Western Coalfields to open 34 more projects
| Public sector undertaking Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited (CIL) that contributes a fourth of the coal major's underground (UG) coal production, plans to open 34 more projects with an ultimate production capacity of 35.66 million tonne at an outlay of Rs 3,352.59 crore during the Eleventh Plan period (2011-12). |
| This will be in addition to the 26 ongoing projects with an ultimate production capacity of 18.03 million tonne at an outlay of 1,017.05 crore. Five of the ongoing projects have already been approved during 2007-08, |
| According to Western Coalfields chairman and managing director DC Garg, of the 34 projects (24 opencast and 10 underground), four have already been approved, 12 have been formulated, while the remaining 18 are yet to be formulated. |
| He said, of the 12 projects that have been formulated, four underground projects were awaiting finalisation of global bids for introduction of continuous miner technology, while the remaining eight were considered economically unviable and required cost-plus agreements before being processed and approved by the WCL Board. |
| Continuous miner technology Continuous miner technology is a highly-mechanised process of mining, which gives an output per manshift (OMS) of between 15 to 20 tonne, as against the industrial average of 2.5 tonne in the country. |
| WCL has already entered into cost-plus agreements for six of its ongoing projects including Adasa underground, Kolgaon opencast (OC), Bhatadi expansion OC, Durgapur extension (deep) OC, Waghoda UG and Junad OC. Six more projects including Chikalgaon OC, Chinchala OC, Dhoptala (Sasti) UG-II OC, New Majri, Sharda and Motaghat have been offered for cost-plus agreement to the Maharashtra Power Generating Company Limited. |
| Continuous miner technology is proposed to be introduced in six more underground mines including Sarni extension, Saoner-I, Mauri, Nandan, Dhankasa and Borda blocks in addition to two mines "" Tandsi and Kumbarkhanee ""where commercial production utilising this technology has already commenced. |
| Garg said the company was also planning to introduce powered support longwall to increase production from underground mines. To begin with, powered support longwall is planned to be introduced in the Murpar UG mine in Umrer Area for 3 million tonne per annum production. Global bids are being finalised by CIL. |
| More mines Two more mines viz Silewara / Walni Deep in Nagpur Area and Gandhigram / Saktigarh blocks in Patharkhera area of Madhya Pradesh have been identified for longwall technology in the future. |
| Garg said that these plans were necessary not only to maintain the present level of production but to increase it to 45 million tonne by the terminal year of the Eleventh Plan period. |