Coal news and updates

The coal ministry recently enquired from the PSU about the operational status of the additional blocks allotted to it, and whether extraction from these coal blocks is techno-economically feasible. The govt was told that of the 110 additional CIL ... 

 

The Centre wants Coal India to speed up exploration and development of all its blocks or return them for auction to private parties or allotment to state-run firms. These include existing blocks with geological reserves of 110 billion tonnes that are yet to be taken up for production and an additional 110 blocks with reserves of around 40 billion tonnes allotted in 2012. The government has asked the company to prepare concrete plans in the near future. Out of the 110 blocks allotted in 2012, Coal India has managed to explore 50, of which project reports for 25 have been prepared. Among the rest, 41 blocks are under exploration and 19 remains partly explored. The Centre has asked Coal India to quickly find out if coal extraction from all these 110 blocks is techno-economically feasible. At a recent meeting, the coal secretary said blocks which Coal India subsidiaries do not want to explore or take up for production, maybe relinquished so that the ministry could offer them to other interested companies. The Centre also advised Coal India subsidiary, Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, to prepare a detailed report on subsidiary- and block-wise coal reserves, depleted stock, blocks with areas yet to be explored, blocks under production and its plan for future projects and their reserves-to-production ratio. The Centre has asked it to demarcate large blocks so that they could attract bigger exploration companies. CMPDI needs to speed up exploration of the remaining coalbearing area of the country, use modern technology and consider a revenue-sharing model in prospecting-cum-mining lease with the use of seismic exploration, the government said. In 2018-19, about 6.6 billion tonnes of additional coal resources were added to the ‘proved’ category through 24 geological reports (prepared by CMPDI) covering about 260 sq km of exploration. Till October this year, CMPDIL has been able to achieve 98% of its exploration target with negative growth of 12% as compared to the previous year. 

 

Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry