Adani begins coal production in Chhattisgarh

It will also set up a coal washery and railway siding infrastructure to transport the coal.

 Adani Enterprises has commenced coal production at the Parsa East-Kante Basin mine in Chhattisgarh. This has marked its entry in the coalmine developer cum operator (MDO) business, the company said.

Adani Group, as part of its strategy to diversify into MDO operations, has bagged four such contracts. This is the first of the four and the company will be spending a total of Rs 3,000 crore on the block. Adani Mining, the arm of Adani Enterprises that won the contract, will also set up a coal washery and railway siding infrastructure to transport the coal.

The other three MDO blocks contracted to Adani Enterprises are – Parsa block in Chhattisgarh, owned by Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Co Ltd with reserves of 150 million tonnes, Machakatta block in Odisha owned by MahaGuj Collieries Ltd with reserves of 1.2 billion tonnes and Chendipada coal block, also in Odisha, owned by UCM Coal Company Ltd with reserves of 1.5 billion tonnes.

The Chhattisgarh coal block is owned by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL), a state-run power generation utility of Rajasthan and was awarded to it in 2007. “The block coal reserves of over 450 million tonne and will produce 2 million tonne a year initially to be ramped to 15 million tonnes a year from 2017 onwards,” the company said.

Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani Group, said, “The commencement of coal mining at Parsa Kante is a milestone event in coal mining sector. With this we at Adani rededicate ourselves to work resolutely towards energy security of the country.”