The Barapukuria coal mine was discovered by Bangladesh Geological Survey in 1985.

It is estimated that the mine has 390 million tonnes of coal in its womb. With the current daily production rate of 1 million tonnes, the mine could be operational for around 15 years.

Chinese company XMC-CMC Consortium extraction began in 1995.

Commercial production began from Sep 2005.

The coal of Bangladesh is considered to be of high quality since it has a high heat generation capacity.

Some 2000 million tonnes of coal has so far been discovered in five areas of Dinajpur, Rangpur and Bogra districts.

The largest ever mine at Jamalganj under Bogra district was discovered in 1965. Its reserve was estimated 1050 million tonnes.

In 1995, coal was discovered at Khashpur of Rangpur and Dighipara of Dinajpur. There are contradictions over Khalashpur mine, which has 143 million tonnes according to the GSB, but 685 million tonnes claimed by another survey.

A partial evaluation in Dighipara area revealed the reserve of around 200 million tonnes.

Phulbari coal mine, discovered in 1997, is the most potential among these.