Coal India to use mine developers and operators for increasing production

1 Aug 2022 , 08:14 AM

According to a top official, Coal India is putting into action a plan to operationalize 14 mines by hiring mine developers and operators (MDOs) in an effort to increase its production. The annual capacity of these mines is 165.58 million tonnes.

In the most recent annual report, Coal India Chairman and Managing Director Pramod Agrawal addressed the company’s shareholders “In the upcoming years, these mines would make a major contribution to output. Ten of these projects are opencast, with a projected capacity of 161.50 million metric tonnes per year, and four are underground, with a projected capacity of 4.08 million metric tonnes per year.”

In addition, he explained that six of the successful bids for these MDO projects, which have a combined annual capacity of 96.74 million tonne, have received letters of acceptance.

Seven further projects, having a combined capacity of 58.84 million tonne per year (five opencast and two underground), have floated tenders, according to Agrawal.

For the fiscal year 2022—2023, Coal India has set a production goal of 700 million tonnes and suggested a capital investment of Rs16,500 crore.

The miner also disclosed to its investors that 42 projects are behind schedule as a result of hold-ups with statutory permissions and other problems.

It had invested Rs1,32,634 crore in 117 coal projects with a sanctioned capacity of 918.86 million tonnes.

The implementation of these is at varying stages. According to the company’s annual report for 2021—22 (FY’22), of those, 75 projects are on plan and 42 are behind schedule.

With a sanctioned capacity of 12.60 million tonne and a capital investment of Rs1,769 crore, the largest coal producer in the world finished five projects in FY22.

According to Agrawal, Coal India has remained committed to supplying the nation with energy security by achieving environmentally and socially sustainable growth through best practices from mine to market and will become one of the major players on the international stage in the primary energy sector.