Western Coalfields sees record 46.22 mt production in FY18

Western Coalfields (WCL), a Coal India (CIL) subsidiary, has registered a rise in coal production for the fourth consecutive year with 46.22 million tonne during 2017-18, surpassing its own record of 45.7 mt coal production during 2009-10.

This is after the company registered a continuous negative growth for five years from 2009-10 to 2013-14, the company said in a release.

Growth in production in consecutive years was possible because of opening of 19 projects during last three years which added to more than 27 mt during 2017-18, it said.

In order to have enhancement in production for future sustainability, WCL has taken steps to enhance the existing mine capacity, which will be adding about 6.5 mt during 2018-19, it added.

Meanwhile, WCL achieved a new record in despatch of coal as well during 2017-18 by despatching 48.76 mt against the highest ever of 45.509 mt achieved during 2009-10, according to the release.

It also created a record by achieving a growth of 23.5 per cent in coal off-take during 2017-18, which is the highest among all the subsidiaries of CIL.

During the year, the company despatched 9,204 rakes of coal, which is 28.84 per cent higher over last year.

With a coal stock of 11.60 mt in the mines as on April 1, WCL said it could successfully despatch coal to its consumers as per their demand.

WCL surpassed its capital expenditure (capex) target of Rs 1,050 crore during 2017-18, which according to the company will help it in its future growth.

It has also achieved a record 185.29 million cubic meter of overburden removal during 2017-18, registering a growth of about 12 per cent over last year.

The company expects to cross the 50 mt level of coal production in 2018-19, to achieve a target of 52.5 mt, according to the release.

It will also gear up to achieve the coal despatch target of 58.7 mt during 2018-19, the release added.

WCL has been successful in getting four coal blocks in Odisha during 2017-18. The company said it plans to have two large opencast mines of 25 mt each to achieve 50 mt production from these four blocks.

"All out efforts are being made to develop these blocks as quickly as possible. This new property will not only help WCL in adding to its coal volume, but will also be beneficial for its financial stability," the company said.

With this acquisition, WCL becomes the first company in CIL to have its operations in three states - Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.

In the area of corporate social responsibility, the company set up a reverse osmosis (RO) plant at Patansaongi near Nagpur last year and launched bottled water under the brand 'Coal Neer' for rural population.

The plan is to add six more such plants during 2018-19 so as to cover the entire rural populace by providing treated water at a much lower cost, the release said.

WCL also aims to commercially launch 'Coal Neer' during 2018-19.

In view of having large volume of mine water available, WCL entered into a memorandum of understanding with Mahagenco in March to provide 6.48 million gallons per day (mgd) water from its Bhanegaon mine near Nagpur to the Khaparkheda Thermal Power Plant.

WCL said it is ready to enter into a MoU with VIDC by providing 17.47 mgd of mine water from Nagpur area for irrigation purposes.

Further, few other projects are also being taken up in Chandrapur and Yavatmal districts for use of mine water for irrigation and drinking purposes.

WCL continued to provide sand from its mines at a very low cost to the Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) during 2017-18 for use in low-cost housing projects under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY), the release said.

The company has also provided OB and sand to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of the Mumbai-Nagpur super expressway.

WCL said it will launch its sand product commercially during 2018-19 at a much cheaper rate.

It is also providing bricks and stone chips extracted from its OB for use in the construction industry.

"WCL is ready to install a large sand plant in Gondegaon near Nagpur for extraction of sand from OB to be provided for commercial use.," it said.