Coal news and updates

Mineral production index up 3.7% in Nov m-o-m

January 21: The index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector in November 2013 stood higher by 3.7% as compared to that of the previous month, a Government release said.

In fact, the mineral sector has shown a positive growth of 1.0% during November 2013 as compared to that of the corresponding month of previous year.

The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic and minor minerals) in the country during November 2013 stood at Rs 17,163 crore.

The contribution of coal was the highest at Rs 5,798 crore (34%). Next in the order of importance were - petroleum (crude) at Rs 5,728 crore, iron ore at Rs 2,276 crore, natural gas (utilized) at Rs 1,797 crore, limestone at Rs 364 crore and lignite at Rs 365 crore. These six minerals together contributed about 95% of the total value of mineral production in November 2013.

On the other hand, production level of important minerals during November 2013 were: coal at 473 lakh tons, lignite at 29 lakh tons, natural gas (utilized) 2,807 million cu. m., petroleum (crude) 31 lakh tons, bauxite 1,439 thousand tons, chromite 243 thousand tons, copper conc. 12 thousand tons, gold 86 kg, iron ore 115 lakh tons, lead conc. 15,000 tons, manganese ore 204,000 tons, zinc conc. 116,000 tons, apatite & phosphorite 121 thousand tons, dolomite 470,000 tons, limestone 213 lakh tons, magnesite 14,000 tons and diamond 2,180 carat.

In November 2013, the output of chromite increased by 57%, bauxite 18.3%, manganese ore 15.1%, coal 11.1%, iron ore 9.8% and copper conc. 1.8%.

However, the production of lignite decreased by 0.1%, petroleum (crude) 1.3%, natural gas (utilized) 2.2%, lead conc. 5.9%, limestone 6.2%, dolomite 10.8%, magnesite 11.6%, zinc conc. 15.4%, diamond 22.1%, apatite and phosphorite 24.3% and gold 24.6%.