Coal mining major South Eastern Coalfields ltd (SECl)—the flagship public sector Navratna of Coal India ltd (CIl) has put its underground (UG) coal production target projections at 22 million tonnes (MT) by 2019-20.
The company compared to its underground coal excavation target by the aforesaid period has set a significantly higher coal production target projections from its open cast (OC) mines at 228 MT, officials stated.
Notably, the Coal India ltd is targetting production of 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2020. Wagon availability will be a key factor for achieving this target by Coal India ltd, officials stated.
By signing of a MoU, the Railways and Coal India ltd will be entering into a strategic partnership which would ensure adequate wagon availability for meeting the transportation needs of coal produced by Coal India ltd.
Notably, the Central government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding each with the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation of coal, officials informed.
SECl has already crossed 100 million tonnes of coal production as on January 12, 2016, officials stated.
Notably, the Central Government has also decided to transport coal above G10 level only after being washed from October 1, 2017. The decision is taken to tackle the quality issue of the coal produced.
In order to meet the rising demand, Coal India ltd has been setting up 15 new washeries with a total capacity of 112.6 million tonnes per annum. Out of these washeries, six are Coking Coal washeries with total capacity of 18.6 million tonnes per annum and nine Non-Coking washeries of 94.0 million tonnes per annum. Apart from these, 3 washeries of 11.6 million tonnes per annum are under construction, officials stated.
Notably, CIl has decided to set up washeries in its various subsidiaries to reduce the quantity of ash and other not useful component from coal so as to make it competitive in comparison to imported coal across the country.