Bengal: ‘Plans to float 8th round of auction of commercial coal mines’
Kolkata: Plans to float the eighth round of auction of commercial coal mines wherein around 40 blocks will be offered, Union Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said after inaugurating the 10th Asian Mining Congress (AMC) and International Mining, Equipment, Minerals and Metals Exhibition (IME 2023), on Monday, at Eco Park.
Meena disclosed that Union Coal minister Pralhad Joshi is likely to make an announcement to this effect on November 15. Since the last decade, a total of 152 coal blocks have been auctioned in the past seven tranches. Of which, 91 were meant for captive purposes while the rest, 61 are for commercial purposes.
However, out of the 152 blocks, 51 blocks, including five commercial mines, are already in operation. The production from these mines currently stand at 116 mt in 2022- 23, Meena stated. The offering of coal blocks for commercial coal mining was started in 2020.
“The target in the current financial year (23-24) is to produce 162 mt from captive and commercial coal mines since at least seven new mines are scheduled to go into operation during the year,” the coal secretary said.
According to the coal secretary, once a new coal block is allotted or auctioned by the government, it takes close to 50 to 52 months to begin production from such a new coal block. There are however, some logistics constraints in loading and transportation of coal, Meena pointed out and as a result of which the country will have to continue to use imported coal. This will mainly be by coastal power plants that are designed to burn imported coal, he added.
To a question, he pointed out that Coal India (CIL) is producing as per its target and is expected to end up with production of around 780 mt in 2023-24. The share of imported coal in India’s entire basket of coal slipped to 21 per cent in 2022-23, from a high of 26 per cent in 2019-20 and there has been around a 10 per cent reduction in usage of imported coal in the first six months of 2023-24, the coal secretary said.
More than 70 technical papers will be discussed, including eight keynote addresses in as many as ten sessions. The theme of the Congress was “Roadmap for Best Mining Practices visà-vis Global Transformation”.
Around 400 stalls from around the world, including from leading Indian industries, are likely to witness more than 20,000 footfalls from India and overseas countries.
The partner country and focus country this year are Germany and Australia respectively. The mineral-rich states participating in the exhibition are Gujarat as partner state, Jharkhand as the focus state and Bengal.
