Page 6 - AsiaElec Week 31 2022

AsiaElec COAL AsiaElec

India gives go-ahead on

domestic coal expansion

INDIA NEW Delhi has this week given the green light to or mine lease area, without additional land
coal mine expansion at 10 Coal India Ltd (CIL) acquisition.”
sites across the sub-continent. It is understood this permission was only
The move comes as the nation moves into granted to sites that had previously been allowed
the cooler monsoon season in a bid to alleviate a 40% increase in earlier moves to expand output.
future power shortages when temperatures start The move to expand mining limits at the ten
to rise again early in the new year. sites came just hours ahead of news that pro-
At present, the state-owned CIL accounts for duction of coal across India had risen by 11%
around 80% of domestic coal production. throughout July to around 47.3mn tonnes. In the
In a move announced at the national parlia- same month last year, domestic mining output
ment on August 1, if the permitted expansion reached 42.6mn tonnes.
projects reach their full potential, they could, This number was still well shy of the 51.56mn
combined, add cof coal capacity to existing tonnes mined a month prior, in June; itself a fig-
infrastructure. ure up over 11.5mn tonnes from June 2021.
The north-eastern Indian state of Odisha And with figures released by the Kolka-
will see the majority of the expansion projects ta-based headquarters of CIL indicating that coal
with three sites given the thumbs up to increase output to-date is already 8.5% up on last year at
capacity. 777.31mn tonnes, New Delhi’s commitment to
Five other projects that have been given the coal seems locked in for the foreseeable future.
OK to expand are located primarily in the north That future will in part be boosted further
central area of India in Chhattisgarh, Madhya by CIL looking to bring into operational status
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Two additional pro- up to 14 additional mines with a total combined
jects are located in Maharashtra in the west. capacity of 165.58mn tonnes.
No projects in southern India were included, This will be achieved by CIL employing mine
although sources indicate it is possible that the developers and operators.
central government will increase the number According to Pramod Agrawal, CIL’s chair-
of expansion projects if needed in the months man and managing director, in speaking to the
ahead. leading Indian press agency PTI, “These mines
The often time-consuming environmental would contribute in sizeable quantities towards
clearance process has also now been confirmed production in the coming years.”
at all 10 sites. It is understood that 10 of the 14 would be
Offering a possible loophole for anti-coal opencast mines, with the other four all sub-sur-
campaigners to leverage, however, the nation’s face facilities. The lion’s share of the extra capac-
Ministry of Coal did have to request that the ity, around 161.5mn tonnes, would be mined
expansion of up to 50% of existing capacity at the from the opencast sites, with the remaining
sites be permitted without public consultation. 4.08mn tonnes coming from underground,
This was granted by the Ministry of Envi- according to Agrawal.
ronment, Forest and Climate Change by way of Agrawal has also indicated that a further
a memorandum confirming “special dispensa- seven tenders have been floated; two linked to
tion for consideration of Environment Clearance sub-surface mines and five to opencast. Potential
(EC) from 40 to 50% expansion in coal-mining combined capacity at the tender sites is thought
projects, within the existing premises and/ to total in the region of 59mn tonnes.™

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