The South Eastern Coalfields ltd (SECl) will be putting up a Dialysis Unit at Nehru Centenary Hospital at Urja Nagar Colony of Gevra Area in Korba district of Chhattisgarh for the benefit of kidney patients. Notably, SECl is targetting total coal production of 250 million tonnes (MT) from its underground and open cast mines by 2019-20, officials stated.
SECl recorded coal production (provisional) of 12.10 million tonnes (MT) against target of 11.70 MT as on February 2016, Coal India ltd (CIl) informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in its filing.
The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during December 2015 was Rs 20096 crore. The contribution of Coal was the highest at Rs 9132 crore (43%), the Central government has informed.
Next in the order of importance were: Petroleum (crude) Rs. 5598 crore, Natural gas (utilized) Rs. 2187 crore, Iron ore Rs. 1604 crore, limestone Rs. 479 crore and lignite Rs.356 crore. These six minerals together contributed about 96% of the total value of mineral production in December 2015.
Production level of important minerals in December 2015 were: Coal 623 lakh tonnes, lignite 29 lakh tonnes, Natural gas (utilized) 2644 million cu. m., Petroleum (crude) 31 lakh tonnes, Bauxite 1758 thousand tonnes, Chromite 277 thousand tonnes, Copper conc. 13 thousand tonnes, Gold 117 kg., Iron ore 127 lakh tonnes, lead conc. 21 thousand tonnes, Manganese ore 180 thousand tonnes, Zinc conc. 123 thousand tonnes, Apatite & Phosphorite 117 thousand tonnes, limestone 231 lakh tonnes, Magnesite 23 thousand tonnes and Diamond 3336 carat.
The production of important minerals showing positive growth during December 2015 over December 2014 include ‘Copper conc.’ (71.8%), ‘Apatite & Phosphorite’ (59.1%), ‘Chromite’ (30.7%), ‘lead conc. (24.8%), ‘Diamond’ (16.1%), ‘Magnesite’ (14.7%), ‘Coal’ (11.6%), and ‘Iron ore’ (9.8%). The production of other important minerals showing negative growth are: ‘lignite’ [(-) 29.8%], ‘Bauxite’ [(-) 29.4%], ‘Gold’ [(-) 18.2%], ‘Manganese ore’ [(-) 16%], ‘Zinc conc.’ [(-) 13.8%], Natural gas (utilized)’ [(-) 5.8%], ‘Petroleum (crude)’ [(-) 4.1%] and ‘limestone’ [(-) 3.9%].
SECl would go for extended use of multi-utility vehicles for transport of materials by phasing out existing labour oriented haulages during the next five years from its underground mines.
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 the 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.
NTPC Sipat and Korba stations in Chhattisgarh have informed SECl earlier that they have stopped taking imported coal with the use of higher grade coal sourced from SECl's Koriya-Rewa mining belt, officials stated.
The specific consumption of coal by the two thermal power stations has been reduced by 2% to 3% by substituting imported coal with Koriya-Rewa coal, they stated.
The information was provided in an interactive session held by SECl at its headquarters here with the power utilities and Independent Power Producers (IPPs) last month, officials stated.
SECl officials in the meeting had further informed the power utilities regarding installation of Coal Washeries at Kusmunda (20 million tonnes capacity) and Baroud (5 million tonnes capacity ) which are likely to be commissioned by October 1, 2016.
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.