwelling status around Bicholim mining area during 1997-98. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Sr Name of | Geog. area Popl. as 
No dwelling in hect. per 1991 Remarks 
> (1997-98) census 
Also called 
1 Dicholi 3652 5692 Bicholim along 
Bicholim river 
Around 
2 Fan gaon = 1152 Lamgaon lake 
3 | Mulgaon 758 2797 Loue Mulsson 
ake 
Around Myam 
4 Myam 154 1308 fake 
5 Siriga 7D 2173 Around Covelin 
estuary 
  
  
associated with Bicholim River has been identified by aerial photo 
interpretation. The drainage characteristics broadly reveals that river 
and streams are prone to high sediment production rate on account 
of soil erosion along ridge, deforestation, along slope and endanger 
for loss of agriculture land. Bicholim River water is salty due to 
tidal effect and is not suitable for either domestic or agriculture 
purpose. The adjoining river has paddy field with coconut trees and 
is irrigated through natural spring thus exhibiting Bicholim as a 
gaining river. 
561