Coal India to develop abandoned mines

Speaking on the sidelines of the annual conference, organised by National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM),Partha S Bhattarcharya, chairman,CIL,informed that the 26 mines having an expected coal reserves of around 10 million tonnes (mt) were already identified.

Of these, around 10 mines are expected to be rich in coking coal, while the others will produce non-coking coal varieties.

CIL will be floating expressions of interest (EOI) to invite global technology providers to develop these mines on a joint venture basis with CIL, added Bhattacharya.

This apart, Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) fixed the rates for selling coking coal to Steel Authority Of India Limited (SAIL) at Rs 6,300 per tonne for this fiscal as against Rs 4,500 per tonne in 2007-08. BCCL supplied 1.62 mt of washed coking coal to SAIL last year against its demand of 1.82 mt.

It currently produces 2mt per annum. It is open to selling more to SAIL provided BCCL's production hikes up, Bhattacharya informed. In 2008-09, BCCL targets a coking coal production of 4.38 mt and this coal, when washed, will yield around 2.19 mt.

According to industry sources, BCCL meets nearly 20 per cent of SAIL's annual coking coal requirement and the revised rates could have a positive impact on the company's balance sheet.

CIL will also be floating EOIs to invite bidders for contract mining for seven of its underground mines within this year.

CIL would use state-of-the art technology to increase production.