Western Coalfields registers 58 MT output in FY20

Western Coalfields Limited (WCL), a subsidiary of Coal India, on Wednesday said it has achieved an output of57.64 million tonnes (MT) in FY20, surpassing the target of last fiscal.

The company achieved an output of 57.64 MT against the target of 56 MT set for the year 2019-20.

WCL has "surpassed its coal production target of 2019-20 by a comfortable margin and has also registered highest ever production in a single day on 31st March, 2020 amidst lockdown due to COVID-19," the company said in a statement.

The company registered highest ever single day production of 5.02 lakh tonne on March 31, 2020.

WCL registered a growth of 8.4 per cent, which is highest among all subsidiaries of CIL, the statement added.

The company has a target of 62 MT for the year 2020-21.

"With a stupendous task of reaching one billion tonne (BT) coal production by CIL by 2023-24, WCL will be contributing to the tune of more than 75 MT of coal by 2023-24 to meet the energy demand of the nation," it said.

The company had achieved a production of 39.73 MT during 2013-14 and reached 57.64 MT in 2019-20 due to opening of 20 new projects during the last five or six years.

These 20 mines contributed 41.2 MT during 2019-20, which is more than 70 per cent of total production.

However, during this period, the company also lost production to the tune of 22 MT due to closure of mines on exhaustion of reserves.

Meanwhile, SECL, another arm of CIL, claimed that it produced 150.55 million tonnes of coal in FY'20.

Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.