CIL arm MCL launches work on 10-mtpa Odisha coal washery

A 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) capacity coal washery of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) would come up in Odisha. Union Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, who is on a three-day visit to the state, laid the foundation stone of the Ib Valley Washery in Lakhanpur Area of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, which is estimated to be built at a cost of Rs 396 crore by October 2017. 

The washery will benefit the company, the common man and the country as a whole, Swarup said. The Ib Valley Washery is one of the four 10 million tonnes per annum coal washeries (two each in Ib Valley Coalfields and Talcher Coalfields) being set-up by Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, which are expected come up in financial year 2017-18.

Swarup also visited various opencast coal mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, where he was briefed on ongoing mining operation by the chairman & managing director and directors of the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. The Secretary also planted saplings of plants on the reclaimed sites of coal mines. 

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, the leading coal producing company of the country, aims to contribute 250 million tonnes of coal to the 1 billion tonne coal production target of Coal India Ltd (CIL) by 2020.