Govt rejects Balco's plea to review coal production

The Coal Ministry has turned down Vedanta group company Balco's request to review the date of production from one of its mines in Chhattisgarh that has reserves of 211 million tonnes (MT).

"The request of Balco for revision of normative date of coal production from Durgapur-II/Taraimar coal block has been examined... It has been decided that the request for the revision of normative date of coal production from the said block can not be acceded to," Coal Ministry said.

Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco), in which Sterlite Industries has a majority 51% stake, had made a written request to the Coal ministry in April and May this year for the revision.

The Coal Ministry, in turn, in a letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the company, rejected the request.

Durgapur II/Taraimar coal block was allocated to the company in November, 2007 to feed its two captive power plants in Korba with combined production capacity of 1,110 MW.

The aluminium major plans to mine 4 MTPA of coal from this block, out of which 3 MTPA will be from open cast mining and 1 MTPA from underground mining operations.