Sustainable mining technology need of the hour: Minister Pralhad Joshi

Outlining the importance of start-ups for the mining sector, the coal minister, on Monday, said that start-ups have an essential role to play in developing sustainable mining technology.

Union Minister for Coal and Mining  Pralhad Joshi was speaking at the inauguration of the first Mining Start-Up Summit at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. 

"From 300 start-ups in 2014, in the last nine years, we have touched one lakh start-ups and a hundred unicorns. They have created 900,000 jobs and added a cumulative value of $333 billion. We, however, need to take this further," the minister said at the inauguration of the summit.  

The coal minister cited figures for the production of coal in the current year at the event. “From 500 million tonnes of coal production in 2014, today we are the largest producer and importer of coal. We have the fourth-largest coal reserves. This year the production of coal has reached 850 million tonnes," the minister said at the event. 

Dependence on the import of coal has led to a rise in costs and an increase in foreign expenditure. To discourage imports, new ideas, and thoughts are needed, the minister said.

"We hope to stop the import of thermal coal completely by 2025-2026," the minister added.

The minister also urged  Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) officials to earmark some funds for buying products made by start-ups.

The  Mining Start-Up Summit has been organised by the Ministry of Mines in collaboration with IIT, Mumbai. Officials from the ministry will interact with start-up founders from the field of mining at the technical sessions after the inauguration, a notification from the ministry said. The officials will also interact with persons representing companies in the mineral exploration sector, financial institutions, and banks.